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Hair Algae advice

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by doug1029, Jul 23, 2013.

  1. doug1029

    doug1029

    Had a massive hair algae outbreak on the new 90g and I ordered a large clean up crew yesterday. My question is should I scrape all the hair algae I can get off or let the crew do its job?
     
  2. xroads

    xroads Veteran Reefkeeper Vendor

    The cuc wont touch long hair algae. You need to get to the root of the problem which is poor water quality, lack of flow, etc.
     
  3. doug1029

    doug1029

    I've address the issue with the water quality and rock. The person that had the tank before me let it go and I scraped the rock but should have just bit the bullet and replaced the live rock with new. I've also hooked up a phosphate reactor and it now reads 0 for the tank.

    I think I will scrape as much of the stuff out as I can and let the crew do the rest.
     
  4. Reefman

    Reefman Inactive User

    In this situation will Algae Fix work or someother additive?
     
  5. darkiss

    darkiss Inactive User

    only thing i use is GFO and never had hair algae once. Plus there are times that i forgot to change the tank water, but my params are still in check =]
     
  6. Fence13

    Fence13 Experienced Reefkeeper

    The GFO should work but take time. The one thing I have learned is that there is never a quick fix.
     
  7. Lee

    Lee Experienced Reefkeeper

    I would still try scrapping as much off as you can.. Even with good water quality & GFO it can still take some time. Make sure you stay on top of changing your RO/DI filters and replace the GFO frequently so it doesn't start creeping up on you again.

    As far as clean-up crew, what all did you get? IME those giant mexican turbo snails are best for Hair Algae.
     
  8. Sponge

    Sponge Expert Reefkeeper Vendor

    I again agree with Lee :0) Get as much of the HA off that you can pull off. It's best to try to syphon out any floating algae that gets in the water column. AlgaeFix will work BUT it destroys/kills the bacteria so I wouldn't use it. The Mexican Turbos will attack it and it will probably be a good idea to keep some in the tank even after the HA is gone...because it will tend to grow back when the PO and NO get high. The rock is probably loaded with PO and just outright gunk /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/sad.gif Good luck!! :0)
     
  9. doug1029

    doug1029


    Thanks for the responses. I plan on taking the rock that has hair algae out tomorrow night and scrub it off and then do a water change and siphon the algae off the sand and other rock. Also did some research and found that older lights can cause an issue. I bought the lighting system used and found out the T5 lights are 4 months old so they are fine but the Metal Halides were 18 months old so I ordered 2 replacement bulbs tonight. Going to keep those off until the bulbs get replaced Friday.


    Also ran some test and Ph was low so I added buffer to bring it up. Not sure if that's related or not but still needed to come up.


    Here's the list of what I have arriving on Friday for a clean up crew:


    1 Lettuce Nudibranch

    5 Bumble Bee Snails

    30 Cerith Snails

    10 XLG Cerith Snails

    20 Turbo Snails

    40 Blue Leg Hermit Crabs

    10 Red Leg Crabs


    Hopefully this does the trick.
     
  10. doug1029

    doug1029

    Well that was a lot of work. Scraped out all the hair algae I could. I'm leaving the light off until I get the replacement halide bulbs tomorrow. Then I will limit it to a few hours a day for a couple of weeks. Can't wait for the clean up crew to arrive on Friday. Hopefully it won't be long until the new tank looks as good as my current biocube!
     
  11. Sponge

    Sponge Expert Reefkeeper Vendor

    Sounds like a plan :0) Good luck!!
     
  12. blackx-runner

    blackx-runner Administrator Website Team Leadership Team

    Sounds like your well on your way to cleaning it up. I'm sure it will be a battle for a little bit, but keep that water quality in check and keep it from taking over and you'll get it under control.
     
  13. doug1029

    doug1029

    So I think I got ahead of the game on the Algae issue. No new growth that I can tell just the stuff left over that I couldn't scrub off. Phosphates are still reading 0 and the clean up crew is going to town on the rest!!
     
  14. blackx-runner

    blackx-runner Administrator Website Team Leadership Team

    Good job, now just keep up with the water changes so you don't get another build up of excess nutrients.
     

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