Hair algae in a 10g

[likwid]

Hey guys,

I was wondering what the best way to remove hair algae from a small tank would be without manually picking it off? My tank was high on nitrates/phosphates for a period of time, which has now been fixed. I have also cut down on feeding and hours of lighting, which has really slowed down the growth. I was thinking of getting a sea hare to use for a short period of time, but are they too big for a 10 g?

[BC564]

10 gal....Id pick it off and you have done the rest already.....

[likwid]

I dont want to waste a few full nights picking algae off piece by piece. Any other suggestions?

[IceTurf]

if u can take the rock out that has the algea on it *if its on the rock* and scrub that part of the rock, but some sort of snail or cleaner invert may do the trick

[likwid]

The algae covers the rocks almost entirely, so it would be a massive pain to have to pluck and scrub each rock. I would like some options besides having to do this. I have a bunch of snails, but they do not even touch the stuff. Some of it is an inch long. Would a sea hare touch hair algae this long? I heard leaving the lights off the tank for a few days would kill it off as well, is this true?

[IceTurf]

algea, for the most part, does need sunlight. So long as you are okay with other possible deaths of wanted items which need light, then yes this could work. Look into cleaner shrimp.

Note that if the algea is caused by an overdose or explosion of a particular substance in your tank, you don't want that going back into your system.

[Van-rookie]

my yellow tang eats the hair algae in my tank....if there is any:)

[BC564]

I picked most of my hair algae off....but a few days later I bought some stuff called Al-gone......treated it for 3 days as per recommended onthe bottle....its pretty much all gone....

[mr_alberta]

If you are looking for biological means of taking care of the algae, then a sea hair or lettuce nudibranch are your two best bets. 10G is too small for any of the algae eating fish such as tangs or rabbitfish, so you're going to have to go with inverts.

Problem with Sea Hairs or Lettuce Nudibranchs is that they release toxins when stressed or dying so, in a 10G tank, that's going to cause you problems if you're not careful.

Alternatively, since you say you are on top of your phosphates and nitrates, you can try to wait it out. Keep up with your water changes and on top of your phosphate and nitrate levels and you should see the algae receed on its own.

Lastly, adding a refugium full of Chaeto or some other Macro Algae could also help.

[likwid]

I added a refugium a few months ago with some red macro algae I got from Golds in calgary, not sure what kind it is.. But the macro has barely grown at all in these months and it has not done anything at all for my tank. I run a 13w light in the fuge when the main tank lights are off. Should I replace this macro with chaeto or am I doing something wrong?