I have so much hair algae in my tank, it’s on the glass, it’s on the filter intake stick, and on my live rock. I have invertebrates, a blenny and a Goby but none of them are keeping up with the hair algae. What should i do? I have a 55 gallon tank, nine fish, and I started the tank two months ago. Ammonia and nitrI have so much hair algae in my tank, it’s on the glass, it’s on the filter intake stick, and on my live rock. I have invertebrates, a blenny and a Goby but none of them are keeping up with the hair algae. What should i do?ite levels are at zero. nitrate is at 10ppm.
Hair algae!!
- Thread starter PoppyD88
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Saltyreef
I'm not your dad...
Youre going throufht beginning stages. Manual removal and letting it run its course is best. Start feeding live phyto and seed more strains of bacteria. It'll help.
Here’s a 75 gallon we fixed, see her thread from page one, notice the deep cleaning part which is hard work, now the after pics and she can add more fish, it’s cleaned
www.reef2reef.com
Build Thread - Amalee’s 75g Build
I disagree, the majority if not all that I have seen started with dry rock. Sure it is possible to have them with live rock, but the net cause is probably the same, zero nitrates and zero phosphates. Hello everyone! So I recently decided to test my tank and noticed that now that there’s no...
www.reef2reef.com
Veora
New Member
I have a massive amount of hair algae all of a sudden. I went for months with just my live rock and invertebrates and everything was great. I start adding fish and the hair algae explodes everywhere. I’ve tried manual removal and lowering the light intensity. I’ve also decreased amount of feeding. Is there anything else I can do? Any suggestions are appreciated.
Saltyreef
I'm not your dad...
Gonna have to power through it....
It will subside eventually. Remove it with your fingers or tweezers.
OP
OP
PoppyD88
New Member
I had the same issue, everything was fine then I got so much algae, I took a day to finally just pick off all the algae. I got a sea urchin, some snails, and crabs. I think they’ve helped a lot because i no longer have a huge abundance of hair algae. However, now I’m getting this reddish algae
Aquatican
Community Member
As everyone has said, it will take time, patience, and a little elbow grease. Also, as PoppyD88 mentioned, a clean up crew helps. My urchin eats the most in my tank.
What are your phosphates at? You could dose some Phosphate RX as part of your cure. Another thing to do is take rock out and treat it with peroxide and a toothbrush. This helped me a lot. Don't forget to rinse the rock in clean salt water before putting it back in the DT. Also change your filter socks every two days at most.
t5Nitro
Valuable Member
How are astrea snails in cleaning GHA? My tank is full too man at 9 months old. Have tuxedo urchins that chomp on it but I'm looking to add some more snails because even they can't keep up at the moment.
I would stay away from removing rock and doing peroxide treatments as this was my initial question. The old timers and wise reefers said this is only a temporizing procedure and ultimately will reset the whole process as you've effectively wiped out all of your efforts establishing that rock as live.
I would stay away from removing rock and doing peroxide treatments as this was my initial question. The old timers and wise reefers said this is only a temporizing procedure and ultimately will reset the whole process as you've effectively wiped out all of your efforts establishing that rock as live.
92Miata
Valuable Member
The long term solution is the rock being covered in coraline and corals - and there being no space for hair algae.
Short term temporary fixes are exactly what's needed until that happens. I don't know why people with established reef tanks seem to insist on giving advice that *is relevant only to established reef tanks* to people who don't have established reef tanks. Scrubbing and peroxiding rock isn't going to 'reset' the rock in any sort of meaningful way. Its just going to get rid of lots of hair algae.
2Sunny
Active Member
This forum is filled with opposing views and I have one regarding the advice you have received. Whether "established" or not biological balance and nutrient export remain the key to success. Excess algae whether in a new tank or an old tank simply represents a temporary imbalance in nutrients, but regardless step one is to remove the algae. Taking the rocks out and trying to kill the algae with peroxide will also kill the beneficial bacteria you worked so hard to create. Any attempt to manually control the algae will be, in my opinion, a waste of time. In my most recent reset I used some rock from my sump and put it in my display. The rock became covered top to bottom with Hair Algae. MexicanTurbo snails and Blue Leg Hermits cleaned up my rock work in a week. Given time the proper cleaners will mow hair algae down and then you need to simply keep your water quality up and your nutrients low.
Mexican Turbo
My reef in 2017 before the most recent reset:
Mexican Turbo
My reef in 2017 before the most recent reset:
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92Miata
Valuable Member
And there we have it - the person with the established tank with multiple-year-old liverock expecting a brand new tank to act exactly the same as his.
Hair algae issues in new tanks - especially those with dry rock - aren't about water quality - they're about rock surface, and its lack of colonizers. They're about phosphate bound in rock surface. They're about imbalances and not having significant nitrate/phosphate consumers (like Coral)
You know what's a waste of time? Not doing anything about it - and throwing out your rock at a year and a half because nothing will grow because hair algae has colonized every inch of rock surface, and coraline has no chance.
Hair algae issues in new tanks - especially those with dry rock - aren't about water quality - they're about rock surface, and its lack of colonizers. They're about phosphate bound in rock surface. They're about imbalances and not having significant nitrate/phosphate consumers (like Coral)
You know what's a waste of time? Not doing anything about it - and throwing out your rock at a year and a half because nothing will grow because hair algae has colonized every inch of rock surface, and coraline has no chance.
2Sunny
Active Member
Did I mention I have a "new" tank in my kitchen that I started in May . . .
Aaa. . . you're probably right. Advice based on "established" tanks can't be worthwhile because that's all I know . . .
Aaa. . . you're probably right. Advice based on "established" tanks can't be worthwhile because that's all I know . . .
Lets keep the personal attacks out of the posts gang.
Thanks
Thanks
Sleeping Giant
Proud Canadian Reefer
I would try to get a bunch (like 30) of different snails, tuxedo urchin, emerald crabs, live copepods.
Gotta get in there and remove what you can manually, and try to clean any powerheads and filters at a minimum every 2 days. The algae will subside, but it will take a couple of weeks.
At least this is what I did, my tank looked like a swamp before I started, lol
Gotta get in there and remove what you can manually, and try to clean any powerheads and filters at a minimum every 2 days. The algae will subside, but it will take a couple of weeks.
At least this is what I did, my tank looked like a swamp before I started, lol
2Sunny
Active Member
Obviously, you and I disagree. On more than one issue.
1) Just because I showed pictures of my established reef says nothing about my experience starting new reefs.
2) Trying to say established live rock is somehow different than "new" liverock because new liverock may still be leaching phosphates has zero basis in science or experience. Hair algae grows faster then coraline algae irregardless of the source of nutrients. That is the problem. Algae grazers control the hair algae giving coraline and good bacteria a chance to grow. This happens whether the rock and reef are old, new, established, not established, leaching phosphate, not leaching phosphate - whatever - the process is the same. Keep the surface hair algae free and the good stuff will come. The question is a) how to clean the surface, and b) how to keep it clean. Anecdotal evidence online says manual cleaning is not highly effective as a long term solution. Anecdotal evidence online says a healthy and properly selected clean up crew works to keep live rock free from algae. The evidence does not say "only for established" reefs nor does it say "only for new aquariums". Algae control is an age old reefers conundrum and one that time and again savy reefers have solved with the help of the proper clean up crew.
Does that mean, one shouldn't strive to increase healthy bacteria and remove excess nutrients whatever the source? No, of course not. It just means one must keep the rock clean while doing those things at the same time, and personally I'd rather have a snail or Sea Hare clean the rock rather than wait six months for the phosphate source to go away or worse spend my free time plucking the algae by hand.
Sharkbait19
10K Club member
I just took it off myself. No chemicals, no lighting changes, no special critters. Granted I saw a large ammonia spike afterwards, manual removal and a water change did the trick for me.
