Need help with hair algea

[Blake423]

Hi all,

I have hair algae in my 255L LPS tank. It's kind of green and brown. The tank is about 2 months old.
I have one blue tang and one lawnmower blenny but seems both of them are not interested in hair algae.
I also have one ocellaris clown fish, one flame hawkfish, one conch, one turbo snail and 5 trochus.
Given the current stocking, any ideas what fish/snails I can add and would take care of the hair algae problem?
I am in Sydney, never see any emerald crab here, so this one is out.

If live stock won't work, I probably will try increasing the magnesium level, I heard it works.
Any body have any real life experience on this?

many thanks

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

have pics of the tank? 5-6 snails is a bit lite on the size of your aquarium. Are you feeding too much? what kind of setup? what is your phosphate and nitrate levels? i have at least 15 snails for my 40gallon aquarium.

 

[ZoWhat]

To control gha you need to master how to control your no3 and especially po4

 

[jt8791]

Toothbrush usually works, turbo snails and pincushion urchins usually keep it under control but I still have to brush a bit off here and there.

outcompeting it with macroalgae is also another option that seems to work. I grow red ogo in the fuge and display

 

[>>klong<<]

Foxface!

 

[ReefGeezer]

I keep a Dolabella (Sp?) Sea Hare in my 90 gallon tank. They eat more algae than anything else. It might work for you also.

 

[crazyreefergirl]

It's easier if you used Flux RX. Not only it killed hair algae but also killed bryopsis which many folks get in their tank from time to time.

 

[Blake423]

have pics of the tank? 5-6 snails is a bit lite on the size of your aquarium. Are you feeding too much? what kind of setup? what is your phosphate and nitrate levels? i have at least 15 snails for my 40gallon aquarium.

I already reduce my feeding frequency. But it seems the gha already lock in the nutrients now so even lowering nutrient not helping a lots.

Any particular snails that are for gha?

Stats (salifert):
Nitrate: 4.5
Phosphate: basically colourless
Alk: 7
Cal: 420
Mag 1260
PH: 8.15

 

[Blake423]

Toothbrush usually works, turbo snails and pincushion urchins usually keep it under control but I still have to brush a bit off here and there.

outcompeting it with macroalgae is also another option that seems to work. I grow red ogo in the fuge and display

I have a refugium, just Chaeto. But I don't think it is growing, probably due to lighting.
How you set up your refugium light?

 

[Red_Beard]

New tank, new rock too? In my experience and from what I have seen with others is some dry rock seems to have a bit of nutrients locked up in their surfaces. Foxface and a toothbrush will keep it knocked down until it exhausts whatever supply is there(unless you have poor export methods) and stuff gets pretty again.

 

[Reefahholic]

First, I would try to address the actual problem that is leading to GHA growth before doing everything else. All those things might be great, but you have to tackle the root cause to really gain control.

 

[Reefahholic]

I have a refugium, just Chaeto. But I don't think it is growing, probably due to lighting.
How you set up your refugium light?

Try to get a quality fuge light with proper spectrum that is known to grow macro’s well. Something that has some power.

 

[Reefahholic]

I already reduce my feeding frequency. But it seems the gha already lock in the nutrients now so even lowering nutrient not helping a lots.

Any particular snails that are for gha?

Stats (salifert):
Nitrate: 4.5
Phosphate: basically colourless
Alk: 7
Cal: 420
Mag 1260
PH: 8.15

Manually remove all that you can via siphon and your thumb. Stuck it up and pull it off the rocks with your thumb after you suck it into the hose.

I would personally increase the PO4 to a detectable level by either feeding or dosing it.

Later on it would be helpful to add some beneficial bacteria to the system like Dr Tim’s Refresh and EcoBalance.

 

[outhouse]

Flux RX

best advise so far, the others mentioned wont do it alone.

So OP get yourself some fluconazole, then start using vibrant.

But first, you need to do water changes and get those nitrates down, they are way to high.

 

[ReefGeezer]

My tank is now 10 months old & the hair algae phase has passed. New tanks get a lot of hair algae, particularly those started with dry rock. It is an expected phase. It passes as the tank matures. Try not to do too much to battle it. Some methods can actually delay the maturity process. Rather than adding chemicals, I chose an aggressive CUC when the hair algae was growing the fastest. Besides Turbo and Trochus Snails, I had Hermit Crabs, a Sea Hair, and two pin cushion urchins in my 90. They kept the hair algae in check until the phase passed. I did some manual removal, and blasted the rock with a turkey baster regularly. I still have the Sea Hare, the snails, and the Hermit Crabs. The urchins started eating Coralline when the algae was gone so the went to the LFS.