currently battling hair algae

Maveric30 · Jan 29, 2013

im currently struggling to rid my tank of hair algae. i have 3 power heads in my 55 gallon tank operating with a hydor smartwave. however, i still get heavy detritus build ups in certain parts of my tank. im thinking that that could be one reason for my hair algae. my nitrates are always barely detectable as well as my phosphates. i currently have brightwell aquatics nitrate remover and a phosephate removing media pouch i think made my api. i hvae cut down on my light cycle. what more could it be? i was thinking about goin hard for a week or two brushing it off as much rock as i can and using a power head to blow up all the detritus to try and have it get taken out by my overflow. i know my corals hate when i do that, my question is, could the corals handle something like for a long period of time and not get too stressed out and possibly die? im also dosing mag 1-2 times a week, i heard that hair algae doesnt like mag lvls around 1600. correct me if im wrong. thanks

SteezySPS · Jan 29, 2013

i have a powerhead in my return area and still get detritus build up because i have rocks in there. every few months or so i blow all of it with ph to return to the display and do 20% water change while everything still suspended and skim wet. no harm yet. lps seem to like it.

NanaReefer · Jan 29, 2013

Mag only works on riding the Bryopsis algae and then it's only the Kent Tech M.
As for removing Hair Algae it's a battle. But one that can be won with a lot of hard work. First finding the cause. Excess nutrients being the number one, poor lighting as in old bulbs and phosphates. You mentioned a lot of detritus buildup. Can you not siphon it out during water changes?
I do not recommend you scraping it off the rocks in any way. Unless you can remove the rock from your tank. otherwise you'll just be letting it loose throughout your tank. Manual removal helps. But do this with flow turned off while doing a water change.
Main thing is to try and remove it food source, nutrients! Thus starving it out! Keep your water clean as possible. Feed high quality foods, low in phosphates and nitrates. Be patient and be diligent! Don't get discouraged and don't give up! Like I said its a tough battle and we have all had it at one time or another

Maveric30 · Feb 3, 2013

i can siphon the detritus out but its to hard to get into all the places before my two, five gallon buckets get filled up. monday im gonna stir everything up again and do a water change. after i fill the buckets up im gonna remove as much as rock as i can and scrape them off. my only concern is possibly getting an ammonia spike after my water change. ima gonna research and make sure i know what type of algae im dealing with.