Hair algae + 3 day black out.

[1Clown]

I've been running my reef tank for a little over a year now with no prior issues of algae. All my water is perfect and then all of a sudden I get a hair algae bloom coming up all over the place. I removed as much as I could physically but there are a lot of places my hands cannot reach and the algae grows in crevices where it's impossible to get it out completely. I've even got a stiff tooth brush and brushed the rock as much as I could but I truly believe this stuff must grow on such a small scale that our eyes cannot see as the surface would look spotless where I brush and then I get new growth within 2 to 3 days.

So I finally decided to try a complete blackout for 3 days and I just uncovered the tank and NONE of the algae that was present has died off or lost any colour to my surprise, it's so disappointing I honestly feel like leaving the hobby because of this.

As soon as I saw there may be an alage bloom I immediately cut down on feeding from pellets, flakes and frozen every day to just 1 frozen cube every other day.

My tank is a 2ft cube and I have 8 fish in total which includes an algae blenny and starry blenny both of which are absolutely useless and do nothing to keep any algae in check (typical of my luck), fortunately none of my livestock seems to have perished in the 3 day blackout nor did my 2 BTAs move and cause havoc.

For filtration I have 2 filter socks, a protein skimmer and chaeto which grows like crazy. Also I use RowaCarbon and Rowaphos.

Do I have any hope at all?

 

[Dany3350]

Do you have a test kit to check phosphates? And what type of water are u using ?

 

[kylepelk]

I had the same problem and dosed with vodka. Seemed to work well. I have no algae in both my tanks. It won't happen over night but it is a real accomplishment after you get it all gone.

 

[michael.cser20]

Are you using rodi? What is your nitrates and phosphates like? What size tank and what kind of water change schedule to you have?

 

[1Clown]

I use Salifert test kits with a phosphate reading of 0.03ppm, nitrates and nitrites both 0. I make my own RODI which registers at 0 TDS. I do a 10% water change every 2 weeks, it was 10% every week but it made no difference to the algae or water parameters and I save money on salt by increasing water changes to every 2 weeks.

 

[Lenny_S]

If your Chaeto "grows like crazy" then you must be having a good amount of nutrients produced.
I would suggest you look at any kind or supplement you are adding, particularly anything with Iron... Iron can make algae grow out of control even with relatively low nutrients.
And invest in a CUC that are hair algae specialists. Unfortunately that is mostly hermit crabs, so you may want to be careful about mixing them with snails.

 

[1Clown]

Only nutrients I am adding other than food if they are classed as such are dosing alk, cal and mag via a doser. I have only 1 hermit crab remaining of the 6 I got as part of my first clean up crew and found them to be a nuisance. I have a number of different types of snails and a blue tuxedo urchin also. Both my algae blenny and starry blenny are absolutely useless unfortunately.

 

[Lenny_S]

I agree on the hermits, don't care for them much myself, but they will eat copious amounts of hair algae. Snail wise your best bet are Turbograzers... trochous can help too and some conchs and ceriths. In your size tank I'd get a least a dozen turbos, a dozen trochous, a tiger conch and maybe a dozen ceriths. Really the best way to battle it is to have a good CUC.

 

[jsbull]

I'm also in your boat. I have a small Fluval 6 gallon that's just invertebrates, mostly RFA's. My profile pic is a nice shot of the RFA's in the tank. I have been battling this stuff non-stop and it seems like it's just impossible to get rid of. I almost never feed my tank, but it still grows like crazy. I really, really want a solution to get rid of it. I guess I'll try the vodka dosing and see if that has an impact.

 

[djd3mon]

You can try Phosphate Rx. It weakens hair algae where it is easy to pull out.

I recommend watching these 2 videos.

1 is Melevs Reef using Phosphate Rx and the other is a BRS video that goes into detail of how to keep algae from your tank.

I find both very good videos to learn from and keep in my arsenal of algae videos on my Youtube Page.

Hope this helps you.