Is flow rate really the key?

[xbrl001]

IM fusion 10 owner here. I still have the stock pump. 1 clownfish, 1 xenia, 3 snails, and live rock but annoying hair algae still grows pretty well. Tank is like 4 months old now. I took things very slow as you can see from my stock listing but I see a lot of people run powerheads in such small tanks. Do I really need to do this? what about just upgrading to a little bit quicker flow rate pump?

This algae seems to stay intact even in the high flow parts of my tank which is making me skeptical about higher flow really doing anything...

 

[Justiful]

Lettuce nudi branch. It is good for small tanks, it eats hair algae, and it prefers low flow.

To keep it alive between outbreaks you can order some macro algae that isn't bad to feed it(check to see the varieties they prefer). They are more expensive than snails, but are an attractive addition to nano tanks. In addition some of the more attrative varieties of macro make great addition to the tank, and will compete with bryopsis hair algae for nutrients.

You will have to ask a more experienced person on what it best for your tank. But here is one of several sites that sell macro algae. http://www.reefs2go.com/category/sea_life.macro_algae/

 

[Dtackett]

you can dose h2o2 to take care of algaes. but heres a tip, if you have algae, chances are you have a nutrient problem as well.

 

[Cameron]

What kind of snails do you have? I had 3 margarita snails in my 20 gallon that didn't do much to help with my GHA, but I added 3 turbo snails and they have been doing great at keeping it under control. What are your parameters? With small tanks, nutrient levels can get out of control quickly. I believe the best thing to do would be to find the cause of the algae, and start working to fight it. Mine was caused by extremely high nitrate levels, but I believe phosphate levels are also a contributing factor that you may want to consider looking into.