whats up guys!?, I've had my tank up and running now for around 9 months. Everything was going great until about 3 weeks ago where I got a little long hair algae and then it spread everywhere pretty quick, feel like i am going through my cycle again when i first started. I checked my levels last week and everything was right where they need to be. Can someone please help me on what to do to get rid of this algae asap! thanks
Long Hair Algae problem
- Thread starter sillico
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Since you have algae, your parameters are not where they should be.....the algae is eating the nitrates and phosphates giving you erroneous results. You need to find out where the nutrients are coming from....are you feeding too heavy? Adding lots of additives, etc. what lighting are you using and how long are they on...
I have the orbit IC loop lighting, my lights come on at 7am and go off at 10pm. I don't think I am overfeeding, I was in the past and I corrected myself since than. For additives, only thing I do is prime from time to time when I do water changes and stability. I have purigen and chemo pure blue in my tank
The algae is getting its nutrients from somewhere...what kind of filtration are you using?
The lighting is really long .... not that this is the issue but that's a really long photo period
The lighting is really long .... not that this is the issue but that's a really long photo period
I run my lights 8hrs with a 2hr ramp up and down so it has a 6hr peak if you suspect that its the lights that maybe causing the problem turn them off for a week it wont hurt anything and see if any of the algae goes away or gets better.
Mr.Rocc
Valuable Member
Just like @ebushrow said you will not see the excess nutrients since the algae is eating it. Since your tank is still a baby, yes 9 months is young for a tank, it will have these blooms randomly of algae especially diatom and green hair. Best way to do it, if possibly, remove the rocks with the hair algae, take a tooth brush and scrub the rocks out side of the tank, dip them in RO water then replace them in the tank. Put a bag of GFO in your sump/filter at 1/4 to 1/2 strength and thats about it. Snails do work but that would just be covering up the issue. Cut back on feeding and if you really want cut back your lights, I never due since that would change the cycle for the corals too.
Why are you using Prime? are you using tap water? Tap water quality can change through out the year, so something there may have changed. Definitely recommend RODI if you are not already.
Mr.Rocc
Valuable Member
OO yea stick with ro water
I have a Lotta large wrasses in my tank which I have to feed at least twice a day so the long hair algae is something I try to control manually because I know it’s feeding that is causing my issue but that fish are happy fish
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There is your problem right there. You are running your lights for 15 hours a day and that will cause out of control algae growth. In a reef tank 6-8 hours is the recommended amount to keep algae in check.
