My solution to hair algae

Hal3134 · Apr 6, 2022

So my tank is 4-5 years old and has within the last year had bad hair algae. It was taking over all of my rock. I had success using 2x 16 oz bottles of Vibrant dosed as recommended, but when I stopped using Vibrant (after I saw the thread saying that it wasn’t just bacteria) the hair algae came back.

Most recently I had a tank sitter overfeed during Christmas, which caused my nitrates to skyrocket to 100. In addition to water changes I re-started dosing vodka. My nitrates are now near zero. Phosphates were only 0.1 so I wasn’t worried about them.

After several weeks of dosing vodka my nitrate is (also) 0.1, and the hair algae is melting away. I also started running carbon a few weeks ago, but don’t expect that it contributed. FWIW I keep my Alk at around 8.5, Ca=415, Mg=1500, sal=1.025. I also now dose 1 ampule weekly of Biodigest.

blaxsun · Apr 6, 2022

So Vodka for the win?

Jupiter · Jul 3, 2022

Hal3134 said:
So my tank is 4-5 years old and has within the last year had bad hair algae. It was taking over all of my rock. I had success using 2x 16 oz bottles of Vibrant dosed as recommended, but when I stopped using Vibrant (after I saw the thread saying that it wasn’t just bacteria) the hair algae came back.

Most recently I had a tank sitter overfeed during Christmas, which caused my nitrates to skyrocket to 100. In addition to water changes I re-started dosing vodka. My nitrates are now near zero. Phosphates were only 0.1 so I wasn’t worried about them.

After several weeks of dosing vodka my nitrate is (also) 0.1, and the hair algae is melting away. I also started running carbon a few weeks ago, but don’t expect that it contributed. FWIW I keep my Alk at around 8.5, Ca=415, Mg=1500, sal=1.025. I also now dose 1 ampule weekly of Biodigest.

That's good to know. My tank is 75g, mixed and I've been fighting brown hair algae for close to a year, with not much success. I lost my LFS in March, so no monthly water changes anymore. I clean the hair algae off the rocks with a brush and stir up the sand, have reduced the time the lights are on to 5.5 hrs./day, with slight effect, i.e., not as bad, but still not good. I've read a several posts about vodka dosing, but still don't have a clear idea of safe and effective treatment. With solid info, I will try it, and report back. All welcome.