Green hair algae coming back, I need help!

[Ricky Vargas]

Well one week ago I reset my reef tank because I wanted to thoroughly clean of any green hair algae on the glass, rocks, and I got new less finer sand so it won't blow everywhere. My tank had a big green hair algae problem, so that's why I resorted to doing this. I kept all the rock and my bio media to keep my beneficial bacteria alive, and I refilled it with brand new saltwater. It's been about a week now and I'm already starting to see my glass covered in super tiny little hairs which I'm guessing is hair algae, my rocks are also starting to get covered in small hairs so I'm guessing the green hair algae is coming back. How can I stop this!? I dont want my tank to go back to what it used to be.
Livestock
-2 ocellaris clownfish
-yellow watchman goby
-hammer frags
-torch coral frag
-bubble coral
-gsp frag
I tested some of my water parameters today(1 week after reset)
NH3 - 0.0
NO2 - 0.0
NO3 - 0.7
PO4 - 0.09
Any help is appreciated, thank you!!

 

[ddrueckh]

Even though your tests show 0 phosphate and nitrate, they are still there. Can you add a refugium, ATS or Reactor to outcompete the GHA?

 

[Reefbuds]

Man I've got GHA that keeps coming back as well. Relentless. I'm currently trying vodka dosing, prime, all sorts of filter medium. I even bought 30 snails and a massive turbo snail recently. Hopefully they will do the trick. I recently took all of my live rock out and toothbrushed the GHA off. Its under control now, not near as bad as it was. It's a tough battle once it gets a foothold.. I've figured that out the hard way lol, as it seems you have. I'll keep track of this and see if anyone sais ANYTHING other than, " keep your nutrients under control and starve it" my nitrates have read almost 0 for months now and phosphates are 0, altho probably because they are trapped up and being used by the GHA that remains. Still, I would love to know how to rid this but all anyone has told me is to keep my nutes down. It's not working for me tho

 

[tdowning]

Well one week ago I reset my reef tank because I wanted to thoroughly clean of any green hair algae on the glass, rocks, and I got new less finer sand so it won't blow everywhere. My tank had a big green hair algae problem, so that's why I resorted to doing this. I kept all the rock and my bio media to keep my beneficial bacteria alive, and I refilled it with brand new saltwater. It's been about a week now and I'm already starting to see my glass covered in super tiny little hairs which I'm guessing is hair algae, my rocks are also starting to get covered in small hairs so I'm guessing the green hair algae is coming back. How can I stop this!? I dont want my tank to go back to what it used to be.
Livestock
-2 ocellaris clownfish
-yellow watchman goby
-hammer frags
-torch coral frag
-bubble coral
-gsp frag
I tested some of my water parameters today(1 week after reset)
NH3 - 0.0
NO2 - 0.0
NO3 - 0.7
PO4 - 0.09
Any help is appreciated, thank you!!

What size tank...are you using RO water? What is your lighting schedule? Let's start there.

 

[Ricky Vargas]

What size tank...are you using RO water? What is your lighting schedule? Let's start there.

My tank is a 38 gallon bowfront, I use RODI water 0 TDS, I run my lights for 6 hours and 30 minutes. I use galaxyhydro LEDs (165W Chinese LEDs

 

[Imran Sid’s]

Ricky cover you tank and don’t let light for 3 - 4 days

 

[Toomnymods]

seahares and phosphate RX are a powerful combo.. forget snails.. they don't eat enough fast enough to outcompete it. Get 1-2 seahares (depending on the size of tank and amount of GHA) and start using phosphate rx 2-3 times a week and this should definatly knock out any GHA problem

 

[Iona Skye]

Careful with the seahares, and watch them closely. My seahare was my only mystery death in my saltwater aquarium (and the ammonia spike from his sad demise caused the death of two new fish)

Also I'd strongly caution you against making changes too quickly.... Use RO water, limit the light if you can, add AN algae eater but not too many, use some phosphate absorbing media if you need to... But don't do everything at once!

Your entire system may be out of balance, so you need to cultivate the good "stuff" (bacteria and idk what else) more than you need to worry and the bad stuff (but seriously, don't use tap water.... The dissolved solids and phosphate content can be super yucky).

Those are my thoughts....

 

[Ricky Vargas]

seahares and phosphate RX are a powerful combo.. forget snails.. they don't eat enough fast enough to outcompete it. Get 1-2 seahares (depending on the size of tank and amount of GHA) and start using phosphate rx 2-3 times a week and this should definatly knock out any GHA problem

Thanks I'll have to get some phosphate RX then! And I'll be looking into shares.

 

[Ricky Vargas]

Careful with the seahares, and watch them closely. My seahare was my only mystery death in my saltwater aquarium (and the ammonia spike from his sad demise caused the death of two new fish)

Also I'd strongly caution you against making changes too quickly.... Use RO water, limit the light if you can, add AN algae eater but not too many, use some phosphate absorbing media if you need to... But don't do everything at once!

Your entire system may be out of balance, so you need to cultivate the good "stuff" (bacteria and idk what else) more than you need to worry and the bad stuff (but seriously, don't use tap water.... The dissolved solids and phosphate content can be super yucky).

Those are my thoughts....

Thanks for your advice, what algae eater would you think Is the best?

 

[Iona Skye]

Thanks for your advice, what algae eater would you think Is the best?

My starry blenny devoured all sorts of algae! But they can also be little jerks to the other fish so be careful. But I think a blenny (lawnmower or starry) is your very best bet if you have visible excess algae.

My turbo snails and hermits were very reliable little fellows. The tux urchin did a great job scraping the rocks.

The chocolate chip star ate lots of algae but I don't recommend those guys in general (too aggressive).