AHHHH!!! Brown Hair Alage

[rm41400]

I went away for two weeks and came back to a tank overgrown with brown super thin brown hair alage all over my live rok. What should I do? My skimmer seems to be working well. I've done my pm with a water change just before I left of about 25gal on my 120gal tank.

I did change a few things before I left. My sand bed seemed a little shallow (2"-3") so I skimmed the surface really well and added about 30# of sand. I did the above in two phases about a week apart then left.

Any suggestions are very welcome!!

[theishkid]

How much hair do you have? You need to solve the problem while it is minimal and fast before it gets out of hand. Quickest solution is to take the rock out with the hair and scrub it. If you have a lot consider getting a sea hare to mow it down as they seem to be the only invert that will.

[fishdoc11]

How old was you sandbed? I added some sand to a sandbed about that thick that was couple of years old one time and I got a hair algae problem that didn't go away till I finally took all the sand out after trying everything else a few months later. Was the tank overfed while you were gone? If it was a couple of water changes and time might take care of it.
Chris

[rm41400]

The sandbed was from another tank. I rinsed it very very good with water in a 50 gal rubbermaid prior to placing in this tank.

My tank has been setup for about 7 months and I decided about 4 weeks ago that I would add some new sand over the old.

I have it on about 80% of the rock. Would you reccomend a sea hare fishdoc? The tank may have been overfed so I am reducing feedings for a little while. Water change is next on the list. Anything else?

[rcmike]

Yeah, you probably have some nutrients from the old sand in there growing the algae. No matter how much you wash it I don't think you can get it out. It may go away after everthing stabilizes. Is it like hair algae or is it slimy with bubbles in it? I am just trying to figure out exactly what it is. A picture may help.

[fishdoc11]

FWIW calcareous substances like reef sand absorb PO4. The only way to remove it that I know of is with bacterial turgor which reguires "cooking" it in a dark place for a period of time. Worth it for recycling live rock but hardly worth it for sand IMO. As far as anything else anything to reduce nutrients. I would definately wait it out for a while before making any decision on the sand.

[rcmike]

:thumbsup: That's what I was trying to say sort of.

[rm41400]

thanks guys I will try and get a pic tonight. Its a super fine brown hair alage. I dont recall seeing bubbles though.

However, one more little tid bit of information just came to mind. I had some zoas that were not doing so hot and they had some type of hair alage forming on there rock and only there small rock so I pulled them out and put in a qt for a dip. If I recall the alage I have all over my rocks appears the same as on the zoas, but I am not positive. I think ficshdoc had told me it was a zoa fungus when I bought some frags (even though it looks like super fine hair alage to me) hmmm...

[fishdoc11]

I think I said it SOUNDED like a fungus:)

It's really hard/impossible to tell without seeing it and even then it might be possible to tell exactly what it is.

[rm41400]

dohh! lol. now I am more confused. I think we are saying the same thing just different.

I was wondering, does the zoa fungus look like super fine hair alage? Could the zoa fungus be what has spread everywehere? I will get some pics tonight maybe that will help.

[gflat65]

The zoa fungus should stay localized to your zoas. The fungus I have seen is white and fuzzy and fills in between the polyps and over the polyps. Not to say there isn't some other kind of fungus that I am not experienced with...

[gflat65]

Zoa fungus, that is;).

[rm41400]

Thanks for all the help everyone.

Here is a couple pictures-

<img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/rm41400/Picture009.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

<img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/rm41400/Picture003.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

<img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/rm41400/Picture002.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

[rcmike]

Aaaggghhh! Sorry having flashbacks. I have had stuff sort of like that before. I think my problem was phosphates getting through my RO filter. I corrected that and it gradually went away. I would almost guarantee it was phosphates in the sand that caused it. I got lots of snails and a couple of urchins to help with mine. Tangs wouldn't touch it. The big turbo snails would eat it. I don't know how much the herbivores really helped though, it could have just been the reduction in phosphates that really did it.

[fishdoc11]

What Gflat and rcmike said:)

[rm41400]

Still fighting this same annoying alagae. I took out about 25% of the sand from the front of the tank over the last couple weeks. It seems like it may be shrinking back ever so slightly. Any other ideas or suggestions? Should I take the rest out?

I have waited several months as you can tell hoping it would clear up with time and maintenance. Also, I added another CS 8-2 skimmer to help. Now I have two CS8-2 skimmers and get a good amount of wet skimmate

Also, I think my alagae has now turned more of a dark green color but is the exact same texture and everything

[fishdoc11]

Can you put another pic up?