Hair Algae War

Dragonboas · Feb 11, 2021

I've won battles and lost battles but am no closer to winning the war with this hair algae. I've tried GFO, thinking it was a phosphate issue, no change. I started wet skimming, which seems to make the water look better but hasn't helped with the algae. The main places it grows is the overflows and in the baskets I have for a couple bubbletips. There is some on rocks but not as much. I did try to use peroxide and would even target the algae on rocks which might be why but that seemed to just fuel growth in the overflows. I can manually pull algae out and next day there seems to be just as much. For cleanup originally I put in 150 hermits, 7 turbos, between 100-200 cerith/nasarrius snails, 2 sandsifting starfish, 2 conches, 1 pencil urchin. Also have a sailfin tang, blue hippo tang, and flame tang, and a lawnmower blenny. Not a single one touches this stuff. Ended up adding another 100 blue leg hermits not long ago but I'm starting to think I don't have a detritus problem because my sand sifters appear to be starving. I'll list all the parameters below, but what is my next step here? I was thinking lanthanum chloride but maybe phosphates aren't where I need to be looking. Tried chaeto too but it just seems to be dying.

Salinity 1.025
ph 8.0 - api master test
ammonia 0 - api master test
nitrite 0 - api master test
nitrate 0-5 api master test (hard to read this one)
Phosphate .09 - Hanna checker
alk 9.0 - red sea test
calc 430 - red sea test
mag 1550 - red sea test

If I'm missing anything needed information just let me know, I'll get it.

Dark_Knightt · Feb 11, 2021

I use purified tap water (yes ik I shouldnt, I dont have an RO unit, but I use a private well and my water is clean anyways, only trace element is calcium I believe) . Use water conditioner, so that will obviously cause a few issues. Bought a bicolor blenny, and he loves it, plus a turbo snails (would highly recommend, those things are LAWNMOWERS! Slow, but highly effective). He hasnt eaten many prepared/frozen foods, but thats because hes chowing down on all the GHA! Its almost everywhere in my tank, and he lives in a rock with a cave system (which is cool to see, he pops his head out, when he gets scared he darts in.) SO whenever he's hungry, he takes a bite of algae. He also likes film algae on the glass but thats a different discussion.

Dark_Knightt · Feb 11, 2021

Dragonboas said:
I've won battles and lost battles but am no closer to winning the war with this hair algae. I've tried GFO, thinking it was a phosphate issue, no change. I started wet skimming, which seems to make the water look better but hasn't helped with the algae. The main places it grows is the overflows and in the baskets I have for a couple bubbletips. There is some on rocks but not as much. I did try to use peroxide and would even target the algae on rocks which might be why but that seemed to just fuel growth in the overflows. I can manually pull algae out and next day there seems to be just as much. For cleanup originally I put in 150 hermits, 7 turbos, between 100-200 cerith/nasarrius snails, 2 sandsifting starfish, 2 conches, 1 pencil urchin. Also have a sailfin tang, blue hippo tang, and flame tang, and a lawnmower blenny. Not a single one touches this stuff. Ended up adding another 100 blue leg hermits not long ago but I'm starting to think I don't have a detritus problem because my sand sifters appear to be starving. I'll list all the parameters below, but what is my next step here? I was thinking lanthanum chloride but maybe phosphates aren't where I need to be looking. Tried chaeto too but it just seems to be dying.

Salinity 1.025
ph 8.0 - api master test
ammonia 0 - api master test
nitrite 0 - api master test
nitrate 0-5 api master test (hard to read this one)
Phosphate .09 - Hanna checker
alk 9.0 - red sea test
calc 430 - red sea test
mag 1550 - red sea test

If I'm missing anything needed information just let me know, I'll get it.

Your turbos dont touch anything?? Odd. Mine chows down on it 24/7. Bicolor blenny maybe? Tangs should have cleared it you'd think...

DeniableArc · Feb 11, 2021

Dragonboas said:
I've won battles and lost battles but am no closer to winning the war with this hair algae. I've tried GFO, thinking it was a phosphate issue, no change. I started wet skimming, which seems to make the water look better but hasn't helped with the algae. The main places it grows is the overflows and in the baskets I have for a couple bubbletips. There is some on rocks but not as much. I did try to use peroxide and would even target the algae on rocks which might be why but that seemed to just fuel growth in the overflows. I can manually pull algae out and next day there seems to be just as much. For cleanup originally I put in 150 hermits, 7 turbos, between 100-200 cerith/nasarrius snails, 2 sandsifting starfish, 2 conches, 1 pencil urchin. Also have a sailfin tang, blue hippo tang, and flame tang, and a lawnmower blenny. Not a single one touches this stuff. Ended up adding another 100 blue leg hermits not long ago but I'm starting to think I don't have a detritus problem because my sand sifters appear to be starving. I'll list all the parameters below, but what is my next step here? I was thinking lanthanum chloride but maybe phosphates aren't where I need to be looking. Tried chaeto too but it just seems to be dying.

Salinity 1.025
ph 8.0 - api master test
ammonia 0 - api master test
nitrite 0 - api master test
nitrate 0-5 api master test (hard to read this one)
Phosphate .09 - Hanna checker
alk 9.0 - red sea test
calc 430 - red sea test
mag 1550 - red sea test

If I'm missing anything needed information just let me know, I'll get it.

Do you have pictures? Are you sure it’s not bryopsis? That would explain why it wouldn’t be consumed.

Dragonboas · Feb 11, 2021

DeniableArc said:
Do you have pictures? Are you sure it’s not bryopsis? That would explain why it wouldn’t be consumed.

This was my thought too, I've looked at it and pictures a hundred times and swear it doesn't look like byropsis. But I could be wrong. Is there anything else that looks similar. I have seen the tangs go after it when i knock a pice loose floating through the water. But if it's attached I have yet to see anything hit it.

JR55 · Feb 11, 2021

DeniableArc said:
Do you have pictures? Are you sure it’s not bryopsis? That would explain why it wouldn’t be consumed.

The GHA is outcompeting the chaeto for its nutrients. Chaeto Gro has helped my chaeto growth. Also just got a sea hare and it has been doing a great job on my GHA along with an algae blennie.

Felipe · Feb 19, 2021

A product that I have been having a lot of success with is Vibrant. I used to work for a aquarium service company and I would say that I used Vibrant in about 90% of all my services. Gives a lot of stability and the bacteria competes against the algae for nutrients, reducing significantly algae issues of any kind. A plus is that its natural so you can't really overdose. Here it is https://amzn.to/3qDVyrY

MrNYCeGuy · Feb 19, 2021

So I fought this very long battle that you are fighting right now and I’ll give you tips to overcome it. I left my home in NYC for Florida for 3 months during the outbreak of Covid and left the tank with an autofeeder. Long story short the tank was overrun with nutrients and I had massive long strands of this stuff that took over all the rocks. I’ll give you the recipe that eventually worked but it’s going to take some work. This is about re-establishing bacterial harmony to your tank and less about pure chemistry.

1. Manually remove all the algae by hand. I did this by tearing off the stands where I could and manually removing the rocks and brushing them with a toothbrush. I wouldn’t suggest using hydrogen peroxide, I tried it and it didn’t work for me and I have a theory as to why...I’ll cover it later.

2. Remove as much detritus as you can from the tank. This is where all the algae gets it’s power from. I had compartments in the back of my Biocube that had never been cleaned and it was covered in detritus. If you have a sump, clean that out, a bucket head wetvac from HomeDepot for $25 is a godsend. Also, gravel clean your sand until it’s as clean as you can get it, there’s tons of detritus in that.

3. Once all the algae is removed, sand is cleaned, and detritus is removed then you’re ready to go to work on building a healthy bacterial environment. You can start adding some bacteria to the tank like Dr. Tims Waste Away to seed your tank with more beneficial bacteria, or just carbon dose which will multiply your existing bacterial populations. This is why I don’t like nuking rocks with hydrogen peroxide because it wipes away all the beneficial bacteria as well as the algae making it easier for the algae to just outcompete the beneficial bacteria. Make sure to watch your levels during this time and don’t let your nitrates and especially your phosphates hit 0. This could cause stress to the corals and other issues like dinoflagellates.

4. Make sure you create the right flow patterns in your tank. If there are lots of dead flow spots, make sure to add flow. This is very important to keep detritus from building up again and causing the same issue. Make sure your detritus stays suspended in the water column and flows into your filter socks.

5. Your algae will likely come back again, but this time not as aggressively. This is usually due to your rocks still containing some detritus/phosphates. Manually remove as much as you can each week. Even if you’re just going into the tank with a toothbrush and brushing it off the rocks. Make sure to clean the filter socks after each cleaning. Again we want beneficial bacteria overtaking the place where the algae used to grow. This phase is where it’s great to have a solid clean up crew. Most snails will go after hair algae when it’s short, in my experience once it gets too long they won’t eat it. I like torchus snails and urchins as they are hearty and won’t die off easily. Make sure your clean up crew isn’t dying off and adding to your issue here.

6. Make sure to feed only frozen food from now on. Don’t feed processed dry foods as this will likely add too many phosphates that your tank does not need.

7. Watch your levels and try to maintain a 200-300 part Nitrate to 1 part Phosphate ratio. So for example if Nitrates are 15 then your phosphate should be anywhere between 0.05 to 0.08. I believe ratios are more important than a hard and fast level you have to achieve. Adding only frozen fish food will almost automatically ensure you keep this ratio as they are nitrate and phosphate balanced to begin with.

The reason I and so many others failed at previous attempts to rid ourselves of hair algae is because we saw it as a water chemistry issue and not a bacterial issue. When the only tool you have is a hammer (chemistry test kits) everything looks like a nail.

Please keep us informed of how your battle goes. You can win this battle, it just takes time and the right game plan.