Green Hair Algae

[rosslonghorns]

Okay, here is a little background.

180 gallon aquarium, running Euro-Reef CS 8-1 Skimmer. It was setup early November 2008.

I have a few test kits: PH, KH, Cal, and Mg but everything is normal. I continue to have green hair algae multiplying.

I'm looking for some assistance to identify the culprit and beat it. I'm assuming I need to get a nitrate and phosphate test kit first.

What else?

[+mcallahan]

nitrate and phosphate will help. Although both of mine are @ 0 and I still get some hair algae growth.

Personally, I'd get a tang that you like and let him take care of it. They love that stuff!

[innate1]

I had the same sort of problem but add diatoms. It was driving me nuts. I had read a thread about someone taking out their limestone/holey rock and everything normalizing. I did and it did. If you have any I'd yank it and see what happens.

[Kkiel02]

My tang loves it like it's candy.

[rosslonghorns]

So I have all Fiji rock that I purchased from Wolf Reef in SA. So no holey rock.

I have three tangs currently. Livestock is: Yellow Tang, Power Blue Tang, Sailfin Tang, Scooter Blenny, two Lyretail Anthias, and two O. Clowns. I also purchased two Sea Hares and still no dent in the GHA.

I'm in the process of planning / adding a refugium in the hopes of getting some macro established to help starve it out. That is probably two weeks to a month away.

I'm guessing I will get a nitrate and phosphate kit to determine if the levels have risen. Then dependent on that, get some time of phosban reactor going?

I seriously doubt the test kits will read anything as I'm sure the GHA is already consuming it, thus the reason why it seems to be thriving, but what could be driving the nutrients?

I feed once a day, but only what the fish eat in a few minutes.

I'm just frustrated and lost.

[medi]

Where do you get your water from? Also, what kind of salt are you using?

[rosslonghorns]

I use a RO / DI filter and have the dual TDS meter, so I check output off the RO and also at the DI. I'm consistently at 0 or 1 ppm.

I use Reef Crystals. I perform a water change every two weeks. It is about 15 gallons.

[rosslonghorns]

Here is a picture of the GHA:

http://www.austinreefclub.com/uploads/1173..._78_1079989.jpg

[innate1]

I'll look for it on reef central but there is an article about raising your mag levels to get rid of gha.

[Kkiel02]

I would think that some macro would help. Did you read what John(reefcleaners) wrote about the algae? Interesting read if you havent already. I dont know where you are getting these nutrients from. I have heard Turbo snails will also mow this down along with sea hares but you said you already have them in there.

[rosslonghorns]

Yes, and I actually looked on reefcleaners to order some Turbos, but he didn't have any.

I will have to look around locally this weekend, but ultimately I want to identify and fix the issue causing the nutrient spike that drives the GHA.

I did see some literature about raising Mg levels, but I think this was focused at specifically Bryopsis. I have an Mg supplement and did raise them from 1325 to almost 1600. This was about a week ago, but did a water change this weekend, so will have to re-test tomorrow to see where it is at now.

I'm just confused.

If anyone is interested in stopping by to evaluate my tank and methods, it will be much appreciated. I just want to get this GHA under control so the tank can be enjoyed and not be a nuisance.

[mikedelgado]

I would check your nitrates in the tank and your source water dont forget to check your source waterI had a problem with this and I do use an ro/di unit. even 1ppm of tds gave me a positive nitrate test. mexican turbos are great eaters. I keep only 1 in my tank cause they are big and clumsy.I have a 214 gal tank. I have lots of texas rock in my tank and never had an algea problem. check for areas that collect detritus, behind rocks , sump ect. arrange rockwork and add powerheads accordingly so that detritus stays suspended and falls to the sump where it can easily be vacuumed up and away .I am 95% bare bottom so this is easy for me. not so easy with a sand bed.I skim fairly wet.I pretty much have the same fish you do plus a hippo tang sohal and a foxface. Depending on the size of your tank adding more fish would just add more poo. my tangs poo alot,a whole lot. I am not sure whats eating the undesireable algea but I would bet its the mexican turbo snail.O ya I have a lighted refugium but its full of frags not macro. I need some macro nowthat I think about it

[+Dena]

You can always give me your tank...oooh....a 180!!!!

I only have hair algae on a couple rocks I got from someone. It's in crevices so it still grows, but as soon as my tangs can reach it, it's gone. I also have seen the hermits and snails (I've got turbo's, nerites and another) eating at it. My nitrates are always on the charts, not as high as before, but higher than I'd like...phosphates occasionally creep up, but I've got a reactor for that. Still...I never have an outbreak like most people...not sure why.

Dena

[rosslonghorns]

I'm going to setup an order for nitrate and phosphate kits. The first thing I will check is my source water before and after the RO / DI. Looks like I will need to get to the Dome and purchase some Mexican Turbos to at least put a dent in it as I work on getting the source under control.

[rosslonghorns]

UPDATE: Did tests on Sunday with what I have and also placed order for Phosphate and Nitrate kits.

PH: 8.1-8.2

KH: 9 dKH

CA: 430-440 ppm

Mg: 1550 ppm

I also picked up six Mexican Turbo snails, so hopefully they along with the two sea hares I already have will start putting a dent in it.

I hope to get a refugium up and running in the next two weeks, so if it is nitrates, hopefully this will begin to consume that excess nutrients and starve the GHA.

[+mcallahan]

UPDATE: Did tests on Sunday with what I have and also placed order for Phosphate and Nitrate kits.

PH: 8.1-8.2

KH: 9 dKH

CA: 430-440 ppm

Mg: 1550 ppm

I also picked up six Mexican Turbo snails, so hopefully they along with the two sea hares I already have will start putting a dent in it.

I hope to get a refugium up and running in the next two weeks, so if it is nitrates, hopefully this will begin to consume that excess nutrients and starve the GHA.

Dang...that Mg seems high. Did you test after just dosing?

[rosslonghorns]

Yep, remember that I had previously dosed Mg to raise the levels to 1600+ ppm in attempt to rid my GHA. The test was done a week after a water change, so the water change is slowly bringing the level down.

I dosed more after the test to raise it back up to 1600+. I will give it one more week and will suspend dosing if I don't see any "death" related to the GHA as a result of it.

[+mcallahan]

can you bring some of GHA rocks over to my tank? My purple tang would love you for life. If you have any Red hair algae, then he'd be your slave!

[rosslonghorns]

I may have to borrow your purple tang!!!

Not sure if I can put anymore tangs in my tank and have them play nice. Between the yellow, sailfin, and Powder blue, I think I'm stocked when it comes to tangs. They haven't made a dent in it!

[+mcallahan]

that's why I'm saying bring a rock or two to me to see if my tang will have at it! I wouldn't put another tang in that tank either, unless you wanted to watch the show down that would be forthcoming.

[caferacermike]

Nothing beats constant water changes to rid a tank of hair algae.

I got some frags from a person when my tank was at it's nicest. Then came the hair algae. Seems his frags had spores all over them. His tank had pockets of hair algae. The frags were all fresh cut and came unmounted, so where the algae came from is anyone's guess. Within 2 months most of my SPS were suffering and all my zoa were being choked out. I tried everything including an ozone reactor. A few months after adding the reactor it did something that choked my entire tank to death and by morning every fish, coral, invert was dead. I was kinda mad that day. Within days the tank looked like I was a green hair algae farmer. Out of frustration I unplugged the lights and quit on the tank. I let it run so my rock's bacteria and micro critters that might have survived could continue on. After about 3 months with no light you'd think the algae would die off right? Wrong. Nope. Just as bad as the day I turned them off. This is why I think the "3 days without light" threads are bunk. I know a lot of people that have tried that without any success whatsoever. The only threads that can support the no light theory all have one thing in common, the water changes. Immediately after doing a lights out period they begin doing frequent water changes to their tanks.

I finally got rid of my algae problem. No real quick cure. No magic stuff. No magic critters. First thing I did was to kind of overskim my 75g with a EuroReef CS12-5-RC with Eheim 1262 mod upgrades that I had lying around. For a solid week I turned over all my sand and sifted it through a strainer to remove all the old frags that had gotten knocked loose, dead snail shells, and rubble from the sand. Then I left a Tunze 6060 over the sand bed and that kept the sand stirring like crazy. Every day I'd come home to about 2 gallons of skimmate to toss down the drain. I did 50g water changes weekly during this time period. I removed what rocks I could and physically removed the algae by hand. After 3 weeks I removed the CS12 and turned on my RS-130 and continued with the 50g water changes weekly. 2 months later my water is crystal clear and my rock has zero hair algae on it. In fact I've dumped about $1,200 on corals and think my tank is starting to finally look great once again. The sand is freakishly clean and my water is clear as RO/DI. I now do a 5g water change every 3 days and a 20g water change every 2 weeks. I also bought a dozen filter socks and placed one in my sump and one on the output of my skimmer. These I change every 3 days when I do my mini water changes. I also bought all new filters for my RO/DI unit.

[+mcallahan]

Nothing beats constant water changes to rid a tank of hair algae.

I got some frags from a person when my tank was at it's nicest. Then came the hair algae. Seems his frags had spores all over them. His tank had pockets of hair algae. The frags were all fresh cut and came unmounted, so where the algae came from is anyone's guess. Within 2 months most of my SPS were suffering and all my zoa were being choked out. I tried everything including an ozone reactor. A few months after adding the reactor it did something that choked my entire tank to death and by morning every fish, coral, invert was dead. I was kinda mad that day. Within days the tank looked like I was a green hair algae farmer. Out of frustration I unplugged the lights and quit on the tank. I let it run so my rock's bacteria and micro critters that might have survived could continue on. After about 3 months with no light you'd think the algae would die off right? Wrong. Nope. Just as bad as the day I turned them off. This is why I think the "3 days without light" threads are bunk. I know a lot of people that have tried that without any success whatsoever. The only threads that can support the no light theory all have one thing in common, the water changes. Immediately after doing a lights out period they begin doing frequent water changes to their tanks.

I finally got rid of my algae problem. No real quick cure. No magic stuff. No magic critters. First thing I did was to kind of overskim my 75g with a EuroReef CS12-5-RC with Eheim 1262 mod upgrades that I had lying around. For a solid week I turned over all my sand and sifted it through a strainer to remove all the old frags that had gotten knocked loose, dead snail shells, and rubble from the sand. Then I left a Tunze 6060 over the sand bed and that kept the sand stirring like crazy. Every day I'd come home to about 2 gallons of skimmate to toss down the drain. I did 50g water changes weekly during this time period. I removed what rocks I could and physically removed the algae by hand. After 3 weeks I removed the CS12 and turned on my RS-130 and continued with the 50g water changes weekly. 2 months later my water is crystal clear and my rock has zero hair algae on it. In fact I've dumped about $1,200 on corals and think my tank is starting to finally look great once again. The sand is freakishly clean and my water is clear as RO/DI. I now do a 5g water change every 3 days and a 20g water change every 2 weeks. I also bought a dozen filter socks and placed one in my sump and one on the output of my skimmer. These I change every 3 days when I do my mini water changes. I also bought all new filters for my RO/DI unit.

Good God! Makes me never want to bring in anything from the outside world again.

3 days of darkness wipes out any algae in my tank. HOWEVER, the only algae I have is what grows on the sand bed. I don't have any hair algae so it not a true apples to apples comparison.

[mikedelgado]

that sounds like a good idea! I found a rock in my fuge covered in gha.(horror!!) I would have tossed it but there was a few polyps on it so I put it into my display temporarily to see if anybody would go for the gha.It wasnt in there for more than 5 minutes when I took a look back at a totally bare rock with just the polyps left. I never saw what picked it clean but I know now that one or several of my fish love gha.

[rosslonghorns]

caferacermike,

How deep was your sand bed just prior to your GHA horror?

How deep is it now?

I've read a few threads and one of the points I've pulled from them is related to depth of sand bed. It seems those with 3-5" removed sand to leave about 1-2" and had much better luck related to troublesome algae. My tank is still just under six months, so I didn't think it would have an impact yet, but have been thinking about it.

Hmmm, water changes!!!!! I guess I should invest in some new equipment related to water changes. They're a massive chore as of now. Time for the Brute Buckets I guess to ease the burden.

I sometimes ponder why I enjoy this hobby so much!

[Truck0000]

Im having a hair and bubble algea issue. I am pretty sure its the depth of my sand bed that is the issue. I went to TMAC and heard ping speak about it. My bed is 3-4 inches. My biggest concern is the bubble alea until my 5 inch lawnmower blenny decided to jump out of the back of my tank. He kept all the hair algea gone. I pulled some of my rocks out and scrubbed the hair and bubble algea off them. I then rinsed them in the faucet real quick then dipped in RODI water and put back in the tank. The rocks i have done this to dont have any hair or bubble algea on them and the coralline is starting to grow back on them nicely. Im going with a fuge next. I really dont want to pull out any sand becuase I like the depth but when I put up the 135 in august Im only going with a 1 inch bed and a 55 gal with a DSB in it under the stand.