I'm loosing the war with GHA, help?!

[michika]

Since May I've been fighting GHA, and it is still getting worse.

Here is what I have done so far, and now I'm just going crazy. I recently picked up an urchin, and while I thought he would clean the tank up nice, it seems he is only good at keeping it at bay, when he wants to eat it.

Here is the list:
1) Changed out all bulbs, everything is new now within 2 months.
2) Macro algae, I tried to avoid pruning it until it got to the point where it was almost too big for my 'fuge hoping that the bigger surface area would absorb more of whatever is triggering the GHA. It didn't seem to make a difference.
3) Switched back to RO/DI water
4) Manually remove the algae (I do this every 2-3 days and get 1-2 cups)
5) Running the tank with a reduced photo period, I now run for only 5 hours a day with MH for a total of 6 hours of light.
6) A Blackout period, I kept the tank completely dark for 3 days, there was no reduction in algae, and it got worse after I was done.
7) Run a phosphate remover in a high flow area, just below the return. I'm still doing this, now with a reactor.
8) Larger water changes, I do 10g over the course of a week.
9) Ensure all my water parameters are in order (see below)
10) Added additional members to my clean up crew, and added a longspine urchin
11) Removed my rocks, scrubed them all down and plucked them clean. Only three rocks weren't scrubed, but it was because they have clams on them. They were however picked clean.

I've tried asking for help, and got quite a few ideas, most of which I tried. This was the original request for help thread.
How else to do battle with hair algae

This is my tank thread, maybe there is something in it that is relevant.
My nano thread

All my water parameters are now stable at the following levels:
Temp: 80
pH: 8.2
SG: 1.025
Calcium: 420-440ppm
Alkalinity: 9-10 dkh, its perpetually on the cusp it seems.
Nitrate, Nitrite, and Ammonia: 0ppm
Magnesium: 1280ppm.
Phosphate: 0 even though I know its still there.

The only fluctuations I see are in Calcium and Magnesium. Calcium can swing between 420-440 at the very most. Magnesium on the other hand does have a bit of a bigger swing, it fluctuates between 1200-1280ppm. My sand is new within the last 6 months, it was washed very well, the rock all came from my 230g and its age varies from 3 years to 6 months old. The rock has never been out of water for more them maybe 30 seconds.

What else can I be doing? I am litterally going crazy with this stuff. I feel like I'm out of options. Sometimes I feel like I am at the point where it is a hopeless battle. I have to clean around some of my clams every day to prevent them from being swallowed alive.

Make any suggestions, but please explain why your making the suggestion, and how it will hopefully solve the issue.

HELP ME PLEASE!

[Der_Iron_Chef]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: try a sea hare!

Seriously. If you lived here, I would lend you mine. He's a pig and would make short work (well, within a week or two, I'm sure) of your hair algae.

[Snappy]

Sea hares work great but unfortunately whenever I've gotten them the longest any lived was 2 weeks before getting sucked into a powerhead. They are also stupid enough to eat cyano which often occurs with hair algae and it seems to poison them. They are a very good short term solution. Did you ever try the starving blue leg hermit crab idea I previously suggested? It worked for me.

[Chaloupa]

I tried the seahare route....it didn't work for me (twice!)...I battled for MONTHS and was plucking it daily for about an hour....I did do all that you did and finally won it over.........but I was ready to throw in the towel. I didn't and slowly but surely it was finally gone...but it took some time. I wish I had words of wisdom for you, but all I can offer is my sympathy!

[Skimmin]

You may want to try is dropping your temp and salinity. I had the same problem at one time. I dropped my salinity to 1.020 and temp to 76. Another thing I also found that helped was adding lots of inverts and snails. I haven't had a single spot of that crap since I did these things. (in a 78gal tank I have approx 80 crabs and snails) I understand how frustrating it can be though. Good Luck!

[marie]

I battled hair algae for a year and a half. All I can say is patience, keep doing what your doing and eventually it will go away.

At this point it is probably no longer a nutrient issue, It grows because its there. Have you ever seen a dandelion growing and flowering on what appears to be solid rock?

[tknude]

From what I understand pruning of your algea in your tank should be done in combination with a water change to suck up all the loose parts. Perhaps this in tank pruning is just making it spread worse. I have always been told to remove the rock and scrub and pluck it under running water, then give it a good rinse before putting it back in the tank. I had a battle for months as well but got a phosban reactor, cleaned my rock as above, did a water change when the rock was out, and got a sea uchin at around the same time. So far the algea is staying down. As well I went to bare bottom and do 15% water changes once a week.

[michika]

Greg,

Yeah I did try your suggestion, I got a whole bunch more hermits, starved them (they seemed really happy with it ) then toseed them back in the display, they are more active, but not so much in the hair algae department.


Der_Iron_Chef
I searched out seahares, and could only ever find big ones. I was prepared to swallow my fear of them toppling my frags, etc. but instead found an urchin and went that route. The urchin does really well, as in it literally strips the algae off the rocks, but it can't seem to keep up.


Skimmin,

I am not able to make those types of adjustments, my tank is fully stocked with 9 clams of various species, a large selection of SPS, and LPS corals, I also have a large clean up crew. I would be afraid that a lower SG would kill my tank.

Do you have any literature about GHA, and lower salinity, or lower temps? In all my research I've never before come across this suggetion.


tknude,

I do prune at the same time I do water changes. I ensure that 95% of what I prune does not make it back in the tank at all. I'm pretty good at pruning it in clumps, with very few stray pieces getting into the system. I did tear down my whole system a few months ago to scrub all the algae, and it didn't seem to have any effect either. How bad was your hair algae problem? How many months have you been battling it?


Chaloupa, and Marie,

Thanks for the encouragement. How long on average did you battle green hair algae Chaloupa? Was it bad like mine? There are recent photos in my tank thread. This stuff is just really pushing my buttons. It has literally reduced my usable surfaces for frags by probably 30%. I just wish I could see some sort of end in sight!

[argileh]

Originally Posted by Skimmin

You may want to try is dropping your temp and salinity. I had the same problem at one time. I dropped my salinity to 1.020 and temp to 76. Another thing I also found that helped was adding lots of inverts and snails. I haven't had a single spot of that crap since I did these things. (in a 78gal tank I have approx 80 crabs and snails) I understand how frustrating it can be though. Good Luck!

I second dropping temp and salinity. I remember reading it in some book/literature. I tried it once and it helped

[fishoholic]

Our white tailed pygmy angelfish eats our hair algae, now if only he'd eat aptasia!