most aggressive hair algae eater?(besides a sea hare)

[vtrider]

I have a sudden outbreak of hair algae. Water params got a little out of control. What will eat the hell out of it?

[delsol650]

I got me a scribble rabbit fish.. any rabbit fish like scribble, magnificent, foxface are great HA eaters, turbo snails, trochus snails.

[vtrider]

foxface won't grub my corals?

[delsol650]

Never touched any of my zoos/palys/Rbta's/SPS/LPS.. as long as they are fed.. you shouldn't be worried. I've heard of reports but it seems those were the exception. The only reason I got rid of my fox face was it was getting TOO big for my tank so I got a tiny scribbled.

He's only 2" or so

[flamehawkfish]

I'd go with a black sea urchin. They'll mow down all your undesireable algae, and leave the coralline in-tact.

Also, adding 50-100 blue-legged hermits will help, too.

[vtrider]

I put 36 in they're not even making a dent,its actually getting worse. I have never seen a black urchin but I am worried about it knocking stuff down

[Cozen89]

Will the urchin get rid of bubble algae as well? Yeah, I considered a tuxedo urchin but I'm scared of them just knocking all of my frags over.

[hockeycoach19]

I put 4 emerald crabs in my tank and watched them go to work within 30 seconds after acclimation. It's neat to watch them clip the algae at the base and go claw over claw eating a 4" long piece of hair algae.

[-=Zepplock=-]

Yellow tang?

[cdbias2]

Two words
"Algae blenny"
and they dont hurt anything!

[jellygeee]

Hi VTRider

I just had this problem a while back (actually really bad, about 1 month ago).
I tried using some of most old style concepts:
1) Use a cotton pad (that wouldn't scratch the tank) and try to wipe all the hair algae in the entire tank (including the skimmer pump and water pump). Do this once every 2-3 days (I know it is cumbersome).
2) Depending on your live rock's condition, if it has a lot of hair algae growing on it, you might want to use a small toothbrush to brush any hair algae under the saltwater.
3) Use a small net (that has small holes) to scoop up any hair algae residue that is floating in the surface. If you don't scoop it up, it will encourage the hair algae to grow again.
4) Make sure you clean up your protein skimmer. You will see a lot of hair algae residue clogging up the skimmer's collection cup. Nothing works best like a cleaned and maintained skimmer and pump.
5) Do a gradual water change at least once a week (once every 2 weeks is the longest).

Expect to do this for at least 2 weeks. Give it a try since it doesn't cost you anything except your time.

It works for me and now my tank is brand spanking clear. This problem occured in my tank probably because I am using tap water and not RODI water.

[StrategicReef]

Pin cushion urchin (tuxedo?) seems to eat any algae, even some pesky strange algae that no snails will ever eat, if they don't eat it, it will rip it out and put it on the back.

They won't eat all of your algae not overnight but I feel like they eat more than a bunch of snails over time.

They also eat dead fish...

[sfsuphysics]

Pin cushion urchin does make its' rounds, however if algae is in a crack they can't get to it, the rabbit fish as mentioned above usually can continuously pick at it to keep it unnoticable..

[vtrider]

I got a foxface today,although it is getting its arse kicked by a damsel right now. hopefully I will see an improvement

[vtrider]

oh,and I also changed the bulb in my fuge because it was over a year old

[delsol650]

I think when the bulbs get older and change effectiveness it also has an affect on algae growth. I really would get rid of the damsels, me personally I don't care much for them.

[vtrider]

Its just one,and a pretty rare color combination I have never seen before. I would like to get it out. NE1 have a fish trap I can borrow?

[delsol650]

Just watch where he sleeps at night, and nab him early in the morning while its still dark. I've done that to a bunch of wrasses and other fish that I wanted out of the tank.

[vtrider]

It seems pretty impossible,he stashes up behind my rocks. I would pretty much have to tear everything out of mu tank. I thought they made fish traps

[raddogz]

Emerald crabs didn't do anything for me.

Turbos, Astrea, and Trochus snails also did very little - next to nothing.

Urchin ate coralline algae and proceeded to know over every frag, and carry it all over the tank - lost a Tub's blue zoas that way.

Lawnmower Blenny didn't touch a thing - it mouths the glass like my Tomini's do so it's "okay" for film algae.

Yellow tang was okay, but I've had experince with this particular tang and hair algae. Not recommended for a 55g tank.

Also tried overdosing magnesium - slowly bringing it up to 1500ppm didn't do a whole lot of anything either.

[bluenassarius]

sally light foots do an amazing job for me. they are great pest algae eaters and leave my coral/ macroalgae alone.

[delsol650]

manual removal is best...

[delsol650]

Only thing sux' with sally light foots is as they get big their appitite for meatier items increase IE' fish and much smaller inverts.

[Mr. Ugly]

I tried the magnesium thing and it didn't do all that much for me either.

Switching to mostly kalk instead of just 2-part made the algae all melt in about 2-3 weeks.

[Sk8r]

try turning your lights out in your tank for 3 days [4th day actinic only if mh] and keeping the lights on in your fuge continually.
What you've got is a phosphate source. Tap water somewhere in the set up, dry fish food, or an expired ro/di filter? Can also happen when lights start 'expiring.'