Still having to toothbrush all rock every 2-3 weeks because hair algae keeps returning. I keep doing water changes once a week, filter floss once a week, tried a sea hair and he didnt do much eating and died after 3 weeks for no apparent reason. Water chemistry is perfect. Nitrates and phosphates are 0. I'm thinking algae is absorbing nutrients but after I remove 99% the water chem is still the same after a day. Does anyone have any ideas? I have yet to find any source that would be producing these nutrients. Please help
Hair algae - tried everything
- Thread starter nfritz565
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What else do you have in your tank that is using nutrients?
How old is this tank and how long have you been trying to rid your tank of it?
How much hair algae are we taking about?
Most cleanup crew members will not eat it when its long. They only like the tasty young shoots.
How old is this tank and how long have you been trying to rid your tank of it?
How much hair algae are we taking about?
Most cleanup crew members will not eat it when its long. They only like the tasty young shoots.
rkpetersen
walked the sand with the crustaceans
Promote the growth of coralline algae in your display.
If you don't already have one, add a macroalgae refugium or scrubber.
You need something desirable that will outcompete the undesirable algae.
If you don't already have one, add a macroalgae refugium or scrubber.
You need something desirable that will outcompete the undesirable algae.
I'm guessing your rock/sand is absorbing and releasing phosphate. What changes are great for nitrate, but they aren't efficient for PO4.
GFO works better.
Edit: "water" changes
GFO works better.
Edit: "water" changes
Nitrates a phosphate at zero is bad. If you think gha is bad wait till cyano shows up, and if you don’t get your nutrients up it’s likely.
With gha it’s a catch 22. As it grows it absorbs nutrients. When it dies it re-releases them.
72 hour black out won’t rid the tank of it, but will stamp it down, and loosen it’s hold. Followed by a mixing of top of sandbed, blowing off all rocks with turkey baster , and large water change will debris is still in water column.
For a tank without gha issues i’d Recommend
nitrates between 5-15
Phosphate between.02-.05
In your case think
nitrates between 5-10
Phosphate between.02-.03
Test your parameters in the morning before lights come on.
If your phosphate is in fact below .05 don’t run gfo
With gha it’s a catch 22. As it grows it absorbs nutrients. When it dies it re-releases them.
72 hour black out won’t rid the tank of it, but will stamp it down, and loosen it’s hold. Followed by a mixing of top of sandbed, blowing off all rocks with turkey baster , and large water change will debris is still in water column.
For a tank without gha issues i’d Recommend
nitrates between 5-15
Phosphate between.02-.05
In your case think
nitrates between 5-10
Phosphate between.02-.03
Test your parameters in the morning before lights come on.
If your phosphate is in fact below .05 don’t run gfo
nfritz565
Community Member
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Thanks, yes I failed to mention that I did have a cyano out break 2 months ago and used chemiclean. Worked great and havnt seen it since. Tank is 7 months old. So I should remove my chemipure elite? I will try if you think it might help. It's only a 32 buicube so algae scrubbers and refugium are not feasible. I do have a basket of macro algae for the pods to live. Macro is growing good too.
If you act on cyano quickly you can get rid of it. Once it takes hold it’s tough.
Chemclean is good and bad. When it’s new and absorbing it’s doing it quick. When it gets used up it slows down and stops. So you get swings. Better off not using it imo, or use one, add another when half used up and continue that process. With a newish tank it can be tough. Think the best thing to do is blow off rocks once a week before your water change, then change your sock/floss the next day.
Oh, just realized, chemiclean, not chemipure.
Sure, it can work. Good to get at root of problem thou
I have some work on that stored up handy
you aren't having a nutrient issue.
when a parrotfish comes along to bite algae off the rocks, he doesn't brush it off. he bites it off, taking rock with it. you are doing the tiny increment step
consider doing the step that stops your growback, don't do brushing. Good job on being willing to access your tank, that's rare.
message sent with about 8 yrs of gha nuclear fixing.
you aren't having a nutrient issue.
when a parrotfish comes along to bite algae off the rocks, he doesn't brush it off. he bites it off, taking rock with it. you are doing the tiny increment step
consider doing the step that stops your growback, don't do brushing. Good job on being willing to access your tank, that's rare.
message sent with about 8 yrs of gha nuclear fixing.
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We can make you an algae scrubber for your bio cube. We have recently purchased Greyfish Aquatics designs for biocubes.
AlexG
Valuable Member
Hair algae can take some time to get under control. My tanks had it for several months before it was cleared up. Since you have a small tank the macro algae will help. I would get an urchin as they are algae eating machines. I would start with one small pincushion or small long spine (Long spine urchins will outgrow your tank so make sure your LFS will accept it back once it out grows the tank before you get one). The urchins might knock some corals over or carry them around but they will help in conjunction with macro algae to get the hair algae removed. If one does not make an impact in a couple of weeks I would add a second. Its best to be patient with hair algae as scrubbing the rocks and manual removal does not always work on its own.
SantaMonica
Valuable Member
This might help...
What do all algae (and cyano too) need to survive? Nutrients. What are nutrients? Ammonia/ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate and urea are the major ones. Which ones cause most of the algae in your tank? These same ones. Why can't you just remove these nutrients and eliminate all the algae in your tank? Because these nutrients are the result of the animals you keep.
So how do your animals "make" these nutrients? Well a large part the nutrients comes from pee (urea). Pee is very high in urea and ammonia, and these are a favorite food of algae and some bacteria. This is why your glass will always need cleaning; because the pee hits the glass before anything else, and algae on the glass consume the ammonia and urea immediately (using photosynthesis) and grow more. In the ocean and lakes, phytoplankton consume the ammonia and urea in open water, and seaweed consume it in shallow areas, but in a tank you don't have enough space or water volume for this, and, your other filters or animals often remove or kill the phytoplankton or seaweed anyway. So, the nutrients stay in your tank.
Then, the ammonia/ammonium hits your rocks, and the periphyton on the rocks consumes more ammonia and urea. Periphyton is both algae and animals, and is the reason your rocks change color after a few weeks from when they were new. Then the ammonia goes inside the rock, or hits your sand, and bacteria there convert it into nitrite and nitrate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.
Also let's not forget phosphate, which comes from solid organic food particles. When these particles are eaten by microbes and clean up crews, the organic phosphorus in them is converted into phosphate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.
So whenever you have algae or cyano "problems", you simply have not exported enough nutrients out of your tank compared to how much you have been feeding (note: live rock can absorb phosphate for up to a year, making it seem like there was never a problem. Then after a year, there is a problem).
So just increase your nutrient exports. You could also reduce feeding, and this has the same effect, but it's certainly not fun when you want to feed your animals
What do all algae (and cyano too) need to survive? Nutrients. What are nutrients? Ammonia/ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate and urea are the major ones. Which ones cause most of the algae in your tank? These same ones. Why can't you just remove these nutrients and eliminate all the algae in your tank? Because these nutrients are the result of the animals you keep.
So how do your animals "make" these nutrients? Well a large part the nutrients comes from pee (urea). Pee is very high in urea and ammonia, and these are a favorite food of algae and some bacteria. This is why your glass will always need cleaning; because the pee hits the glass before anything else, and algae on the glass consume the ammonia and urea immediately (using photosynthesis) and grow more. In the ocean and lakes, phytoplankton consume the ammonia and urea in open water, and seaweed consume it in shallow areas, but in a tank you don't have enough space or water volume for this, and, your other filters or animals often remove or kill the phytoplankton or seaweed anyway. So, the nutrients stay in your tank.
Then, the ammonia/ammonium hits your rocks, and the periphyton on the rocks consumes more ammonia and urea. Periphyton is both algae and animals, and is the reason your rocks change color after a few weeks from when they were new. Then the ammonia goes inside the rock, or hits your sand, and bacteria there convert it into nitrite and nitrate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.
Also let's not forget phosphate, which comes from solid organic food particles. When these particles are eaten by microbes and clean up crews, the organic phosphorus in them is converted into phosphate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.
So whenever you have algae or cyano "problems", you simply have not exported enough nutrients out of your tank compared to how much you have been feeding (note: live rock can absorb phosphate for up to a year, making it seem like there was never a problem. Then after a year, there is a problem).
So just increase your nutrient exports. You could also reduce feeding, and this has the same effect, but it's certainly not fun when you want to feed your animals
