Hair Algae Eaters

[mulch123]

I am considering buying a Foxface as I was told they are good for eating algae but will they eat hair algae. And if not what are some fish that will eat it.

[KPG007]

Fox face, tangs, ect will eat hair algae. So will Lawnmower blennies, Sea hare's are good, but can be difficult to keep fed one the algae is gone.
These guys all work to a certain extent, but if you have a lot of it, its best to pull as much out as you can by hand first. These guys will graze and keep it down once the majority is gone.

Originally Posted by mulch123

I am considering buying a Foxface as I was told they are good for eating algae but will they eat hair algae. And if not what are some fish that will eat it.

[Tn23]

Had the best experience with fox faces for keeping algea under control so far. Also +1 to lawnmower blennies, but they work slower.

Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk 4

[Llewos]

Rainford's/court jester gobies are supposed to be good for filamentous algae.

[gregzz4]

You could also consider snails

Mexican Turbos do a good job, but don't live long
Indonesian Turbos do well too and apparently live longer

I've tried both and the info seems correct so far as my Indo Turbos are still alive, whereas my Mexis only lasted a few months

I also used Strawberry Tophat snails and they did a good job too. But they are even bigger than Turbos and poop big turds that collect on the sandbed

[Wheelman76]

I've had my Mexican turbo snails for 15 months now and they're still alive , however they can be a bit of a pain as far as knocking over corals.

[pinkreef]

BIOPELLETS starve it out

[tang daddy]

Fishes will eat algae well when starved but go for fish food first, they get lazy over time, snails do well but may not clean hair algae totally clean. As Kelly said manual removal is best. But if you have tons of algae then the best fishes and snails can't help you.

I would try to figure out what is out of balance, most times when algae grows it's because of a problem, over feeding, not enough skimming, rock leaching phosphates, paramaters out of whack, old light bulbs....

The list goes on. Bio pellets will reduce nitrates and abit of phosphates but I wouldn't rely on them solely for knocking down phosphates. You should use something like rowaphos or gfo to strip the phosphates out.

My alk dropped a week ago and caused some of my coraline to melt, getting brown fuzzy algae all over the coraline, I've since rectified the problem however the algae is still there. Manual removal has worked best. I also changed my sump light to a higher K led and that caused some nice algae to melt, which leached back into my tank.

Whatever you do to fix the problem take your time. Dropping phosphates fast can have a negative reaction to sps and Lps even softies so make sure you go slow!

[mark]

Had some massive hair algae outbreaks that started with snails, tangs, blennies and a foxface already in the tank.

Believe the only thing that solved it was focusing on water changes, replacing ro filters/di media and increasing Mg. Livestock weren't doing a thing to help.

[Spyd]

Hair algae means phosphates. So, GFO is the best solution IMO. Strip out the PO4 and the hair algae will subside. The best hair algae remover is a Sea Hare but they solely consume hair algae and will die off when the hair algae is gone. Treat your tank for PO4 though because that is the main issue. Everything else is just a band aid fix.