How can i fight hair algae? Please help...

[This Guy Reef]

Hi reefer budies im new to this forum and was told that i can get help from fellow reefers here.

Ok here is what i have, what ive been doing and how im treating the situation. I have a 4month old 125g reef with a 40g wetdry type of filtration. Uv light that right now is out of service"need to replace the bulb", carbon media reactor, huge Reef Octopus skimmer, one return pump for the display, the other one runs the reactors and the skimmer, i just bought a gfo media reactor from BRS that ive not found the time to get it running and an Apex DOS that im using to do daily automatic water changes"3 gallons a day" 21gallons total in a week.

Livestock:

1. Purple Tang 5 to 6 inches
2. Black Tang 3 inches
3. 2 Borbonius Anthias 2 1/2 inches
4. 2 small BTAs, it was one but it splited
4. Over 20 types of different SPS frags, they have been in the reef for aprox. 1 month others month and a half and some of them are not looking good.

Ok so ive been having the hair algae problem since 3 weeks almost a month ago. Yes i was heavy feeding but i have cut that to one feeding per day, my lights run 8 hours, i know the skimmer is way to big for the system but it works like a beast the only issue is that sometimes half of the extractions stays at the neck of the skimmer the other half goes to the cup.

Treating

Like i said before im doing automatic water changes and i bought the Red Sea No3;Po4-x and have been manually dosing 5 mls a day since 2 weeks ago. I have not seen any changes. Can anyone here give me some advice on how to treat this ugly looking algae? Your help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance and happy reefing.

 

[DVR]

Have you tested for phosphate? Red Sea makes a good test kit for Phosphate and Nitrate called Algae Control Pro Test Kit.

 

[This Guy Reef]

Have you tested for phosphate? Red Sea makes a good test kit for Phosphate and Nitrate called Algae Control Pro Test Kit.

No i have not i just bought a hanna phosphorus checker im waiting for it to arrive.

 

[This Guy Reef]

Have you tested for phosphate? Red Sea makes a good test kit for Phosphate and Nitrate called Algae Control Pro Test Kit.

Have you tested for phosphate? Red Sea makes a good test kit for Phosphate and Nitrate called Algae Control Pro Test Kit.

Do you think the red sea one is better?

 

[sa6hir]

1. Water change
2. Add purigen
3. Add carbon
4. Reduce feeding
5. Reduce the lighting not only by time but by intense as well. You will most likely have phosphates it food for algae.

 

[CarrieB]

What is in your wet dry filter? Could excess food be collecting in there?

 

[DVR]

I like the red sea kit. It is easy for me to read. Personal preference though.

I would start with a large manual water change that will allow you to lightly siphon the top layer of sand ( if you have sand) and also clean the denitris on the rocks. You can pull as much of the hair as possible and try to siphoned it at the same time.

Then get the gfo going. Remember if using the recommended dosage to change it often at first (every day or two) because it will saturate quickly at first.

You can reduce lighting a little as well for awhile. But not to the detriment of your sps.

Use the purigen to help remove some organics along with your skimmer.

Also after the initial cleaning you should create a few storms over the rocks to move the particulates so they can get filtered out via your mechanical filtration.

That's a start.

Remember to keep those phosphates down once you recover from this..

 

[bif24701]

Do you think the red sea one is better?

Did you get the ULR Hanna? That makes a big difference. The Hanna ULR is great I use it above the Ref Sea which I also have. Both can meet the need, however the low range phosphate isn't low range enough for most reefers and algae problems.

 

[This Guy Reef]

What is in your wet dry filter? Could excess food be collecting in there?

I think this could also have to do with it, the only problem i have is that the guy that made it did not think about that part it is enclosed and very difficult to access for cleaning. Im thinking on buying another sump but its going to be a pain to move everything again 8(

 

[This Guy Reef]

Did you get the ULR Hanna? That makes a big difference. The Hanna ULR is great I use it above the Ref Sea which I also have. Both can meet the need, however the low range phosphate isn't low range enough for most reefers and algae problems.

Not yet its supposed to arrive this week but already ordered the red sea one.

 

[This Guy Reef]

I like the red sea kit. It is easy for me to read. Personal preference though.

I would start with a large manual water change that will allow you to lightly siphon the top layer of sand ( if you have sand) and also clean the denitris on the rocks. You can pull as much of the hair as possible and try to siphoned it at the same time.

Then get the gfo going. Remember if using the recommended dosage to change it often at first (every day or two) because it will saturate quickly at first.

You can reduce lighting a little as well for awhile. But not to the detriment of your sps.

Use the purigen to help remove some organics along with your skimmer.

Also after the initial cleaning you should create a few storms over the rocks to move the particulates so they can get filtered out via your mechanical filtration.

That's a start.

Remember to keep those phosphates down once you recover from this..

Thank you very much i will follow as mentioned

 

[This Guy Reef]

1. Water change
2. Add purigen
3. Add carbon
4. Reduce feeding
5. Reduce the lighting not only by time but by intense as well. You will most likely have phosphates it food for algae.

Thank you