hair algae

[sassyfrassy]

What eats hair algae?

[droth335]

Originally Posted by sassyfrassy

What eats hair algae?

I have had good luck with a sea hare...

http://www.seaslugforum.net/showall/dolaauri

...but the key is to address the source of what is feeding the hair algae (e.g. phosphates & nitrates). I use RO/DI water & run GFO and carbon 7x24 and limit feeding so I consistently have both nitrate & phosphate at 0.

[elmafioso52988]

Algae blenny would do a good job eating the algae. But if you want to get rid of the algae long term you have to keep up with you water changes and only feed a litle ever 2-3 day. What are you tank paramiter?

[Matt0676]

Originally Posted by sassyfrassy

What eats hair algae?

I used to have a hair algae problem and then I bought some hermit crabs. They mow that stuff down!!! It is amazing, and cheap!

[Sohal Tang Tim]

I would never call anyone a liar.....
If you say the crabs ate your hair algae I believe it.....

But...I can tell you that once hair algae gets a good grasp on a tank
there is NOTTTTTTTTTTTTTT A SINGLE ANIMAL (other then sea hare)
that will get rid of the problem!!!!! and even the sea hares do not always
work...hit and miss....old or young etc....right type of sea hare etc....

Lawn mower blenny eats it yes...but it can GROW faster then he can eat!

Crabs...ok...they may eat it...fill a 280 gallon with hair algae and throw 100 crabs in...the hair algae will grow faster then they can eat!

Tangs...wow this one kills me...ok...they may nip at HA if they are starving
but again...in a big tank with HA grasp...they will NOTTTTTT fix the problem!

I have heard that this eats it and that eats it and I have tried every darn single one of them over 20 years and the ONLYYYYYYYYYYYYYY thing that
has been successful in nailing it is a SEAHARE as far as animals.
The above is bandaid solution and temporary gain if you do not reduce
the nutrients however....which is the real problem usually or part of a
combination of problems....

I put 4 seahares in my 280 recently not a single one of them would touch the Hair Algae! I have 6 tangs in there...NOTTA!!!!! I have a wack of crabs in there...notttaaaaaa....

WATER CHANGES, GFO, MAGNESIUM, FLOW, LESS FOOD, AND PHYSSSSSICAL REMOVAL OF THE HA IS THE COMMON DENOMINATOR TO GETTING RID OF IT...

IT WONT MELT AWAY UNLESS YOU COMPLETELY CUT OFF IT'S FOOD SUPPLY AND EVEN THEN IT IS A STRUGGLE...

OH YA..VODKA CAN HELP TO...IF YOU DRINK ENOUGH OF IT YOU WONT
SEE THE HAIR ALGAE AFTER A WHILE HAHAHAHAHAHA

Tim

[Matt0676]

Originally Posted by Sohal Tang Tim

I would never call anyone a liar.....
If you say the crabs ate your hair algae I believe it.....

Are you sure that isn't what you just did (indirectly of course)?

Should I take some time lapse photos? I am working my way through an algae bloom as we speak. And the only livestock I have in the tank is a handful of hermit crabs and a clown fish. I don't think clowns eat hair algae do they?

[FearTheTerps]

Crabs will eat hair algae, I have a bloom going with my newest set up. I just added a few hermits the other day along with some snails, Mexican Turbo and Margarita snails. I can clearly see several patches were they are all working their magic. That being said, I agree that crabs and snails alone wont clear up the problem. First, Find the source of the algae bloom. Then remove by hand as much as you can, and let the little critters go to town on the rest. It will still take several weeks for everything to clear up.

This hobby is nothing but patience.

[Matt0676]

Originally Posted by FearTheTerps

Crabs will eat hair algae, I have a bloom going with my newest set up. I just added a few hermits the other day along with some snails, Mexican Turbo and Margarita snails. I can clearly see several patches were they are all working their magic. That being said, I agree that crabs and snails alone wont clear up the problem. First, Find the source of the algae bloom. Then remove by hand as much as you can, and let the little critters go to town on the rest. It will still take several weeks for everything to clear up.

This hobby is nothing but patience.

I agree, I should have mentioned that the hermits won't do anything for the algae on vertical surfaces (for obvious reasons).

The best thing though is to find the source.

Good luck!!

[Sohal Tang Tim]

Like I said..."I believe you"

I guess there are exceptions to everything.....

I am not saying I am right either....I am no expert.....

Opinions vary thats for sure...and that was only an opinion...I should have
qualified that..usually I do....

Congrats on the HA fix.....if crabs did it.....your darn lucky


Tim

[jim t]

Well you have to find the source also. Overfeeding, tapwater etc...
Remove as much as you can manually, add a fuge with cheato(or other)
Phos. reactor. Then the crabs/blenny/snails will help keep it under control.

[DirtyDeeds]

Turbo snails

[Sohal Tang Tim]

all of the above done and then some......

thanks people...much appreciated.

Tim

[sassyfrassy]

I know I have problems w/ NO3 10-15ppm, & PO4 1.0ppm. I'm working on getting a fuge set up & sump to run Phosban reactor. The HA is only showing up on one rock - the last one added from LFS. Should I remove that rock? I just did a 20g water change on 65g tank w/no difference in readings.

[FearTheTerps]

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...623&pcatid=623

As a voracious scavenger, this omnivore can get into the smallest crevices and openings within live rock to consume nuisance algae including hair algae and cyanobacteria. While doing so, Clibanarius tricolor also helps aerate sand substrate, thereby encouraging growth and activity of beneficial bacteria

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...571&pcatid=571

The Turbo Snail is extremely popular among reef hobbyists, since it quickly eliminates large amounts of nuisance algae. It is particularly fond of hair algae and will consume mass quantities of it and other algae off your live rock and aquarium glass


Its not just an opinion or luck, Hermits and snails eat algae.

[FearTheTerps]

Remove as much as u can from the rock. Turn off your powerheads or pumps, this helps to stop it from flying all over the tank as you try to collect it. Theres no point in helping it spread to another area of the tank. Use a fish net to get the smaller pieces that come off. Clean up crew should take care of the rest.

[sassyfrassy]

I know I can use snails, but I thought my nitrate is too high for a hermit. A CUC might also incl brittle stars, cucumber too - is my nitrate not too high for them? These things are expensive - I don't want to kill them. At this point it's just a tiny fuzz on the rock, but a nick in time...

[kretzkiller]

manual removal and keeping nutrients out of your water.

[sassyfrassy]

kretzkiller - love your dog!

[FearTheTerps]

I have hermits in my FOWLR tank, and my nitrates are much much higher then your 10-15 ppm. Just make sure you acclimate then very slowly to your tank. I always do a drip acclimation of at least 2 hours. Should be fine after that.

[Madratter]

I have had luck with emerald crabs and turbo snails on small patches. That said, I'm no longer a fan of emerald crabs because I have a rogue that is doing its best to chomp down some zoas. And so far, I haven't been able to catch the rotten thing.

[tralynne]

Everyone here is failing to mention one thing: Hair algae is a family of algae.

There are many forms of GHA. Not all animals eat all types of GHA…some variants of GHA won’t be touched by any living creature. I have tried everything under the sun to beat my last GHA outbreak. I battled if for 18 months. You know what finally worked? Bleach. Yes…sold all my remaining livestock back to the fish store. Drained the tank. Put it in my garage and filled it back up with freshwater and bleach for a month. Ran it through all the filters/sumps/heaters everything. Epic win for me!

Too many new people and a surprising number of experienced reefers need to be clear and make it known that GHA is not one type of animal…hundreds of variants are out there. “Shoal Tang Tim” is not lying…what is really being said is that someone that gets a sea hare eating his GHA and another is wondering why his sea hare is not eating the GHA in his tank is because it is a different type. Certain animals do eat variants of GHA…however, if you are a fish and are offered meaty/fleshy food everyday…would you eat the GHA if you are not hungry? I for one will take a steak over a salad anyway.

Best technique? Adjust/change/modify one thing you do for a period of time to see if it affects the GHA. If after a week or so it does not…then try something else. This way you can identify what is making your variant of GHA grow. If you change 4 things and it goes away…do you really know what the problem is? Because what happens is you change 4 things in your tank chemistry…the GHA goes away (visually that you can see not a microscope looking at spores) and you go back to business as usual. All you have done now was re-fertilize your tank for the GHA spores to germinate and grow back. These things are like weeds. Even when you pull all the weeds out of your garden they come back b/c of the seeds left behind. Turning off the lights for 48 hours? Don’t make me laugh. Seeds/spores will last for who knows how long till the conditions are right to grow. All that 48 hours of no lights accomplish is that you don’t get to see you tank for 2 days. To effectively cook GHA off rocks you need weeks…i.e 4-6 weeks in a trash can so no ambient light can get in….but by the time you cook it off you have also cooked off tons of beneficial stuff as well.

Keep all your PO4, NO2, NO3 levels as close to zero as possible. This should be normal practice even whit out a GHA problem.

Vodka? I agree with above…better mixed with OJ while viewing your tank.

[aquabod]

cant believe that nobody has mensioned urchins.or i missed it... i have two types of urchins...mainly the long spined urchin. i have several in my 180 gallon reef. they have kept the algae under control by themselves with no help from snails or crabs. i once had a HA problem, but with the introduction of the urchins the algae has disapeard. i have since given a couple of the urchins away because they do such a good job im affraid that they wont have enough to eat.one last thing about urchins - they dont like to eat in an area of high water tubulance and seem to be more mobile at night, so turn pumps off or put them on a timer at night........good luck

[sassyfrassy]

Will the urchins eat coralline algae as well?

[aquabod]

yes unfortunatley they will eat the coraline

[Sohal Tang Tim]

forgot to mention I tried an urchin also...notta..did not touch the GHA

I am sure they DO... but the one I tried did not.

I have the uneatable GHA..nothing eats it...the toothbrush I used fixed it!!!!

FOR NOW.... I have the ultimate answer to GHA...its called


*****************TURBO TEEN!!!!!!!***************

I am paying a teenager 10 bux an hour to get into the tank with toothbrush.
He made himself 60 bux the other day but he completely eliminated every
strand of HA in a 280 gallon 8ft long tank!!! and it was covered!!!!!!!!!!

best 60 bux I ever spent!!!!!!!! Now I dont worry...I am letting my tank
age and cycle and I will just call up the TURBO TEEN when it starts back
and one hour here and hour there to maintain!! che ching!!!! cheaper then
chemicals! more effective! and I am ONE HAPPY CAMPER!!!

As he cleans the HA out he is removing phoshpate at the same time...>

While this process goes on my Algae Turf Scrubber is kicking in ....
While this process goes on my GFO is kicking in
While this process goes on my Phos Buster is kicking in
While this process goes on I backed off on the vodka..I only tried it for 3 days then STOPPED... I am hoping I can solve the problem without vodka
as it kills coraline...coraline that I love...we will see...if I have to go back
to the vodka I will...

Tim