hair algea again...

[nanoman123]

i just went through the most painful battle of my life with this tank.......... i thought everything was gone and it was all great..... but its back.......



i noticed some hair algea coming out of the middle of my zoo and yellow polyp rock. my first thought was, toothbrush. but, not possible. theres coral in the way. i cant pull it out, because i cant reach all of it. my emerald crab got smashed because a rock fell on him, so i need to get another one of those. i added new carbon, a bigger filter, stopped using tap, added a nutrient remover, got a algea blenny, but its not going away...... what to i do?!!


~Matt~

[Sugar Magnolia]

First off, test your phosphate levels. Elevated phosphates may be the problem. If you find the level to be up, get some Phosban or Rowaphos.

I've had no problem using an old toothbrush to scrub the mats of zoos and gsp to get the hair algae out from between the polyps. As long as you don't scrub too hard it'll be fine.

[gman0526]

Matt what's your cleaning crew like? How much are u feeding your fish? From ur tank description I beleive your lightning is adequate, so I'm thinking maybe a nutrient overload due to overfeeding maybe. Also nuient/phospate "filters" need to be replaced regularly if not they defeat the purpose.HTH

[MikeS]

Sugar is probably on the right track, odds are good you have some phosphate buildup on the rocks. You may get a zero test result, but since you were using tap water, I'd bet there is still a fair amount of phosphates that pecipitated out onto the rocks and substrate.

Ok...two thing in your post...."bigger filter" and "nutrient remover"...could you elaborate on that?

What are your current water parameters?

Mike

[nanoman123]

about the tap water, i took my rocks and scrubbed the nicely to rid of all the hair algea, and then took out a bucket of tank water, filled the tank with distilled water and salt, put the rocks and the tank water back in with the corals. by bigger filter i mean, my penguin mini ran out of filter cartridges so i put my old penguin 170 in it. for nutrient remover, i forgot the name but its a little pouch you put in the filter to remove unwanted nutrients. i dont know alot about it, but it has lots of posotive feedback.


params are

nitrite nitrate and ammonia are all at 0
calc is 450
i still need a alk and phosphate test kit
and salinity is at 1.025

i feed flake every other day and i feed a little ammount of my home made coral/fish food

its a mix of
brine
blood worms
lettuce
zoecon
phyto
other veggies
krill


~MAtt~

[nanoman123]

forgot PH.

its at 8.3

[MikeS]

I'm still guessing you have some phosphate precipitated onto your rock and substrate. I'd suggest using a phosphate removing filter media in your penguin filter, this will help remove some of the phosphates that go back into the water column. Also, if your tank has calcium loving critters in it, you can drip kalk. Kalk, in conbonation with skimming, will help remove some of those phosphates as well.

Winning the battle agains hair algae can be a long process, stay paitent...

Also, not sure about the nutrient remover, I'm always a little wary of products like that....

Mike

[nanoman123]

im still waiting to buy my skimmer from my friend

[gman0526]

Mike would you recomend taking the LR out of the tank and "boiling/cooking" it to remove phosphates that might be precipitated?

[MikeS]

No, I probably would not go that far....the phosphates will go back into suspention on their own over time, and physically removing the cyano/hair algae is a good way to export those nutrients....

Mike

[gman0526]

Ok, cool.

[nanoman123]

i have a chemical that killed all my cyano in less than 2 days, without harming my params or corals or anything. do you think that it will work with hair algea?


~Matt~

[MikeS]

I'd strongly discourage against using it...you never know what the results will be. You may have gotten lucky using it on the first go, but you many not be so fortunate the next time. Besides that, chemicals only are effective on the symptoms, ie the cyano bloom, but do nothing to solve the underlying problem that caused the bloom in the first place. In addition, killing the algae or cyano that quickly simply re-releases all those nutrients it stored up right back into your water. In time, the cyano/algae will return if nothing is done about the underlying problem, (the nutrients) and it may come back in a tougher form that resists the chemicals. I'd use chemicals only as a very last resort, ie your corals and livestock are being threatened by the algae/cyano.

Mike

Mike makes a real stong case there nanoman, especially that 2nd to last part. I have seen that happen a few times to local reefers here.

I understand that many flake foods are high in phosphates. If you are over feeding a bit and you have that getting in the CC substrate, that could cuase a huge build up in nutrients real fast. I havent seen any mention of clean up crew size or composition which in the long term could help too.

Just reaching for air here....

[nanoman123]

i do have to admit, i think ive been feeding them too much flake.... ill try harder not too. the algea hasnt really been "growing" as a matter of fact, its turning brownish-yellow. ill keep you guys informed.


~Matt~