hair algae

[tomini]

hi everyone i recently got hit by a major hair algae problem
my parameters seem fine, i do a 5% w/c everyweekend on my 75 gal with r/o from safeway
and i have my pc's on for 12 hours a day
everything used to be fine for a year or so and now i cant seem to stop the growth ive even tried taking the rock out and scrubbing
i only have 2 clowns a mandarin, and a goby in there with some various inverts
what can the problem be???
any help you guys can give will be much appreciated

[AJ_77]

Hi and welcome to the board! If your lights have shifted spectrum in the year you've had them, they could contribute to your algae problem. Just one possible factor, there's also a thread in the Reefs forum now asking these same questions.

Do you have more details regarding your system - filtration, skimmer, circulation, bioload, rock, substrate, etc?

[Canadian Man]

Also what's your snail/hermit crab population like?

[G1GY]

Maybe cut the photo period down by a couple of hours until it's under control.

[tomini]

ive tried cutting the photo period by a few hours a day and its done nothing, i have a aqua C remora skimmer and an ehiem canister filter and i run carbon i have changed the bulbs recently
still clueless
thanks for the help so far though

[Buccaneer]

I have 2 snails and no hermit crabs in a 270G and previously in a 300G and never had a hair algae problem ... too many nutrients and detritus buildup has always been my guess as far as hair algae goes ... my cousin in JA had a outdoor saltwater pond and huge hair algae problems and he had natural sunlight so I am disinclined to think spectrum alone contributed to it although it may be a contributing factor. The only nuissance algae I have had is valonia and I have no clue how I got it but it never got to plague proportions ( would find one behind a rock or something if I was fooling around in the tank )

[danny zubot]

Maybe you can rent Albert's sea hare after its done cleaning up may hair algea problem.

I have a question for you, do you use RO water or conditioned tap water? I have a theory about Calgary water in the winter and PO4 levels.

[DiscusZ]

Danny ,

You can request a water faq from the City, there Seems to be more of a difference during the Spring due to the run off I have an old copy around somewhere I should dig it up.

[Canadian Man]

You can't forget the ammount of algae eating fish you have Steve.
That would/could account for a huge diffrence in his tank compared to yours.

But Tomini doesn't like to tell us how many he has anyway

[danny zubot]

Tomini said:

even tried taking the rock out and scrubbing

I've heard that this can actually spread the algae diatoms around.