Anyone had any luck getting rid of hair algae?

[Werbo]

#1 tooth brush plus elbow grease. Do little every night.

Snails wont touch the long hair algae but they will keep it in check after the rock is scrubbed.

Gfo won't hurt and some say elevated Mg will help also.

[kien]

sounds like an nutrient spike causing the algae bloom. I had something similar when I reset my tank this past fall. All sorts of funky algaes, cyano, etc popping up where it never used to before. Then I decided to put my BioPellet reactor back on line to more aggressively attack nitrates even though it was already pretty low at <4ppm (certainly not Ultra Low, but I've never had algae problems with that kind of a nitrate reading in the past). Anyway, a few weeks of that and the algae started to die back. I also had to change GFO more frequently (like once a week!) because it was getting used up pretty quick. Probably due to phosphates leaching out of my old rocks. I' think I've sucked it all up now cuz I'm back to once a month replacement with the GFO.

[Skimmerking]

Christy read this about lime water and magnesium and strontium


I have been battling red turf since 2004 and still can't beat it and I think that I have figured it out. Since I have been using the kalk stirrer for so long. Its depleting my magnesium and strontium which I. Fact works along with CAL AND ALK as we all know. Over the course of time kalk strips the ions that mag is found in in kalk paste. This is the minerals that are found in the left over kalk paste. Any ways have a read it was in the advanced reef reading y Ron sheimek


http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/12/chemistry

[naesco]

Based on my experience, Burgerchow has the best answer and you have an offer for a loan of a seahare. Take it is the best option. You know that you have to acclimatize her slowly.

Frequent water changes and getting rrid of the latest and greatest snake oil methodology willl get you on track.

Wayne

[gregzz4]

I haven't eliminated whatever causes HA in my tank, but my longspine urchin and Strawberry Tophat snails keep it mowed down nicely
I tried elevated Mg before that but didn't see any significant 'quick' results

Adding the snails was the best thing I ever did
I have 3 in my 75g

[Myka]

Originally Posted by christyf5

The brown cyano isn't dinoflagellates. No bubbles and it doesn't come back in a matter of hours like dinos.

Ok, well that's good.

I've already got a ridiculous amount of flow (wavebox, tunze 6100, 6080 and 6045, vortech MP40, dart return full open). I have been turkey basting and siphoning where things pile up (I've angled the flow to pile detritus in easy access points).

Ok, move them around then so that you stir up crap. Put a filter sock on the drain(s) so you catch it all. In the cleanest of tanks you can move the powerheads around and stir crap up.

No vodka/vinegar dosing. Even if its the holy grail I'm done with that stuff, its too "smoke and mirrors" for me.

It's not smoke and mirrors, but ok.

Might have a look for a foxface rabbitfish, fish are slim pickins around here

Getting a fish or invert (like seahare) isn't the best option anyway since that method will not necessarily remove the nutrients from the system. The nutrients will go into the animal and come out the other end as nutrients. Once the nutrients have become fish/hare poop again they have a second chance at being skimmed or filtered out though so there is that benefit.

Plucking it out with tweezers (or removing the rock and scrubbing if you really want to) is often the best idea since you are permanently removing the nutrients that are within the algae.

Mg is at 1290, working on raising it up but I rarely go past 1300. The tank uses a ridiculous amount of Mg. I use Elias magnesium mix, he does the Randy Holmes-Farley recipe for me and a doser takes care of the rest.

Since magnesium chloride hexahydrate is only abut 35% magnesium (epsom salts are about 39% Mg) and the total amount of Mg within the system is relatively high (hopefully) around 1300-1400 ppm it does take a lot of Mg supplement to increase Mg. If you use aquarium products rather than bulk chemicals (like BRS) then you may need to use even more since some aquarium Mg products have less than 10% Mg. Anyway, use as much as you need to get Mg up at NSW value, it will help with algae problems. If you want to prevent adding so much chloride to the tank you can use 10% epsom salt.

Already running GFO, can't say I'm impressed with this last batch from BRS, it doesn't seem to be doing a bloody thing, all the phosphate just goes straight to whatever algae is breeding away in the tank so PO4 levels are usually low.

GFO can only get nutrients that are in the water column, so it doesn't do a darn thing for the algae that is already present. GFO prevents the growth of more algae.

No pH meter, it died awhile ago and I never replaced it. Tank was always 8.1-8.3 though and frankly the tank used to run at 7.8 and looked the best it ever did.

Maybe you did more frequent waterchanges or had lower stock back then...who knows. The tank doing so well couldn't be attributed to lower pH, or rather it would be highly unlikely that pH below 8.0 was singularly the beneficial factor.

I think Ocean diver has it right though, elbow grease and time.

Thanks for the ideas

Hey! I said that too!

You're welcome, good luck!

[freezetyle]

to add to the list of opinions here:
Vinegar dosing along with feeding your fish once every two-three days, scrubbing it with a tooth brush, then siphoning out.

With rocks they you can take out, you can scrub them with a tooth brush and then pour a diluted solution of hydrogen peroxide over the HA (there is a large thread on Reef central about that), just keep up on the gap/carbon changes.

[Reef Pilot]

Had some show up this past summer when I let my tank lapse a bit and my N03 and P04 jumped up. I got my bio pellet reactor revved up again and GFO later, and that stopped it. I still had to scrub rocks with a tooth brush just before each water change, but it loosened its hold and came off more easily after the nutrients came down again.

It does take some patience though, and even today, there are still a few stubborn tuffs I find here and there, and I have to apply the toothbrush. The good news is it can be beaten back once the nutrients are back down (N03 and P04 at zero).

[fishoholic]

I've had rabbit fish that pick at HA but they never really fully got rid of it all, definitely got rid of most of it but not all. Oddly though every naso tang I've ever had (I had 3 in total, including the one I still have) seems to love HA and has been good at getting rid of it and keeping it gone. Doesn't eliminate the source causing the HA of course but makes the tank free of it, or at least they have for me. I think the sea hare would work well for you in this case, just watch them around powerheads, I tried one and sure enough 2 days after getting him he got sucked onto the powerhead and died.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by Skimmer King

Christy read this about lime water and magnesium and strontium


I have been battling red turf since 2004 and still can't beat it and I think that I have figured it out. Since I have been using the kalk stirrer for so long. Its depleting my magnesium and strontium which I. Fact works along with CAL AND ALK as we all know. Over the course of time kalk strips the ions that mag is found in in kalk paste. This is the minerals that are found in the left over kalk paste. Any ways have a read it was in the advanced reef reading y Ron sheimek


http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/12/chemistry

I remember Jayson always saying this out many years ago. Used the Seachem Reef Advantage which is suppose to raise strontium and magnesium besides calcium and Reef Builder for alk. Of course that was before the bulk two parts, but I still use Seachem.

Also if you remember I once said everytime I use kalk I had some problems with my corals. Of course many dont and its suppose to help your skimmer export nutrients.

I always liked adding Bens calcium and magnesium to my IO mix to keep my levels up. But of course thats no longer an option to.

Oh and I still have your red turf and dont use kalk.