Bad Hair Algae
 

Hey guys,

I have a 10g tank with 72w 50/50, AC500 refugium with chaeto and halimeda macro algaes and live rock rubble, and a, AquaC Nano Remora skimmer. The tank has around 15 lbs of live rock, an inch of live sand, and various corals. Also in the tank is a BTA and percula. It has been running for around a year now and I have been battling hair algae the entire time. I try to syphon out as much as I can during weekly water changes, but it grows back everywhere, including the sand and glass. I am now only feeding twice a week.

Any ideas?

maybe switch to feeding frozen mysis and soak it in RO before feeding it? I found flake food a contributor to problems in any freshwater or saltwater tank I've kept.

I used to feed only frozen mysis shrimp that was soaked in tap water first, I thought switching to flakes would make things better. I dont think it is related to the food anyways, I feed small amounts a couple times a week. I am using RO water from walmart for top ups/water changes.

Could it be the high waste production from the BTA?

I only spot feed the BTA mysis shrimp once a week, so I dont think that would do it? Wouldnt the skimmer remove most of it and the macro algae suck up any left over nutrients. Seems right now like the skimmer and fuge are useless.

That idea came to me after remembering that vendors usually ship their anemones without water so that they cant pass waste and kill themselves. Which led me to think maybe in a smaller tank the waste would accumulate faster than the skimmer and macroalgae combined could remove it. Other than that I dont see anything else that could be contributing to it in such a big way.

I really do not think it is the anemone, I have been having these problems before I even had it in the tank.

Is the location of the tank in natural sunlight?

Nope, not in any direct sunlight at all

How big are you weekly water changes?