Green hair algae

[danny zubot]

I second the yellow tang approach personally. You might also consider a PO4 or Nitrate reactor.

[freddy]

I read about using a syringe of boiling water and squirt it into the algae,so I was doing a water change the other day and decided to try it.I didn't use a syringe but pulled a piece of rock out that had hair algae on it and scrubbed half of it with a toothbrush(in the water I had taken out) and the other half i poured boiling water on to,the half I scrubed,hair algae is growing back,the half I poured boiling water on is as clean as can be,no sighn of algae returning.Yellow tangs are very good at keeping it in check.

[fkshiu]

Green sea hare (dolabella auricularia)

Just remember to pass it on when you run out since it will die if you don't. I've got one mowing the lawn now as I type.

[BlueWorldAquatic]

Sea Hare and Scopus tang worked well in my personal tank. I also noticed my Brown Bar (Dragon) Goby was tearing it off quite readily.

Ken

[mr.wilson]

You need to eliminate the source of the hair algae problem which is usually excess nutrients arising from one or a combination of any of the following...

1) Frozen food isn't adequately rinsed to remove phosphate.
2) Algae is allowed to die off or strands are severed.
3) Substrate needs to be vacuumed.
4) Rock needs to be sprayed with powerhead or baster to remove detritus.
5) Source water is not zero TDS (add RO/DI unit).
6) Phosphate removal system is inadequate (add iron-based binder).
7) Not enough carbon used or allowing it to stay in the tank too long.
8) Over-feeding.
9) Not enough reef janitors (herbivores & detrivores).
10) Inadequate protein skimming.
11) Inadequate refugium nutrient export.
12) Not enough water changes.
13) Inadequate mechanical filtration.
14) Over-active biological filtration (remove wet/dry filtration if you have it).

After you have found and eliminated the sources, you can raise the magnesium (K level) in your tank to 1500 and the algae will die off in less than a month. If you don't keep on it, it will come back.

[Myka]

I agree to find the source of the nutrients instead of putting a bandaid on it by adding a fish to eat the algae. There is lots of easy to read information in the algae link in my signature. Lots of different approaches to lowering nutrients.

[naesco]

Take a look at the size of the guys tank before recommending a tang.

The regal is omnivorous. It is the only tang that is a meat eater.
If you saw it in algae it was searching for meatly morsels in the algae.
Simply put the yellow and regal tang are not good options.

A sea hare is a good option if you take the time to acclimatize it and feed it algae or return it to the lfs when the algae is done.
Don't let it starve in your tank.

The best option is to clean up your water problem and you will find that the algae problem will go away over time.

[gobytron]

Originally Posted by Myka

I agree to find the source of the nutrients instead of putting a bandaid on it by adding a fish to eat the algae. There is lots of easy to read information in the algae link in my signature. Lots of different approaches to lowering nutrients.

Haha...
I wonder what mother nature would call this bandaid solution...lol

I think it's cool that you can have something of a functioning ecosystem in your tank with a natural food source for one of its inhabitants...


Hair algae sucks though...lol
i get little sprouts every now and then that i just pluck carefully...

was thinking of an emerald crab though...?

[blake374]

I ran a phosphate reactor for a month with rowaphos. After that I scrubbed the rocks and that made the problem much much better. I guess this dosn't really get to the source of the problem, but it cleared the problem up, while I worked on the source.
In my experience tangs don't eat green hair algea. They eat other types though.