Bryopsis Hair Algae.

[CoMMaNdeR]

Guys I have a real problem with this type of hair algae because it is growing on the live rocks and sand inside my 180g reef tank. Also the strange thing is that this algae grows only in the main tang and not in the sump.

The tank is 7 months old, never had an algae bloom, only some cyano but it has gone in few days. The lighhtning have new bulbs, 7 months old and water quality is good.

PH - 8.4
Amm/NO2 - 0
NO3 - 0.5
Calcium - 390ppm
SG - 1.024
Temp - 27C

I am doing 15 or 20 % water change every week or two and also added a yellow tang but he never ate a piece of the hair algae. He only nip it sometimes ..

Every week I manually remove most of the hair alga by my hand but now I am disperate because it grows back after few days.

What can I do more guys? Please help me...
What inverts should I add maybe they can help me against this damn hair algae ..?

Thanks

[dendro982]

You can lower nitrates by adding chaeto. Make small refugium - just place for chaeto with 6500K light and water flowing through.

Don't laugh, but I placed chaeto in $1 transparent soap holder on suction cups inside 10gal softies tank and placed narrow U-shaped desktop lamp with 13W 6500K bulb over it.

This not solved totally my problem with bryopsis, but reduced it drastically.

[wife no likey]

I'm currently going through the exact same thing.

The bryopsis is only in the display on some rocks; nothing in the sump.
I recently got a few sea slugs from liveaquaria and reefermadness to combat it. There is one from RM that has tripled in size over two weeks I swear!

My NO3 is is around the same levels as yours.

Does yours have a bluish tint to it? The stuff that we have definately does, which sort of led me to this:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~buddendo/aquar...dfield_eng.htm

Pete

[King-Kong]

Bryopsis is a nasty critter. It will create a thick bushy base where it traps detritus to feed itself.

Keep it blown off (use powerheads and turkey basters). Pull out as much as you can with each water change. I suggest air tubing to perform the water changes so you can take your time with grabbing it.

Also, keep that pH at 8.4. Bryopsis doesnt do well with higher pH.

I fought bryopsis for an eternity. Went through several lettuce nudis (they love to get caught in power heads) which would chop the heads off of the bryopsis (but not the stalks). It wasnt until time, and a doliatus / virgatus rabbitfish came around that my bryopsis finally went away. He also taught my purple tang to eat it.

[jvetter]

Make sure that you have plenty of turbulent flow in the tank with the algae problem. You do not want any dead spots where dirt can settle.

Also, including some other macroalgae that is easier to harvest/remove to compete with the hair algae. dendro982's suggestion about the chaeto refugium is a good one.

Skim, skim, skim.

There is a post someone about making a DSB in a bucket for nitrate removal. This is a another way to go for you. Most experts claim that algae in aquariums are more commonly phosphate limited rather than nitrate limited so give that a thought.

It will take a lot of patience to make it through this. Good Luck.

Jim

[CoMMaNdeR]

Thanks for everyone reply, for sure your help will help many people with the same hair algae problem. Guys, in my sump there is a part that I made it as a refugium and inside it there are different type of caulerpa and chaeto. A friend of mine sold me a bunch of chaeto and I always see it the same size. I don't know why it is not growing.

As for circulation, currently I am not bad. I have 2 6060 Tunze stream's and soon I will be adding another tunze, this time a 6080 so I think I will be very good with circulation.

As a skimmer I am using the Turboflotor Aquamedic Skimmer, that I find it very good because pulls out alot of junk in the cup each day that for sure you cannot smell...


My PH is always a bit on the high side, between 8.3 - 8.5. Alk is around 5..

Some people say that Sea Hares eat hair algae especially the LETTUCE SLUG and the ORNATE ELYSIA. But also I read that they will live for few days or weeks in an aquarium.

What do you think guys? Which slugs or critters do you think will help eliminate this algae ?

[CoMMaNdeR]

Guys, I have another 2 questions to ask.

1/ Is there something,similar like the bags we use for carbon that is to reduce phosphates level ?

2/ Why does the hair algae grows only in the main tank and it dies in the sump/refugium ?

[Bandsaw]

You can use a product called PhosGaurd. It is used in a filter sock.

Is you sump lit at all? Like all agae, it needs light. If there is no light in the sump, then it won't grow.

In almost all cases, hair algea comes with a lack of nutrient export. Good skimming, no overfeeding, rise frozen foods and good house keeping practises will all help.

Your tank is also only 7 months old. Most tanks will undergo some kind of algea outbreak in the first year.

I have done the battle with HA. I still have some in my tank. It is confined to only a couple areas of my tank and is slowing retreating.

Just don't give up. It can be a long hard fight.

[CoMMaNdeR]

Yes sure I have light on the sump/fuge area. I was thinking to add more light to the sump maybe the chaeto will start growing.

About the PhosGuard, what do you think about it guys?

[dc3]

I hava a 250l (66g) FOWLR tank with no skimmer and no sump. My tank is 6 months old and I have been fighting GHA.

I used to just pull it out, but that was not enough. I now run carbon and Rowa in a filtersock in my cannister filter and after just a week the GHA is slowly turning brown and disintegrating.

The bubble alge (Valonia) is also receding.

Gisli

[bambam31]

The devil algae.... I had this bad in my 180g in February. I upgraded to a Deltec skimmer and have just about completely won the battle... I used to be able to pull it out by the handfulls every other week, but now just have a few small isolated patches - all of which will hopefully be gone soon. The bryopsis fight is clearly a nutrient buildup issue.... Good Luck!

[dendro982]

I'm also using PhosGuard - in filter media bag - from HOB power filter to canister filter, with good results (in reducing phosphates). No problem with LPS and softies, invertebrates and fish. This is adsorbent resin, more details are at seachem.com website, they have FAQ on each product and forums. Also PhosGuard removes silicates. It's aluminum-based, for iron oxide-based phosphate remover - Phosban.
I tried lettuce slug - it lasted for one month only, then it just desappeared.
About sea hare - somebody posted that it grows to the size of individual coke bottle.

[CoMMaNdeR]

I think the first thing to do is to figure out why the chaeto is not growing in my fuge, it remained the same for about 3 months now. I will add another PC tube.

About the PhosGuard I think I will try it.

[RockyMtnReef]

Sea Hare's will eat it as well. I had one clear out my 90 gal in about two weeks. I ended up giving it away to a fellow reefer because I was worried it would starve.

[CoMMaNdeR]

What Sea Hare species was please ?

[RockyMtnReef]

http://www.marinedepotlive.com/sea-h...udibranch.html

[esva]

I had the same problem and i had no nutrients at all in my water and it still wouldn't die off. i got a dolabella sea hare and a fox face and it is almost all gone, and before they started eating it it was all over everything. i also switched my salt from instant ocean to oceanic and noticed my alkalinity staying a little higher with the oceanic than the instant ocean, so maybe that was helping to get my purple coraline growing faster in place of the bryopsis.

[CoMMaNdeR]

Which fox face is best for the algae guys?
And is it reef safe to have with soft corals etc ?

[TWallace]

I have the same problem in my tank. Mine is only 55g though, and that's a tad small for tangs or foxface. So I'm considering sea hares and/or lettuce sea slugs as I've heard both eat bryopsis. However, I've got 2 Seio 820s in my tank and I'm afraid they'd end up being powerhead lunch quickly. My astrea snails move over the intakes without harm, though.

Also, I'm not sure that reducing phosphates/nitrates is the answer. Both measure zero in my system and this stuff has no problem growing.

[CoMMaNdeR]

Which fox face do you think is the best for algae and the most reef safe to have in a reef tank?

[Angel*Fish]

A few random tips:

Every week I manually remove most of the hair alga by my hand but now I am disperate because it grows back after few days

Unfortunatly this helps it to spread to other rocks

If you only have it on one or 2 rocks, I'd get rid of those rocks. Once it's on a rock, it seems to produce a base that doesn't really die and will always sprout back up given the available nutrients.

While you're getting the water issue under control, you can put some chaeto in the main tank. I'd put it near where the bryopsis outbreaks are.

Even if your phosphates measure "0", it's a good idea to try a phosphate sponge.

Examine your rock regularly for spots where it's starting to sprout up and smother them with some underwater epoxy putty.

If you believe in rock cooking, bryopsis covered rocks would be good candidates

[kjbudsberg]

CoMMaNdeR,
I have been down the same road. Not fun! My tank that was over run by the stuff was a 55, so too small for foxface. So, over my 16 month battle, I lowered and shortened photoperiod, increased water changes, increased alkalinity, introduced a longspine urchin and fresh hermits, and used chemipure and phosphate scavengers. The thing that finally seems to have tipped the balance in my favor are a bunch of the LARGE mexican turbo snails.

I put in 15 snails, and within a week, 90% of the algae was eaten. I took out 10 of the snails, and they continued to beat it back. After another week, there was NONE of algae left. I kept the 5 snails to keep any new outbreaks under control. But, I haven't seen any of this algae for 2 months.

Hooping for the best!!

[CoMMaNdeR]

Wow, kjbudsberg.... I though mexican snails eat only red algae and not even hair algae. Definately I will buy few of them. Mexican snails are big snails people say because I never saw one life.

How many do you think I should put in my 180g tank ?

Also can someone give me a hint about which foxface is best to keep in a reef tank and is it true that they will eat hair algae and other bad algae?

Thanks

[King-Kong]

My large (golfball size) mexican turbos never touched my bryopsis.

[CoMMaNdeR]

Really King Kong?

Hmm do you think even the same animals species can have different attitudes?

I think yes, because my friend's yellow tang eat his bryopsis while my yellow tang never touched it...

Animals I think are like humans..