long green hair algea and lotts of it.....

[reddragon]

so i got back from Mexico yesterday and had a buddy looking after the tank for a couple of weeks.good place to tell you he has absuloutly no experience with a fish tank, but alls he had to do was water top ups cause i was letting the tank cycle and there was nothin in the tank. so i thought no problem.
when i got back there was 8 inch long green hair algea all over the back wall.when i was in mexico i was chattin with the tank babysitter on the computer and he said everything is good, " there is quite a bit of seaweed growing,but its not bad"(ha ha sea weed) so i was thinking a little bit not a whole forest.
i bought a scrapper tonight and scrapped it all off. i tried to catch most of it but it was impossible to get all teh little bits. i made a net strainer and waved it around the tank for half an hour trying to get it all.
Any thing else i can do to prevent it to come back?

[TheKid]

sea hair to clean up and control?

[Bloodasp]

if nothing is still in it keep the lights off for a few days.

[naesco]

if nothing is still in it keep the lights off for a few days.

No light, no algae. That is the way to go.

[bvlester]

lights off for 2 weeks or salaris blennie they eat the stuff like a lawn mower hense the common name lawnmower bleenie. Once the roots are layed down there is no getting away from it but lights out for 2 weeks will likely kill roots. I'd then get a salaris blennie after you may need to put a clip of Norri in the tank but mine eats frozen and flake so I'm good. My bared gobies eat frozen like its going out of style they will now eat flake also just to let you know everything adapts at different rates.

Bill

[BlueWorldAquatic]

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=62346

Unfortunately, Lawnmower Blennies are touch and go, they also hate to chew on long HA. I have actually had experience with a Brown Bar Goby (Dragon Goby), where I saw it take a mouthfull of HA and rip it off the rock, but that doesn't get rid of the roots unfortunately.

Ken - BWA

[MMAX]

New, cycling tanks and hair algae go hand in hand. Nothing to really worry about IMOP. Get a clean-up crew together and let them go at it.

[banditpowdercoat]

lights off for 2 weeks or salaris blennie they eat the stuff like a lawn mower hense the common name lawnmower bleenie. Once the roots are layed down there is no getting away from it but lights out for 2 weeks will likely kill roots. I'd then get a salaris blennie after you may need to put a clip of Norri in the tank but mine eats frozen and flake so I'm good. My bared gobies eat frozen like its going out of style they will now eat flake also just to let you know everything adapts at different rates.

Bill


Lawnmower Blennies eat Film algae more than hair algae. I have been battling HA for quite some time now, My LMB doesn't even touch the stuff. He does, however go to town on the film algae on the glass. He loves that so much that he royally gets Pi$$ed off when I bring out the Mag float to clean the glass. he attacks the Mag float like it's a robber. which, I guess it kinda is.

[BlueWorldAquatic]

Lawnmower Blennies eat Film algae more than hair algae. I have been battling HA for quite some time now, My LMB doesn't even touch the stuff. He does, however go to town on the film algae on the glass. He loves that so much that he royally gets Pi$$ed off when I bring out the Mag float to clean the glass. he attacks the Mag float like it's a robber. which, I guess it kinda is.

Trim your HA, I bet he'll go after it. For some reason they don't like it more than 1/2 cm long.

Ken

[banditpowdercoat]

I've tried, he just don't like it I guess:(

[reddragon]

thanx for the info guys/gals!

[bvlester]

Well the very little I do have the LMB eat no problem, I turn the 10K lights on the tank and you can see the green on the rocks and it is not filum algae the LMB just keeps it very short and all the snails keep it down and hermits once the coriline algae grows over the area green is gone for good. I've never seen LMB that will not eat HA if it is very short. but to totaly get rig of it you have to get the roos out kind of like crab grass in your lawn and garden.

Bill

[Coleus]

if there is no fish and no coral. Can i just turn off the light for a week. Will it kill all the HA?

Also will it come back once the light is back on?

[bvlester]

no fish and no corals you can turn the lights off for a month if you want all rock needs is salt water and cirulation and not much of that pluss heat helps.

Billpluck as much as you can while the lights are out as when the algae dies it releases the phosphate back into the water. skimm wet and this should help take some of the excess dead free floating algae out also.

Bill

[Coleus]

Thanks Bill

[Werbo]

If you are already experiencing HA with no fish your live rock is probably not fully cured and/or leaching nitrates/phosphates.

If you are just starting the tank then I'd seriously consider "cooking" the live rock.

Do search as there are many threads on cooking live rock. IMO it is the best way to start a tank and minimize problem HA down the road.

[bvlester]

Yes cook rock kill everything and anything that is good on it all he really needs to do is lights off for probably a month and weekly water changes. pluck as much HA off as he can and keep at it. It sounds like this rock maybe used rock but tank is newish Jan 2010 or so from. I do not cook rock as you kill everything that is good and you might as well start with dead dry rock, if you are going to do that. I did cook some rock by accident heater stuck and the temp probe I had was not working right so I put a good old glass temp thermometer in and found that it was up to 87 degrees. good thing I was just starting my cycle out or I would be upset. I know allot of people cook their rock I do not, I let nature do its thing and I pluck. Maybe use a bit of boiling water on the worst spots it will affect about 1 inch around where you use the boiling water, but it will kill everything it touches and leave some of the good stuff behind.

Bill

[naesco]

I agree with the either poster.
Hair algae growth especially the long stringy stuff is quite normal when you first start up a tank.
Remove it from the glass and the rock as best you can, do a water change and after you have waited a month after your tank has cycled and than add a fish or two take stock of the problem.
If the problem becomes a serious problem consider borrowing a sea hare from someone making sure you acclimate it very slowly. Remove him when almost all the algae is gone or you will starve her to death.
Cooking the rock in your case is extreme. It will kill not only the algae but all living things including encrusting coral, worms, pods, bacteria, good algae, squirts, tiny invertebrates like snails and crabs etcetera.
In other words all the good stuff your fish and coral need.