I am having problems with hair algae. I recently saw a reef safe product to kill this algae, however now that I need it, I am unable to find it again. Can someone tell me what the best product is or ideas what to do to control it. thanks.
hair algae problem
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sureal00
Well-Known Member
what I did was shut the lights off for 3-4 days and use a product like phosphate rx to lower phosphates in water and then just manually pulling out the hair algae.
Do you have a phosphate test kit
Are you overfeeding
Have you ever tested your water you put into thank for phosphates.
Do you have a phosphate test kit
Are you overfeeding
Have you ever tested your water you put into thank for phosphates.
cjd
Well-Known Member
First we need to discuss what your nutrient levels are and the root cause for the outbreak. Hair algae is fueled by nitrates and phosphates, so we need to get those under control. Most effective way is through water changes with RODI , either a large ...or a series of small ones back to back to get those levels low . (I have no problem changing close to 100% water , other reefers feel this may be too much of a change and do a series of 10 % water changes everyday for a week or more till the numbers show improvement . )
During this time you want to take out any rock that can easily be removed and give it a good scrub using the old tank water and place it back into the aquarium. Scrub , pull at and scrub some more the remaining rock in the aquarium with a toothbrush . Manually remove as much as you can and turn up the flow in the aquarium . Turkey baste the rocks blowing all the crud into the water column . Use a net to capture as much as you can and let the mechanical filter capture the remaining. After the tank clears up , turn the flow back down to normal and change the filter pad or sock . You can do this step as many times during the week as you want to stick your hand in the tank. I just went through this with my new tank and I did it every three days. Get a good clean up crew of various snails , I like the Mexican turbo , they are big hungry eaters . Keep up with those water changes or look into other methods for nutrient control .
During this time you want to take out any rock that can easily be removed and give it a good scrub using the old tank water and place it back into the aquarium. Scrub , pull at and scrub some more the remaining rock in the aquarium with a toothbrush . Manually remove as much as you can and turn up the flow in the aquarium . Turkey baste the rocks blowing all the crud into the water column . Use a net to capture as much as you can and let the mechanical filter capture the remaining. After the tank clears up , turn the flow back down to normal and change the filter pad or sock . You can do this step as many times during the week as you want to stick your hand in the tank. I just went through this with my new tank and I did it every three days. Get a good clean up crew of various snails , I like the Mexican turbo , they are big hungry eaters . Keep up with those water changes or look into other methods for nutrient control .
There are two products now being used for Gha. VIbrant and Fluconazole. VIbrant is effective but does have a few side effects like lowing nutrints too low for some corals and often cyano after use and very rarely dinos.
The fluconazole is mainly of bryopsis but in a number of cases does target Gha and can be effective with redosing.
There are some comprehensive threads here on r2r. Let me know if you need help finding them.
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The fluconazole is mainly of bryopsis but in a number of cases does target Gha and can be effective with redosing.
There are some comprehensive threads here on r2r. Let me know if you need help finding them.
. .
