Reef safe hair algea fish

[mattls]

I have never had hair algea in my main display up until now. I was cleaning some hair algea that grows inside my over flow and I lost a piece into the main display. Couldn't find it for a few days and I have found it groing out of one of my rocks completely attached. I was wondering what reef safe fish are good at taking care of hair algea. I already have a Doliatias Rabbitfish who wont touch it along with a lemonpeel angel and a coral beauty angel and know one has gone near it yet. Please help I don;t want it to get out of hand.

[KDodds]

Hard to beat a Foxface Rabbitfish or Onespot Foxface Rabbit for any and all algae consumption. Adding a fish to an algae problem, IMO, isn't the answer in many cases however. Hair algae occurs generally in the presence of excess nutrient availability. Solve the nutrient problem, and do a little pulling, and your "algae problem" should go away fairly quickly.

[icliao]

Tang, Some blenny even angel with eat algae. But they will never completely take care of your algae, not even close.

[Rikko]

Sea hare!
Admittedly only looks like a fish if you put an ugly dress on him, but he'll get the job done.

[mattls]

KDODDS I only have a little hair algea growing in my overflow. WHy is that. I know you said nutrients but I have a 20g refugium with chaeto and no hair algea. I have a 40g sump with no hair algea and My main display had absolutley nothing in it until I touched the hair algea in my over flow. If it was nutrients would n't it grow in these other areas to.

[KDodds]

Possibly, but you also have to factor in proximity and many other variables such as lighting, competing species, water flow patterns, etc. Where lighting changes, other species of "photosynthetic" organisms may outcompete the hair algae for the nutrients. If you test phosphate and nitrAte and find that you have some measure of either, bringing both down to untestable levels should solve any nuisance algae problems. Of course, pulling it manually may eventually cause its extinction within your system which, without re-introduction, would conceivably leave you hair algae free even if nutrients soared. Of course, such re-introduction seems to be virtually impossible to accomplish with many algae species. That, or they "hang on" in dormant phases or unseen places until conditions are conducive to their "blooming" again. In any case, in all nuisance algae control scenarios, the keys are NSW parameters, nutrient management, and manual pulling, if necessary. This works for hair algae and bubble algae, as well as cyanobacteria. Diatoms usually die off on their own. Dinoflagellates can also be controlled in this manner, but are sometimes more persistent than cyano or hair algae.

[icliao]

True. It is sometimes complicated and "unpredictable."

[KDodds]

To an extent, but you can predict a few things. First, if nutrient levels are high, it's only a matter of time before problems arise, and nusiance algae blooms may be the least of those problems, especially in reefs. Second, if you carry out a maintenance schedule to eradicate hair algae that includes both nutrient removal/limitation and manula pulling, you will eventually succeed. In both cases, it's just a matter of time (and for the latter, patience).

[fishgeeksrus]

I believe that a Rainfordy goby helps with hair algae. They are pretty cool looking too!

[KDodds]

Actually that's a relatively new and popular misconception, IME. The Gobies available to us are carnivores. In fact, I can't think of any that ARE herbivorous. Anyway, yes, they'll pick at algaes, but more to get at the pods living in the algae. From what I have observed, the algae that they do dislodge is spit out, not consumed.

[mrmashew]

I think a Foxface will work. It did for me and my tank.