Green Hair Algae

[shollis2814]

A tuxedo urchin is helping my tank tremendously. It might help you get rid of the excess GHA and then you can solve your nutrient issues (and possible TDS issues) as you will have a better idea what your actual values are.

You can also 'lease' a sea hare if your LFS can get one. They can really clean that stuff up. But you will need to take them back when there is no more food.

 

[shollis2814]

I had an outbreak of GHA and I tried a bunch of things. Once I changed my rodi filters, my tank slowly got better. I think I was running it past its expiration. Also, I moved some rocks around and I think that stirred up some excess nutrients.

I tried peripoxide, which helped a little but it was not a long term solution. I also tried vibrant, which seemed to be the most effective method to killing it somewhat, but it also killed my snails.

What I finally did just out of frustration was minimize nutrients, I did not adjust my lighting schedule at all. Once I started to see the GHA turn pale, I would siphon as much as I could out of the tank manually with a turkey baster and squeezed it into a meshed filter and let the water run back into the tank. Needless to say, I did this nearly every day. Eventually the tank and rocks were rid of GHA. I did this and also made weekly water changes as well and it helped tremendously.

Wish you luck. No matter what path you take, it will not be a quick one. Will take time and work to get it out of your tank.

I wonder if the Vibrant killed the algae, and released nitrates, which killed your snails. I have been dosing preventatively and my inverts seem fine.

 

[jtl]

I have a minor HA problem that I have been keeping at bay for over a year. I seem to be gaining on it now that I am back to running GFO. My NO3 and PO4 are low and there is not enough HA to be lowering it and I don't over feed my 4 small fish so who knows the cause, maybe leaching from rock or sand. Anyway my problem is on the corals at the top of my rockscape so sand dwellers will not help me. I have heard mixed reports of various crabs, fish, urchins helping to the mow down the algae and my take is may work for some but not for all.
I had no success with Vibrant and some with H2O2. I think the best way to use H2O2 is to do a dip. Take out the rocks with the HA on them, brush and scrape as much as possible and dip them in a 50/50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and saltwater for 3-4 minutes. It really helps the corals if they are closed up before doing the dip, that way the peroxide does not get inside. If there are corals attached to the rocks try to first remove them. Dip the corals in clean saltwater before returning them to the tank. The 50/50 dip will not kill the corals but they will likely stay closed for a couple of days. You can follow up with the much more diluted peroxide treatment in the full tank if you so desire but I am not fond of any full tank treatments because they have caused me more problems than I care to think about.

As said before, treating the HA is not going to be a long term solution if you don't get the nutrients under control. I am very certain after looking at your pic that with that much HA the test kit readings are not indicative of the total amount of Phosphate and Nitrate in the water. After you start to see die off make sure to do some large water changes because if you don't the nutrients will stay in the water. If you do the dip you will be amazed at the amount of crap that in the dip water.

 

[emilios_reeftank]

Sounds to me like your LFS is trying to make some money off of you selling you numerous amounts of supplements to rid of hair algae. I recommend buying Continuum Aquatics Bacter M. It does work although it takes about a month to really kick in, it will loosen up the HA making it easier for you to pull out by hand and also for your clean up crew to consume. I also recommend a Sea Hare as I have found can consume a lot more HA than any other algae eating species. Urchins work good too but can only consume very little at a time. I purchased a Sea Hare and a Urchin and added Bacter M and my HA infestation was gone within 2 months.

 

[Stuartmercer]

Turn the lights off for two or three days, that will weaken them, after that try and pull as much of as possible. I would suggest getting a sea urchin, Tuxedos work well for me.

 

[TerribleTanks4Me]

With the level you have in the tank, restarting or moving on may be your best option. Unfortunately, you can beat this but it will take time and that is something that is difficult for most when you have invested this much already.

I tried it all, spent a fortune, and then found a member on the two sites i frequent who changed the way i think about it. So here is my take.

First and foremost, check the water for TDS. If you can, have your LFS put a small amount of RODI in a cup and test its TDS. If its anything above 0, immediately stop buying water from them. Invest in RODI system as you will need it for your future system anyway.

Next, take a clear hose and attached a toothbrush. Scrub the rocks and siphon the water out through a filter sock back into the tank. This will pull the hair algae out and keep your water stable.

Do not add anything. No magic whatever, no simple fix, no nothing. Stop the water changes. I know this goes against everything you have ever heard, but you are adding nutrients back into the tank and keeping everything unstable as you go. Let the tank stabilize.

Do this repetitively for as long as it takes. Cutting back on lights and rinsing your food with fresh RODI will help. The skimmer will export nutrients and do not let it run back into the tank. I adjusted to a wet skim and emptied mine daily. It took about 6 weeks, and now its done. I then moved it into a new tank and brought all my old rock with me. I have one piece with hair algae on it and it has never grown or spread. My emerald grabs love it and chew it daily. Its fun to watch.

Also, blue legs are great, Caribbean red crabs and emerald crabs all do work. They are especially good for keeping up the progress.

Remember, it will grow back as the tank fights with itself to find balance. The 10g water changes are far to much for that system and you are not allowing the tank to stabilize.

Lastly, feel free to start the 110. But think about it this way. If you are at the give up point with this tank, what is going to happen with this repeats itself with the new tank? Triple your cost and that is where you would have been since we do not know the source. My bet, with your livestock and light schedule, is source water.

Thank you very much! After I read all these comments again I’m pretty sure yours might take the cake for the best! It’s been tough trying to see what might work or what might be the cause. Finding the root cause is nice but what if I can’t find the root cause? Starting the 110 would be nice but your point is valid. Stuck between a live rock and a dwindling tank right now. Thank you again!

 

[TerribleTanks4Me]

Sounds to me like your LFS is trying to make some money off of you selling you numerous amounts of supplements to rid of hair algae. I recommend buying Continuum Aquatics Bacter M. It does work although it takes about a month to really kick in, it will loosen up the HA making it easier for you to pull out by hand and also for your clean up crew to consume. I also recommend a Sea Hare as I have found can consume a lot more HA than any other algae eating species. Urchins work good too but can only consume very little at a time. I purchased a Sea Hare and a Urchin and added Bacter M and my HA infestation was gone within 2 months.

I purchased a Sea Hare and Urchin, the Urchin died when I fell off on its back and I didn’t catch it in time. But the Sea Hare is doing well. The other thing I got was a Lawnmower Blenny and it seems to be doing well.

 

[brandon429]

I have large restoration work threads for both sandbed cleaning and for green hair algae cleaning and we think the root cause can be discerned in anyone’s tank, without a test kit.

Root cause drumroll: detritus clouding.

If you reach in your tank at night and lift up a rock to the middle water column, then shine a flashlight on it, then shake twist it about strongly, the cloud that one million percent certain will come off and cloud the tank is a root cause for the algae it was directly feeding by rotting inside the frond catches. By killing algae off your rocks directly like a gardener handles dandelion, you reduce catches and self feeding locations which may or may not register on a N or P test kit.

If you reached in and grabbed your sandbed if any, and dropped down a giant handful, that resulting tank death or non lethal but opaquing cloud is a root cause. In my threads we makes rocks clean, sand like a snow globe, and then collect eight years or better of after pics all together. Any tank that can be taken apart and cleaned of clouding fuel can have the algae killed off the rocks in one step as well, while the rest of the tank is being accessed for cleaning.



managing nutrients, clean up crews, lights not being too white but heavy blue, dosers, that’s for prevention. When the structure is there, that’s removal phase which isn’t prevention work. Keeping these actions separate is critical, most won’t describe it that way but running giant restoration threads sure confirms it.


Among options for algae there’s the wait, hope, test, confirm, make an ID thread, buy something, wait, react, hope, try, and attempt option.

Or your tank is algae and cloud free by Friday option. It’s such a simple choice it offends 98% of readers but just not anyone posting in our work threads- They love the after pic phase which takes 24 hours to produce ️

Let’s rip clean your tank so it looks nice by Saturday. However you want to prevent rip clean number two is ok by me. Any day that algae sits in self perpetuation/allowed to remain is already lining up for rip #2, hand guiding is done at the start ideally.

 

[laverda]

I purchased a Sea Hare and Urchin, the Urchin died when I fell off on its back and I didn’t catch it in time. But the Sea Hare is doing well. The other thing I got was a Lawnmower Blenny and it seems to be doing well.

The sea urchin did not die from falling on its back. It is very capable of righting it’s self. Either it was not healthy or there is an issue in you tank.

 

[jabberwock]

As you can see, lots of people have GHA. I am no exception. My tank is 6 months old. I do manually removal from time to time, but I really don't sweat it too much. It is not like there is not a lot of algae in the ocean...

I have also started doing daily micro water changes. Well every other day, I scoop out 64 oz with a mason jar and add 64 fresh ounces back in. I would avoid chemicals and fancy equipment. I pluck out chunks with my fingers. that way I can pull it out of the tank. My lawnmower blenny is fat!

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/when-does-algae-become-a-problem.417217/page-2

 

[laverda]

I have had tanks over run with GHA in the past. I have found it is easy to eliminate it from your tank by growing it else where that it can be easily harvested. With inexpensive red & blue LED grow light it will grow where ever you want it to. Since it grows better under the grow lights that display tank lights the algae in the tank will die out. The best place to grow it is an easily removable surface like the Matt used in and ATS. A large ATS can easily be made for less than $30. See my DIY thread for some ideas on how you can add one to your tank.

 

[fish farmer]

I have had tanks over run with GHA in the past. I have found it is easy to eliminate it from your tank by growing it else where that it can be easily harvested. With inexpensive red & blue LED grow light it will grow where ever you want it to. Since it grows better under the grow lights that display tank lights the algae in the tank will die out. The best place to grow it is an easily removable surface like the Matt used in and ATS. A large ATS can easily be made for less than $30. See my DIY thread for some ideas on how you can add one to your tank.

My tank was a GHA mess about a year ago. I got back into routine WC, siphoning and picking out by hand, new CUC and added a grow bulb and chaeto to my sump. It is pratically gone in my display...nutrient levels have gone down as well.