Hair Algae!!...please Help?

[al aziz85]

Well....i am having a little bit of a hair algae problem left town and came back and now its like this....all my levels are fine..so i am not sure what it could be...put a bigger clean up crew in there (snails, etc) but they cant keep up with it. i do a 5 gallon water change every friday...and its a 29 gallon BC....sun hits it for about 1 hr direct each day before the lights turn on...? any suggestions...(mangroves?) please let me know and if anyone has anything they would like to give me to help let me know too thanks!
Tim

[zerillit]

It is my understanding that cleanup crew won't touch it once it is long. Have you scrubbed it off? I'd scrub it off & then see if the crew can keep up. Perhaps someone else knows of an animal, other than a tang because a 29 gallon can't handle a tang, that will graze upon it.

[zerillit]

I was just reading on "red fluffy algea" and someone mentioned a Lawnmower Blenny. That might be a good choice for a 29 gallon.

[NightBreed1369]

lawnmower blenny works great thats what I used in my 100g and he did wonderful but they do get pretty good size after a while. Something to think about.

[gh0st]

Urchins will mow it down, but will outgrow your tank pretty fast, much like a tang.

A Rainfordi Goby would be a good option, as well as a Lawnmower or possibly BiColor Blenny. A Pygmy Angel of some kind or a Damsel would also eat it as well. Ripping out as much asa you can by hand would also help any of the above fish to eat it as they prefer to go after it once its shorter.

Also, cutting back a bit on feedings and lighting should help as well.

[jimwat]

Lawnmowers are kind of hit-n-miss. Urchins do better when the algea is shorter (same as most snails). Although, when an urchin eats a trail through the hair algae, there is NOTHING left behind. Urchins will also eat the coraline algae. A foxface would trim it down so that a snail or urchin could work on it, but will outgrow your tank. I really like Sea Hares for this type of hair algae as they will also trim it down to a stubble so the snails/urchin can work on it. I would remove as much as you can by hand first.

BTW - the hair algea is removing the nitrates and phosphates from your tank, which is why your reading appear normal.

[G.SMITHII]

black FW mollies will eat it like crack. then you can take them out or feed your Nem.

[fuzzyt]

Here is an idea...

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...ighlight=molly

[al aziz85]

sounds good...i think i might also try the Mollies...i will let you know how it goes!

[G.SMITHII]

just slow drip them for like an hour, get a pair, and dont feed um.


i have a brackish tank, and id just use the fry to clean up freshly cycled tanks, and for food..

["Umm, fish?"]

The reason that your levels are fine is that the hair algae is acting like a macroalgae filter: the algae is using the nutrients for growth. As long as it's growing, it'll use up whatever nutrients you put in. That said, I'm not a fan of starving a tank. I would try herbivours (the mollies sound like a good idea for that small a tank and will breed readily to feed your 'nem and clowns) and some sort of competition like a macroalgae filter if you can.

[Rcpilet]

I'd scrape it all off and do a water change first.

Then I'd run Phosban in a canister or in the pump section of your sump/refugium.

Let the macro algae in the refugium use what it can. Run the Phosban in the return sump to get rid of any leftover phosphates before the water is returned to the tank.

[al aziz85]

alright...i will try some phosban stuff..i got the mollies too so i will let you all know how it goes...does look to sweel so far cuase my clowns arent too friendly but we will see if i come home to a great meal for my clowns are something that helped me out

[G.SMITHII]

after my tank cycled it looked like a frekin ball of grass.

i got rid of it all by adding;

3 1 inch black molly fry (Long hair )
with 2 scarlets (crew cut hair algae)
and 2 turbos and 3 ceriths (buzz cut algae) had it spot less in like 2 weeks.


No scrubbing.

[bcolvin]

Just do lots of water changes on the tank. That should be easy on a small tank. Then hook up a phosphate reactor with phos lock. That should take care of it.'

Anyfish that is said to eat hair algae is hit or miss. What will work for one person may not work for someone else. If you dilute with water changes and remove with phoslock. This will at least stunt the growth of the algae.

[bcolvin]

Ohh yeah..... mangroves only very slowly pull out phosphates and nitrates. They can also if used in large numbers (which wouldnt be many in your tank) can reduce mg fairly quickly.

Go with Chaeto or even a macro algae (outside of the tank) to pull out much more phosphate and nitrate.