Hair Algae, taking over and killing corals

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Ineedhelp

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I have a 29 gallon biocube, I do not understand but I cannot get rid of this hair algae outbreak... It will not stop... I have a carbon bag and live rock in the back but no protein skimmer. it is right now only homing coral and I feed coral frenzy but honestly I do not feed a lot since this outbreak I have been fighting for at least two months... I recently have done two five gallon water changes and since Christmas replaced the RODI filters and my nitrates are at 10 ppm. I love coral and not super interested in fish and was wanting to only keep coral and maybe a fish or two. My lights I have cut down in half of what they used to be (I have a kessle) and it still seams to be better but will not go away.
 
Orphek OR3 reef aquarium LED bar
I have about 10 - 15 snails that I can see, no Urchins and no Algae eating fish.... I will have to give the results after the water change I do tonight to see if the no3 drops...
 
Nutramar Foods
I’ve dealt with GHA and it is not an easy thing to get rid of. You didn’t really give and tank specifics. Sounds like a small tank. Nitrates are a little high. I would stop the coral frenzy. May need to invest in a skimmer if you are not routinely doing water changes. The thing that help me the most was increasing my flow. Rinsing my LRS food and painstakingly removing as much GHA as possible manually with a turkey baster. A toothbrush helps as well but you have to remove as much as you can so that it doesn’t spread. It will take a while regardless. Just stay the course and look for stability. I did not reduce my lighting output. I did use vibrant which helped to starve it making it easier to remove but I also lost snails when I used it.
 
saltyfilmfolks said:
Cuc is the fish line of defense.
Click to expand...
Funny
I use my clean up crew a lot. If my tank gets too green I buy more. Certain snails work different surfaces. I have about 7 or 8 types and buy accordingly
I have GHA, Bryopsis and other algaes.
 
Tidal Gardens
lapin said:
Funny
I use my clean up crew a lot. If my tank gets too green I buy more. Certain snails work different surfaces. I have about 7 or 8 types and buy accordingly
Click to expand...
I had to take my urchins out of the 55 for a about a month.
Guess what happened?
Lol
 
I understand I need a cuc and I do have snails and crabs I guess I will go to the LFS and buy more, I think what started all of this was I was doing water changes for about 4 months with bad RODI
 
Ineedhelp said:
I understand I need a cuc and I do have snails and crabs I guess I will go to the LFS and buy more, I think what started all of this was I was doing water changes for about 4 months with bad RODI
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That’ll do it.

Also , check the back chambers for build up of funk. Funk rots, ammoina no3.

If it’s pretty bad fluconazole, def get an I’d on it.
 
1. Get and run a skimmer
2. I also have a Biocube. You should definitely clean out all three back chambers once a month.
 
As other have mentioned I would also stop feeding all of the coral foods for right now. One of the nice aspects about not having fish is that in an algae outbreak you're able to eliminate more of the introduced nutrients into the tank. Your corals will be able to make it through without feeding (unless you have some NPS species or something like that) while you work to eliminate as much of the algae as possible. If possible I'd also try to manually remove as much of the algae as possible along with taking some steps to stop it from growing back with some strategies that others have mentioned.
 
Chewy.com
Will it just disappear from in the middle of zoa frags?? Mine have several mission e stops that make them close up.

I have considered doing chemiclean to get rid of it.
 
I found the best way to remove the HA is doing exactly what @Mal11224 said, but I would add one more thing in. BUY A SEA HARE AND SOME TURBO SNAILS!!! lol those are seriously the two best things to rid of it. Also definitely invest in a skimmer as it will constantly remove gunk from your system and cut back on how many water changes you do.
Mal11224 said:
I’ve dealt with GHA and it is not an easy thing to get rid of. You didn’t really give and tank specifics. Sounds like a small tank. Nitrates are a little high. I would stop the coral frenzy. May need to invest in a skimmer if you are not routinely doing water changes. The thing that help me the most was increasing my flow. Rinsing my LRS food and painstakingly removing as much GHA as possible manually with a turkey baster. A toothbrush helps as well but you have to remove as much as you can so that it doesn’t spread. It will take a while regardless. Just stay the course and look for stability. I did not reduce my lighting output. I did use vibrant which helped to starve it making it easier to remove but I also lost snails when I used it.
Click to expand...
 
AS
Now I may not be the most experience one out here to give any advice but I have been through this with my fluval spec v. Tank was fully covered with GHA had to pull my hairs instead of pulling those freaking algae. I am not sure how much a skimmer might help here though most people suggest that. But what worked for me was a reactor with Phosgaurd and chemipure blue in the top shelf. I got one from amazon for $36(AQUATOP MR-20 Multimedia Reactor with Pump). My GHA got controlled within 2 days and down to 0% in a week. Also to mention I had the same bag of phosgaurd sitting in the tanks filter for a month which did not help but as soon as I opened it up and added to the reactor it worked like a charm. Cut down feeding to 50% of what you are doing until you feel good about the GHA. This was the cheapest way to add additional nutrient control system to the tank.
Also, I believe GHA phase is a part of owning a tank as most of us go through until it subsidies. Don't give up!
 
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What are your phosphates? “Bad RO/DI” won’t of been helping the situation. If it’s a bio cube personally I would be doing weekly water changes regardless, it wouldn’t take very long in a small tank and will keep your phosphate and nitrate levels down.

Cut back on the coral frenzy and get a protein skimmer. If your phosphate is stupidly high maybe add a GFO reactor for the short term and remove as much GHA by hand when doing your water changes.

It’s all well and good increasing your CUC but what happens when they run out of algae to eat? Don’t go too crazy too soon as in a small tank this will increase the bio load, especially if they start dying of hunger.
 
I would also cut back, if not outright off, the coral foods. They've always just caused me pollution issues.
 
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
I have bought some emerald crabs, the reactor and the skimmer advised... I will get some turbo snails tomorrow... I will keep you guys up to date of what works best!
 
Ineedhelp said:
I have bought some emerald crabs, the reactor and the skimmer advised... I will get some turbo snails tomorrow... I will keep you guys up to date of what works best!
Click to expand...

Remember nothing good happens fast in a reef tank just keep persevering. Good luck
 
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