Hair algae overrunning zoanthids

[mi_chael3]

Some of my zoanthid colonies are covered in hair algae. Is there any way to remove the algae? I know the best way to deal with it is just to use an old toothbrush but would that be okay to use on the zoas too? Are there any inverts or fish that would eat it and not harm my zoas?

 

[YVR]

Hair Algae problems are usually caused by aquarium water with excess nutrients like phosphate, nitrates etc. You can get a Clean Up Crew of Emerald Crabs, Hermits, Fox Face Rabbit Fish, or a tang etc. and try and siphon out what you can to remove the algae in the short term. In the long term you may have to examine how you care for your tank. There are some commercial dry foods also contain excess nutrients and other undesirable things like nitrates, phosphates etc so I strain/rinse my fresh/frozen foods before feeding my tank. You may want to consider feeding your fish less often. If you have bio balls/media, check if they are dirty or get rid of them if you have enough live rock. Also, changing your photo period, light bulbs, adding more flow, using RO/DI water with a good salt. If your phosphates are high you can add a phosphate remover like Tropic Marin Elimi-Phos also, increasing flow in your tank may help too.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Phosphates and excess nutrients will be your culprit there.
GFO, and watch your feeding. Don't use a brush on the Zoas, that'll tick em off if not kill em. You can do the 3 days lights out method to initially kill it off, but you will still need to find the issue and resolve it.
GFO or Phosban Reactors.
Mind if I ask what your flow in gph is in your tank?

 

[Mike J.]

I had a rock about 4" x 6" totally covered in Zoanthids that was being choked out by hair algae. It really was not doing well. I read about dipping it in peroxide and as a last resort I did it. Since I was skeptical I used a 50/50 dip and did it for five minutes. Well, surprise, surprise after a few days no sign of hair algae at all! Not only that, but those zoas have never looked so good and they still do to this day.

 

[mi_chael3]

Phosphates and excess nutrients will be your culprit there.
GFO, and watch your feeding. Don't use a brush on the Zoas, that'll tick em off if not kill em. You can do the 3 days lights out method to initially kill it off, but you will still need to find the issue and resolve it.
GFO or Phosban Reactors.
Mind if I ask what your flow in gph is in your tank?

I have the biocube HQI and just went out and purchased a korallia 250 for auxiliary flow. Before that i wasn't running any auxiliary flow at all. I would try the 3 days lights off to kill off the algae but I have several high end chalices in the tank as well and don't want to risk stressing them out. I'm fairly certain the extra phosphates are coming in via overfeeding (i feed the corals almost every day.) I was hoping weekly 5 gallon water changes would be enough to compensate for the high nutrient level but I guess not. Do you know of any decent reactors that would fit the biocube? If not have you had any experience with chemipure elite? I read that that can help lower phosphate levels.

 

[mi_chael3]

I had a rock about 4" x 6" totally covered in Zoanthids that was being choked out by hair algae. It really was not doing well. I read about dipping it in peroxide and as a last resort I did it. Since I was skeptical I used a 50/50 dip and did it for five minutes. Well, surprise, surprise after a few days no sign of hair algae at all! Not only that, but those zoas have never looked so good and they still do to this day.

I've never heard of that before! How exactly did you do that? What kind of peroxide was used? Did you dip the whole rock or just the zoas? I'm interested in trying this out.

 

[Ninjapotamus]

You will be happy with a sea hare. Trust me. Its so satisfying watching them absolutely obliterate huge areas of the stuff.

 

[Mike J.]

Well, it pretty widely posted about. Some call it H2O2, but it's your common hydrogen peroxide. Kind of wish I had some hair algae to do it again. But the amazing thing is how well the zoas responded to it. I guess that was about nine months ago or so. The zoas are bigger and fuller, you know, more frilly. Dipped the whole rock and swished it around.

 

[Mike J.]

Just read your latest post. I consider myself an overfeeder, but we feed the corals every other day. We turn off all pumps and direct feed. But I also top off with kalk and vinegar, use small amount of GFO/carbon, changed every two weeks, grow a large amount of Chaeto, and definitely over skim. Feeding your corals every day is something I'd recommend changing. Also do 20% water changes weekly.