Hair algae killing my coral please help. Please.

[clffthmps]

Me personally, I would let it grow and starve it out.I know it might not look pretty for a while,but it will do the job.I keep my nitrates at about 5-6 ppm. I understand that every tank is different. But if you starve the algae of nutrients it will die off. then you can remove the algae.

 

[ahiggins]

Turbo Snails - cows of the sea. They do fall off the rocks and you have to pick them up or they might die.

+1 for cows of the sea

 

[ahiggins]

Me personally, I would let it grow and starve it out.I know it might not look pretty for a while,but it will do the job.I keep my nitrates at about 5-6 ppm. I understand that every tank is different. But if you starve the algae of nutrients it will die off. then you can remove the algae.

Phosphate rx helped me loosen the foothold it had. After about a week the eyebrow brushes took care of all the roots and haven’t been back since

 

[Lazydayz]

Okay, another question, are you familiar with starburst polyps? Mind you it’s coming out but turning brown even though it’s in the brightest part of my tank

I unfortunately don't know anything about Starburst Polyps. I have read that sometimes Iodine levels while effect Star Polyps. Might be worth looking into.

 

[Reesj]

here is a better picture, the picture I posted was afterwas scrubbing away at the rocks and sucking up Gha, which sadly seems to be thriving still. My water parameters are
PH-8.2
Nitrate-0
Nitrite-0
Ammonia-0

my other test kits are shipping to me right now!

Your nitrates and even maybe phospates near 0 due to GHA consuming the neutrients. That does not mean there are no excess if no algae.
Anyway as I said manual remove and get a tang or soem other good algae eating species.
IF that does not work, use vibrant or similar product maybe and see.

 

[Cell]

No tang and a LMB isnt going to help much with hair algae.

I'm seeing a relatively quick and easy rip clean. What do you think @brandon429?

 

[brandon429]

Gosh yes and I would not do it any other way

you don’t want to chemically suppress this growth above, this is exactly what should be growing in a system that produces coral

this tank has no matched grazers (matched vs randomly added ones to ‘see’ if helps) and that’s the sole reason some tufting is happening


lift out rocks and set on counter. Use kitchen knife to debride algae off anchor points and rinse with saltwater down the sink

rock is now algae free

next step: put peroxide on the former anchor spots let rock sit for three mins, rinse off that area with saltwater set back clean rocks in tank


when ur rocks are total coralline they won’t grow algae itll select somewhere non corallined to anchor

the best way to rob the fuel for algae without upsetting corals chemically is to take apart the tank and clean the sandbed out correctly. But that can wait, manual rock guiding fixes this tank by lunch

if my tank was large and impractical for direct access I’d have a cuc and deal with their waste compounding creatively. But for a nano, external removal is best because the system is returned to state cleaner, and anywhere cuc does the work waste compounding occurs, the little pellet droppers.

 

[brandon429]

Cell these light invasions are exactly why I think gha invasions are psychological before biological. I can’t see how something that is a matter of choice to keep or exclude is biological, it’s a choice. We have a way to address gha choking out corals using accurate and detailed dental techniques which leaves the tank free of algae within two hours, or a months long detailing and testing regime might possibly could work


hesitation, deliberate action, resolve, doubt, tentative action express action all factor into whether this tank still has algae after lunch. well those traits and a forgiving work schedule but clearly overnite can be fixed. I didn’t need to know his phosphate, nitrate, or ID of invader to make up these rules heh we have ways to be invaded free in nano reefing and we have ways to address fuel reserves if we want to.

others find fun in tuning the invasion out, coaxing params to do work I support that too. But if someone simply wants to be algae free and they own a nano, just circle yes or no and pass me the note back

 

[tnewell]

Cell these light invasions are exactly why I think gha invasions are psychological before biological. I can’t see how something that is a matter of choice to keep or exclude is biological, it’s a choice. We have a way to address gha choking out corals using accurate and detailed dental techniques which leaves the tank free of algae within two hours, or a months long detailing and testing regime might possibly could work


hesitation, deliberate action, resolve, doubt, tentative action express action all factor into whether this tank still has algae after lunch. well those traits and a forgiving work schedule but clearly overnite can be fixed. I didn’t need to know his phosphate, nitrate, or ID of invader to make up these rules heh we have ways to be invaded free in nano reefing and we have ways to address fuel reserves if we want to.

others find fun in tuning the invasion out, coaxing params to do work I support that too. But if someone simply wants to be algae free and they own a nano, just circle yes or no and pass me the note back

I would love to get rid of the gha, and I will take your advice and manually take out the rocks, the corals are glued to the rocks, so would the best way to be using a syringe and spray salt water on the corals? Or are their any other ways to do this?

 

[Cell]

I would just pop them off and remount them on new plugs in lieu of having to also deal the gha growing on the old plugs. You could also just carefully work around them and clean the plugs as you go.

 

[brandon429]

I don’t even give my pico reef the luxury of having water while drained and cleaned, these common corals likely can go hours in the air

my max is 40 mins now...so if you take a few mins on the counter cleaning it won’t harm them.

 

[VeniceReefer]

how i got rid of mine was dosing vibrant.. weekly water change.. feed less.. but do becareful not to go under specific # for nutrients like phosphate and nitrates.. if you have a refugium.. vibrant will actually kill the beneficial algae in there and will release more nutrients into the tank.. taking out the beneficial algae is a must.. hope this helps.. and for the lawnmower blenny.. its 50/50 mine like to snack on glass film and some shorter hair ones on the rock.. but never touched longer gha.. i can also see that you have a flame angel.. that could also be the cause of closed corals from nipping.. running a UV would help free floating spores of algae.. but wont get rid of established gha on the rocks.. if you can constantly scrub the rocks the uv can actually help kill the floating ones that cant be removed mechanically.. good luck!

 

[SoAg Reefer]

FWIW @brandon429 is the guy I'd listen too. He helped me cycle a tank in like 2 days and 2 months later I have an acro collection that is thirving. With that being said, I had hair algae ALL over 2 weeks when I got back from vacation for a week. I dosed NoPox at 5ml a day for 1 week, added 5 Mexican turbo snails and some hermits and left it over the weekend. Monday I came in and ALL of the hair algae was gone and rocks look a little too clean. NoPox now dosees at 2.5ml a day to maintain .04 ish po4 and 5-10 n03. Took 3 days (Fri-Sunday) for the turbo snails and nopox to fix the issue. It looked much worse than your tank as well. Personally I believe it was the turbos not the NoPox but whatever...that fixed it for me

 

[tnewell]

FWIW @brandon429 is the guy I'd listen too. He helped me cycle a tank in like 2 days and 2 months later I have an acro collection that is thirving. With that being said, I had hair algae ALL over 2 weeks when I got back from vacation for a week. I dosed NoPox at 5ml a day for 1 week, added 5 Mexican turbo snails and some hermits and left it over the weekend. Monday I came in and ALL of the hair algae was gone and rocks look a little too clean. NoPox now dosees at 2.5ml a day to maintain .04 ish po4 and 5-10 n03. Took 3 days (Fri-Sunday) for the turbo snails and nopox to fix the issue. It looked much worse than your tank as well. Personally I believe it was the turbos not the NoPox but whatever...that fixed it for me

Would lfs have Mexican turbo snails and Mexican red legged hermits or would I have to special order them? I tried manually cleaning my rocks today and it just spread and got worse. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but I like the help I’m getting.

 

[SoAg Reefer]

They should, I got mine from reefcleaners.org Now I don't need them and they are bulldozers. It is amazing the job they do. All tanks have algae. If you have excessive algae you have a nutrient issue you need to fix. If PO4 and NO3 are fine, make sure your photoperiod isn't outside normal sun cycle. Fix the cause rather then bandaid but you will always need CUC. Mexican Turbos are beasts and will do the work for you while keeping things clean.

 

[tnewell]

They should, I got mine from reefcleaners.org Now I don't need them and they are bulldozers. It is amazing the job they do. All tanks have algae. If you have excessive algae you have a nutrient issue you need to fix. If PO4 and NO3 are fine, make sure your photoperiod isn't outside normal sun cycle. Fix the cause rather then bandaid but you will always need CUC. Mexican Turbos are beasts and will do the work for you while keeping things clean.

I also was thinking about a sea hare, but I figured the algae I have does not even come close to what the sea hare needs, but I would love to see my tank not covered in Gha. My back wall has recently been growing gha out of control. I ordered Mexican turbo snails in hope of justice.

 

[SoAg Reefer]

What’s ur nitrate and phosphate levels? I saw 0 but should never be 0 really

 

[tnewell]

What’s ur nitrate and phosphate levels? I saw 0 but should never be 0 really

So I have the api test kits, phosphates and nitrates still are 0 maybe like the slightest bit of nitrate but that is really it

 

[SoAg Reefer]

API is junk tbh....that’s good though but something is feeding the algae. Photoperiod and/or nutrients. Either way, hope the turbos do their job. They are awesome

 

[tnewell]

API is junk tbh....that’s good though but something is feeding the algae. Photoperiod and/or nutrients. Either way, hope the turbos do their job. They are awesome

I was looking into different test kits just never got around to actually buying them, so here are my water parameters
PH-8.2
Ammonia-0.25ppm
Nitrite-0
Phosphate-0.5-0.10
Nitrate-0

still waiting on a salinity test kit
I know the gha always gets worse before it gets better and I think I’m in the worse, it’s not taken over the rock next to it, but it’s very fragile now, meaning I can hit it and it floats away.