hair algae issue

[Johnnyv49]

Hello all, Maybe you can help with some suggestions. I have an issue in my tank where I have hair algae all over the rocks in the tank. To be honest I didn't realize what was happening to the tank until it was too late.

PH 8.2
Nitrates - 5.0 Working on reducing these
Phosphates - Needs to be checked, need new kit

I seem to have a lot of it but being reduced for now. I have a reactor running with Phosguard. I have added a bunch of snails and hermit crabs to eat the algae and pick at the rocks. I also have 2 yellow headed sleeper goby's that are picking at the algae. I've also been going through the tank with a brush removing as much of the algae as possible. The snails and crabs can then pick even better.

What else can I add to the tank to keep this down? I was told that a sea urchin eats hair algae. Any suggestions on how I can keep the hair algae down.

 

[Super Fly]

How old is the tank?
If its not new(ish), I'd do several water changes to reduce nitrate and phosphate (pls get a new kit soon). Should monitor PO4 levels bc once phosguard is spent, it wont absorb any more PO4 and have to be replaced. If u dont have much coral, can reduce light hours to help slow algae growth. CUC won't eat hair algae bc its too long.

 

[schuby]

Some background would be helpful. How old is your tank? Do you only have the two fish, snails and crabs in it?

 

[Uncle99]

Vibrant

 

[artieg1]

Read up on some of the sticky threads in nuisance algae forum. There are about a dozen interventions you can try. I think best to only try 1-2 at a time, or you'll never know what is working and what isn't. For me, manual removal was a critical part of the process. Yes, waving a magic wand would be awesome, but manually removing by hand is a pain but it is a definite part of the program and gets those nutrients out of the tank. Inverts and urchins are also good. I have found my tangs have no interest. I have an algae scrubber in my sump, that helps too.

If this is a newer thank less than a year old, don't worry. If this is a 2+ year tank, you can get some relief by using Fluconazole. But I would read much more on the steps to take before adding chemicals.

 

[jeffrey750750]

Introduce good bacteria and a couple of these turbo snails. I haven't seen hair algae in 8 months

 

[Johnnyv49]

The tank is about 11 months old. No coral
75 gallon
I have:
1 Coral Beauty
1 Blue tang (about 3 1/2 inches max)
2 small pajama cardinals
2 Gobys
1 Royal Gramma (1 inch)
3 small Oscellaris Clowns
1 coral shrimp
Hermit crabs and snails
2 anemone 1 large and 1 about an inch around.

 

[schuby]

Thanks. Can you supply a full-tank pic using white light (not blue)? A close-up of the hair algae is helpful, too.

 

[Johniejumbo]

I was growing lush green fields of hair algae at one point. I found taking a couple rocks out and scrubbing with a stiff bristle brush in a bucket with a weekly water change did wonders. I also limited my feeding as much as I could. During the water change I would either vacuum the sand on half the tank or use a power head to blast out from behind the rocks to remove build up of excess waste. I also added a short spine urchin and a tuxedo urchin. It took over 2 months to get it completely under control. Now I have a happy hair algae free tank. It took some work but it was totally worth it.