Get rid of hair algae

[spidercrab]

Ok my frag tank has been sitting at zero nitrate and phosphate regularly for months on end and it is killing my coral but the hair algae has no problem. I add nutrients and the hair algae just takes off and it may grow 3-4 fold in just a few days depleting the nutrients of the tank within 1-2 days. I cant keep the nutrients up because of the hair algae. It is outcompeting all of my corals even at the zero nutrients it thrives for at least several months on end. Nothing will eat it. I have tried every cleaner.

 

[SALTY 75]

Ok my frag tank has been sitting at zero nitrate and phosphate regularly for months on end and it is killing my coral but the hair algae has no problem. I add nutrients and the hair algae just takes off and it may grow 3-4 fold in just a few days depleting the nutrients of the tank within 1-2 days. I cant keep the nutrients up because of the hair algae. It is outcompeting all of my corals even at the zero nutrients it thrives for at least several months on end. Nothing will eat it. I have tried every cleaner.

i have the same problem i even have a sea hare and he has about tripled in size and he is not making a dent, so im looking into a chateo reactor or a turf scrubber.

 

[SALTY 75]

i guess if you cant beat it just grow it some where no one has to look at it lol

 

[PghReef]

Sure it's not dinos? Maybe try some h2o2 dosing 1ml per 10gal twice a day with lights off. You have to remove as much as possible before you start and get in there with a toothbrush but you'll get there

 

[spidercrab]

Sure it's not dinos? Maybe try some h2o2 dosing 1ml per 10gal twice a day with lights off. You have to remove as much as possible before you start and get in there with a toothbrush but you'll get there

Honestly i think it is hair algae with dinos growing on top. It kills any inverts almost immediately. But there is definitely hair algae.

 

[spidercrab]

i guess if you cant beat it just grow it some where no one has to look at it lol

It grows wherever it wants to(everywhere) lol.

 

[PghReef]

Honestly i think it is hair algae with dinos growing on top. It kills any inverts almost immediately. But there is definitely hair algae.

I am not an algae expert but posting pics or contacting reefcleaners may helhelp with an ID. The 0 nutrients is the dead giveaway that makes me assume dinos. I do think algae problems often involve species and it's not often you have a single type of algae causing problems.

I was battling something sounding similar recently. What I did was scrub the rocks with a toothbrush to try and get it off and stir up denitris every other day, then do a 20% wc snd clean out the filters. Didnt seem to get me far so I beefed up my cuc with lots of trochus and ceriths and added some conchs and start h2o2 dosing. After it seemed to wind down I did a 3 day blackout to knock it out. I also took the reds and greens out of my kessils. I did not lower my feeding in this time and and feel like I'm finally to where I want to be. Hard work with lots of scrubbing and staying on top of it the past month. Every time I walked by the tank I'd see another tuft and whip out the toothbrush. I'm going to continue dosing h2o2 but cut it back to once a day instead of twice. Helps my ph stay up and decreasing the need to clean the glass. No I'll effects on corals or inverts

 

[spidercrab]

I am not an algae expert but posting pics or contacting reefcleaners may helhelp with an ID. The 0 nutrients is the dead giveaway that makes me assume dinos. I do think algae problems often involve species and it's not often you have a single type of algae causing problems.

I was battling something sounding similar recently. What I did was scrub the rocks with a toothbrush to try and get it off and stir up denitris every other day, then do a 20% wc snd clean out the filters. Didnt seem to get me far so I beefed up my cuc with lots of trochus and ceriths and added some conchs and start h2o2 dosing. After it seemed to wind down I did a 3 day blackout to knock it out. I also took the reds and greens out of my kessils. I did not lower my feeding in this time and and feel like I'm finally to where I want to be. Hard work with lots of scrubbing and staying on top of it the past month. Every time I walked by the tank I'd see another tuft and whip out the toothbrush. I'm going to continue dosing h2o2 but cut it back to once a day instead of twice. Helps my ph stay up and decreasing the need to clean the glass. No I'll effects on corals or inverts

Should be easy for me. This is a coral only tank so i dont even have to feed it. But the problem is that the algae is outcompeting the corals. I tried nutrient control for months and daily dosing of H2O2. I even dosed a huge amount of H2O2 with zero effect except the corals didnt like it much. Finally, I took out some of the hair algae and put it in a 50/50 mix of H2O2 and saltwater and it had no effect on it after 3 days. I went zero nitrate and phosphate for over a month. No effect on the algae and all of my corals lost color. Now I am dosing phosphate and nitrate to keep the coral alive but the algae is just growing out of control. Even with very heavy dosing, the nutrients will zero out in 2-3 days.

 

[PghReef]

Looks like maybe some cyano as well?

 

[Jon Fishman]

Dump a cup of H2O2 in there, and start running aggressive O3 and UV

 

[spidercrab]

Dump a cup of H2O2 in there, and start running aggressive O3 and UV

I dumped in half a bottle already a few weeks ago its only a 30 gallon tank. I even mixed the algae with 50% H2O2 and it was fine.. Corals suffered immensely though.

 

[spidercrab]

I think its jsut dinos teamed up with hair algae. killer combo because no invert or fish will touch that hair algae and it keeps the nutrients at zero.

 

[Travis Stewart]

So just my $0.02. Everyone will tell you that your nutrients are not showing up on test kits because the algae is consuming the nutrients to thrive. I really think you should try some vibrant. Works really well. Give it two weeks and let us know what happened.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

FLUCONAZOLE

 

[AquaAmator]

I got my hair algae under control with a bunch of blue-legged hermits. Is that a possibility? They ripped it out from the roots.

 

[Jon Fishman]

So just my $0.02. Everyone will tell you that your nutrients are not showing up on test kits because the algae is consuming the nutrients to thrive. I really think you should try some vibrant. Works really well. Give it two weeks and let us know what happened.

+1 on the vibrant. Caution if you have Nems though.

 

[Travis Stewart]

+1 on the vibrant. Caution if you have Nems though.

unaffected on my nems dosing the “clean tank” recommended dose amount.What happened to your nem?

 

[Jon Fishman]

unaffected on my nems dosing the “clean tank” recommended dose amount.What happened to your nem?

They close up and shrink for 2 days at least, every time I’ve tried to dose it.

 

[Travis Stewart]

They close up and shrink for 2 days at least, every time I’ve tried to dose it.

Dang never noticed that with mine! I’ve also treated small amounts of bubble algae with success and they haven’t came back

 

[spidercrab]

So just my $0.02. Everyone will tell you that your nutrients are not showing up on test kits because the algae is consuming the nutrients to thrive. I really think you should try some vibrant. Works really well. Give it two weeks and let us know what happened.

Yes the algae will consume the nitrates and phosphate. I went over a month without adding any food source to the tank it registered zero nitrate and phosphate for over a month. All of the corals began to bleach from starvation. The algae didnt grow but it also didnt die at all. Might try vibrant but the problem with this tank is that it is already nutrient starved. This tank has been coral only for almost a year now.