Hair Algae, test and eradicate

cestep6 · Jul 23, 2017

Hello folks,

I have a 75 gal corner reef tank with what I think I think is hair algae problem.

Last 2 water changes have been done with RODI water. Yesterday (7/22) I installed a Eschops sump and skimmer(x-120) (see attached pics)with puracen and macaron.

I also have a test kit, but not sure how to test for nitrates and phosphates. It's an 8 bottle kit.

So here's my question, should I give all the new filtering time to work and see if the algae disappears?

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Carl

killingseed2000 · Jul 23, 2017

i would pull is out or syphone it. remove as much as you can by hand.

cestep6 · Jul 23, 2017

killingseed2000 said:
i would pull is out or syphone it. remove as much as you can by hand.

Thanks for the reply. I did a test for Nitrates and it shows 0. Should I test for phosphate levels? Some of the postings mention a "Low nitrate test", but not sure what I need to run it. Thoughts?

killingseed2000 · Jul 23, 2017

yes i would test the phosphates. but over all, keep in mind the algae can kept them at a low level due to the algae consumes them. if you do get a reading and its high i would look at doing a water change , maybe even one a week till you got them down as well as a light off duration for up to a week(5 days). that where pull the algae out will help as well with most gone and dying off you reading might change.. you image only show a small section of the tank , if that all the algae you have i would say there isnt enough to consume and keep them at low levels. but i dont think thats the case if you have that little bit there than i assume there is more all over?

cestep6 · Jul 23, 2017

killingseed2000 said:
yes i would test the phosphates. but over all, keep in mind the algae can kept them at a low level due to the algae consumes them. if you do get a reading and its high i would look at doing a water change , maybe even one a week till you got them down as well as a light off duration for up to a week(5 days). that where pull the algae out will help as well with most gone and dying off you reading might change.. you image only show a small section of the tank , if that all the algae you have i would say there isnt enough to consume and keep them at low levels. but i dont think thats the case if you have that little bit there than i assume there is more all over?

Yeah, have some on the back and on some snails. got as many of the snails as I could out. hard to scape the back to get any more.