GREEN HAIR ALGAE any help to remove will be appreciated

[Polscot]

hey ive recently knowtised alot of green hair algae in my tank, all the parameters are great, water is crystal clear what eats this or how do i remove it

http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz229/jasonpolscot/IMG_0667.jpg?t=1280270080

http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz229/jasonpolscot/IMG_0668.jpg?t=1280270329

http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz229/jasonpolscot/IMG_0669.jpg?t=1280270365

[Seamazter]

Grab a lawnmower blenny, these fellows eat that stuff all day long.
Mexican turbo snails are known to eat it too, as well as a sea hare.

[Polscot]

its a 6.6g so turbo snails and blenny are much too big.....havent really heard of a seahare what is it?

[Seamazter]

A seahare is too big for your small tank, he would eat all your hair algae and die only to poison your tank.

[whatcaneyedo]

That sounds too small for a seahare too. Unless you just keep it for a day and then pass it on... they're big hair algae eating sea slugs. EDIT it looks like someone beat me to it.

Someone posts a new thread wanting to know how to get rid of problematic hair algae several times each month. If you do a quick search for 'hair algae' or 'bryopsis' you'll find plenty of information.

[04scoobysti]

It dosen't look like you have too much, just pull it out manually and keep up with your water changes and it will go away in time.

[TheMikey]

The fastest and most efficient way to get rid of the dreaded GHA (or any pest algae, for that matter) is to go to Home Depot and buy some wire brushes.

When you get home, fill up a bucket with some RO water and start scrubbing those rocks. Get every chunk of algae off and rinse the rocks in the bucket when you're done.

Rinse and repeat!

[Nanoized]

The fastest and most efficient way to get rid of the dreaded GHA (or any pest algae, for that matter) is to go to Home Depot and buy some wire brushes.

When you get home, fill up a bucket with some RO water and start scrubbing those rocks. Get every chunk of algae off and rinse the rocks in the bucket when you're done.

Rinse and repeat!

HA to come back if you don't solve the underlying problem.

[Scubasteve23]

what kind of light are you running is it getting any natural light?

[Polscot]

its not on the rocks only on the sand, and im using 50/50 PC light with atenic leds no natural

[gobytron]

where did you get your sand from and how long have you been running it?

also, how deep is your sand bed?

[Polscot]

1' got it from riverfront, forget the name but its wet live sand every store carrys it tank is about 6 months old id say

[04scoobysti]

I'm guessing you haven't vacuumed the sand much? I would start with that when you do your next water change, along with pulling out all the hair algae.

[DiverDude]

I have a bad Hair Algae (HA) issue as well and I've been doing a lot of research on this and the answer is annoyingly simple: you have conditions in your tank that are ideal for the growth of HA. What's that mean? It means you have light and food (excess nutrients).

Remove the food source and it will die.

Easier said than done !

The high points:

1. Remove as much algae as you can manually

2. You probably have elevated nitrate and phosphate levels. Consider doing several major water changes in close succession.

3. Ensure you have good, brisk flow to ALL parts of your tank

4. Consider reducing your photo period if practical. Check your lights and replace the bulbs if they are more than about 10 months old

5. Feed lightly

6. Hunt for any possible source for nitrates and or phosphates and remove them. Some common sources:
- dead livestock
- Using tap water instead of RO (RO water from the supermarket is NOT good)
- Low quality salt
- canister filters
- Frozen fish foods

Test your source water and your tank water. Realize that many test kits aren't sensitive enough for low level measurements and that you may get results showing zero (or very close to zero) levels of NO2, NO3 and PO4 but you actually have active 'generators' of these and the HA is feeding off it and giving false test results. The HA is *PROOF* that there are excess nutrients in the water, regardless of what any test says.

Be prepared for the long haul; this will not disappear overnight. Continue to feed lightly, run a good skimmer and do regular (weekly) water changes.

Running Phosban may also help but I can't comment on that -yet.

Good luck.

[Polscot]

great responce and i appreciate it, i only feed once a day, remove all waste (moltings and stuff) use a phospahte sheet, ill have to change it tomoro, i change the water every friday, and use RO water from the health food store so its legit, as far as i know your not suppose to upset the sandbed EVER in a reef/marine tank, so no i dont syphon it,

[ColinD]

As far as the sand bed goes, I wouldn't get in and aggressively stir it up but running a vacuum across it and removing any detritus will only help in the end

[DiverDude]

great responce and i appreciate it, i only feed once a day, remove all waste (moltings and stuff) use a phospahte sheet, ill have to change it tomoro, i change the water every friday, and use RO water from the health food store so its legit, as far as i know your not suppose to upset the sandbed EVER in a reef/marine tank, so no i dont syphon it,

Have you *tested* the RO water from the health store ??

Given the problems you're having, I would. Don't trust it.

[lorenz0]

TA nitrate destroyer

i fought with HA for 6 months and after 2 months of dosing, wa la gone. i tried snails, a tang.... so and and so but nothing else worked.