Help newb with brown hair alge ???

dbsquirt · 12/23/2008, 10:32 PM

Help I have a rsm 34 gal and had no problems for months but brown stuff on the substrate that comes and goes have never lost a thing and about 2-3 weeks ago had a break out of hair like alge with bubbles and its all brown and covers every thing My feather duster and anemone look bad but fish and mushroom and CUC look ok I did a 10% water change and changed light timer about the time it started not sure what to do I have tried cutting lights back a lot has not helped

iamwrasseman · 12/23/2008, 11:02 PM

do another water change providing that you are using R O water. physicaly remove as much algea as you can . add phosban and you may also try to raise the mag in the tank . cut down on the amount of food . thease all will help fix the problem but you first want to know what your water paramiters are so you can try to fix the right problem . the thing thst causes algea are high nutrient level in the tank , high po4 level ,to much light hours or
your bulbs are old and out of specs. so do some home work and try to solve the problem at the root . this may take some time and effort but its worth it ,good luck !

Bill Cobb · 12/23/2008, 11:26 PM

Agree with above, especially mag levels. When manually removing hair algae try not to release it into the water column. Use a scrubby with a pail of clean water and rinse it regularly when removing hair. Some people claim API marine AlgaeFix also helps get it under control, but you must work on the cause to totally eliminate it. It took me a while.

dbsquirt · 12/23/2008, 11:34 PM

Oh wow have I got a lot to learn. I do not use R O water I use tap water but had no problems til now. I will look in to phosban ? Don't test mag will need to get a test for that I test salinity 1.024 temp 80.4 ph 8.2 calcium 430 ammonia 0.25 nitrite 0 nitrate 2.5 copper 0.05 and if I may what is high po4 level? As for the lights tank was new in may not sure how long T5 bulbs are good for but will check in to that also thank you

dbsquirt · 01/02/2009, 03:56 PM

I did 20% water change and cut lights back was gone a few days and has not gotten better but feather duster seems to be gone have not seen it since i got home and the water stinks bad think i'm losing the battle i think i'm going to change more water and as i do i'm going to take out the smaller LR and scrub it in the old salt water and see if that helps

LisaD · 01/02/2009, 04:04 PM

if you have ammonia, something died or your tank isn't fully cycled. are you letting the salt water circulate overnight, and matching temperature and pH to your display tank?

dbsquirt · 01/02/2009, 04:13 PM

ammonia is 0.25 last check had tank set up since june 08 yes tank water cycles all day and nite

12/23/2008, 10:32 PM	#1
dbsquirt Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 4	Help newb with brown hair alge ??? Help I have a rsm 34 gal and had no problems for months but brown stuff on the substrate that comes and goes have never lost a thing and about 2-3 weeks ago had a break out of hair like alge with bubbles and its all brown and covers every thing My feather duster and anemone look bad but fish and mushroom and CUC look ok I did a 10% water change and changed light timer about the time it started not sure what to do I have tried cutting lights back a lot has not helped __________________ dbsquirt Current Tank Info: Red Sea Max 34 gal.

12/23/2008, 11:02 PM	#2
iamwrasseman Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: syracuse Posts: 7,003	do another water change providing that you are using R O water. physicaly remove as much algea as you can . add phosban and you may also try to raise the mag in the tank . cut down on the amount of food . thease all will help fix the problem but you first want to know what your water paramiters are so you can try to fix the right problem . the thing thst causes algea are high nutrient level in the tank , high po4 level ,to much light hours or your bulbs are old and out of specs. so do some home work and try to solve the problem at the root . this may take some time and effort but its worth it ,good luck ! __________________ This hobby certainly can put you in some weird positions ! Dave Current Tank Info: 40 freshwater,25saltwater 2000 gallons ,enough tanks for an army ?

12/23/2008, 11:26 PM	#3
Bill Cobb Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: White Plains, MD Posts: 136	Agree with above, especially mag levels. When manually removing hair algae try not to release it into the water column. Use a scrubby with a pail of clean water and rinse it regularly when removing hair. Some people claim API marine AlgaeFix also helps get it under control, but you must work on the cause to totally eliminate it. It took me a while. __________________ Bill Current Tank Info: 29g BioCube, 29g plumbed w/ 20g, 2 - 5g seahorse tanks, 2 micro algae reactors, 3 brine shrimp reactors, 4 - 1g rotifer tanks, 55g display plumbed w/55g refugium.

12/23/2008, 11:34 PM	#4
dbsquirt Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 4	Oh wow have I got a lot to learn. I do not use R O water I use tap water but had no problems til now. I will look in to phosban ? Don't test mag will need to get a test for that I test salinity 1.024 temp 80.4 ph 8.2 calcium 430 ammonia 0.25 nitrite 0 nitrate 2.5 copper 0.05 and if I may what is high po4 level? As for the lights tank was new in may not sure how long T5 bulbs are good for but will check in to that also thank you __________________ dbsquirt Current Tank Info: Red Sea Max 34 gal.

01/02/2009, 03:56 PM	#5
dbsquirt Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 4	I did 20% water change and cut lights back was gone a few days and has not gotten better but feather duster seems to be gone have not seen it since i got home and the water stinks bad think i'm losing the battle i think i'm going to change more water and as i do i'm going to take out the smaller LR and scrub it in the old salt water and see if that helps __________________ dbsquirt Current Tank Info: Red Sea Max 34 gal.

01/02/2009, 04:04 PM	#6
LisaD That's not a salmon Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: central North Carolina Posts: 6,986	if you have ammonia, something died or your tank isn't fully cycled. are you letting the salt water circulate overnight, and matching temperature and pH to your display tank? __________________ Keeping saltwater tanks since the late '70s Current Tank Info: tankless at the moment

01/02/2009, 04:13 PM	#7
dbsquirt Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 4	ammonia is 0.25 last check had tank set up since june 08 yes tank water cycles all day and nite __________________ dbsquirt Current Tank Info: Red Sea Max 34 gal.