Need Help with Hair Algae!

[Cory]

Dont carbon dose. It works to reduce no3 and po4 but what will your corals eat?

 

[Biglurr54]

my corals already have show signs of being starved.

I think the idea of carbon dosing is starve the hair, then, once the hair is starved, allow the no3 and PO4 to come back. Continue with a light dose of carbon to keep bacteria populated to convert organics to no3 which the corals can then eat.
currently the organics change to N03 slowly and the hair eats the no3 before its at a level the corals can use. Is this correct thinking?

 

[BestMomEver]

I’ve had the same problem. My route to no GHA was a little different because many will tell you to stay away from the critters I chose. I got 3 Mexican turbo snails, 3 emerald crabs, 3 scarlet hermits (not red-legged but real scarlet reef hermits) and a Rabbitfish. Yes, the turbos are bulldozers so make sure you glue everything down pretty well. But they are algae eating machines. Added benefit to Turbos is they will get on the glass and do pretty well as detrivores too. The scarlet hermits are more expensive but, in my opinion, are worth their weight in gold. They have had the most impact on the algae.... algae eating work horses. I don’t worry about them killing the turbos because the turbos are huge and nearly bulletproof. The emerald crabs do great with the algae and pretty much stay to themselves. The Rabbitfish is young and small and he’s just getting the hang of it. I realize too that he will eventually get too big for the tank and I’ll have to remove him. But gradually he’s helping to achieve the mission! Good luck!

 

[Brew12]

my corals already have show signs of being starved.

I think the idea of carbon dosing is starve the hair, then, once the hair is starved, allow the no3 and PO4 to come back. Continue with a light dose of carbon to keep bacteria populated to convert organics to no3 which the corals can then eat.
currently the organics change to N03 slowly and the hair eats the no3 before its at a level the corals can use. Is this correct thinking?

The only issue is that GHA is more efficient at consuming nutrients than many corals. You may need to starve out some of your coral before you have luck with the GHA.

Carbon dosing works because bacterial growth in the ocean, and in our tanks, is often carbon limited. The positive? Some coral can use this bacteria as food. The negative? It is unbalanced. The bacteria that carbon dosing initially causes to thrive drop nitrates much faster than phosphates. If nitrates get too low that opens the door to cyanobacteria since many strains of cyanobacteria can use nitrogen gas as their nitrogen source.

Pro's and con's with every option. It is important to understand each option, how it works, and how it will apply to your system. Since every system responds differently, what works for others may not work for you.

 

[richiero]

I took a multi faceted approach which worked for me but as we all know every reef is different . Started testing more , controlled nutrients better, put an algae scrubber online , really dialed in my skimmer and used this great product from reef HD. I’ve been algae free the last 6 months with no sort of algae in sight only the light film on the glass.

http://www.reefhd.com/

 

[Biglurr54]

I might beef up the clean up crew, add some herbivore fish (White Tail Bristletooth and Foxface), add a sea hare for the time being and pray they will eat it up. Then remove the sea hare when the algae is under control and see how the system settles. In that time, i will explore vodka/vinegar dosing.

 

[richiero]

Yes I also did add a lawnmower blenny

 

[Cory]

I wouldnt bother with any clean up crew other than sea urchins. Studies have shown coral reefs get overrun by algae when the sea urchin population declines. When restored the algae dissapears!

 

[richiero]

A sea hare will crush algae but you have to have someone to give it to once all the algae is gone or it will starve to death

 

[Christopher Davis]

Vibrant

 

[Neo Jeo]

I had a sea hair split open his back and inked into my tang. Most all my live stock died . Keep that in mind

 

[cancun]

I have 2 sea urchins and a lawn mower blenny, they attack hair algae....also like others have said Vibrant does a great job on GHA....

 

[Leadfooted]

I will pick one up tonight along with come crabs. .

Trust me man you aint seen HAIR ALGAE like I have lol

Trim the algae by hand until you're bored or become impatient. Add Sea Hare again, emeralds , some snails and regardless of your auto change, after trimming by hand and loosening up a lot of algae, I'd highly suggest a 25%-30% water change. Maybe, try this natural method for 3 weeks and see if it helps first. You may need to hand trim a week from now again in some areas. Also big note, reduce your lighting by 2 hours , hour on each end and cover the tank at night to eliminate any ambient light until improvements are seen. best of luck

 

[richiero]

Are Any of your rocks removable ?

 

[Biglurr54]

some rocks are removable most are not. I have messed up my aqua scape trying to brush the algae off. The rocks i couldn't move I ended up breaking a bunch of frags up while brushing.

I have dropped my lighting. I have Royal blue leds on for 8 hours ramping up and then down. and the halide is on for 5 hours.

 

[richiero]

Ok the ones that you can remove take out and put them in a rubber-made can with new saltwater , pump and heater leave the rocks in there for 2 weeks or so And the algae will die off

 

[Biglurr54]

Current pics from todya. Can you tell where the tooth brush was and where I can't reach easily.

 

[Biglurr54]

Fts

 

[Biglurr54]

Green goblins before and current

 

[Biglurr54]

Bubble gum digi before and current