Hello...

[littlevicious18]

Hello everyone
i am new, to this bored well not really been lurking but i finally signed up, i have a couple of qestions that i havent found an answer for...
ok
i have a 50 gal salt its been up for a year and a half and it seems ever since it hit the year part all of the sudden just hair algea everywere, i went to many stores and they told me to get an skimmer, and i did and it didnt work, i todally have scrubbed my live rock everything to get rid of it, all my tests are good and were they are supose to be, anythoughts?

[Beermaster]

Well Greets and Welcome to Canreef

I understand this Hair Algea, i have been dealing with it myself and so far the only things i can say is:

How old are your lights?
what lights are you running?
Tap water or ro water?
Sea Hairs will eat it (i have also hear lawnmower blennys will)

[KrazyKuch]

Welcome to the board....

If you are using tap water that it probably the problem.....Test for Phosphates as thats the culprit !

[Matt]

All I know about algae control is in this post. Some of it is likely wrong.

Algae needs three major things to thrive:
Nitrogen (nitrates)
Phosphorus (phosphates)
Light

Control your nitrates by reducing bio-load or feeding (amonia sources) so that your system can process them naturally and by water changes.

Phosphates can be introduced in source water (tap water sometimes has elevated phosphate levels), in foods and meds (some, but not all preparations contain phosphates). They can be controlled by water changes (or water-source changes) and products like phosban or rowaphos, which adsorb or bind the phosphates into unusable forms.

Light is necessary for coral growth, so you don't want to control (limit) that unless things get wildly out of control.

Beneficial algae, like chaeto, is a very hardy competitor for these nutrients and can draw down the levels for unwanted varieties, and then the nitrates can be directly exported by pruning the stuff out.

I spend a bit of time every week with a small siphon with a rigid tip digging out unwanted algae. My wife and I are the best members of our aquarium's cleaning crew. The rest of the critters are comparitively lazy. I do this just to keep ahead of any potential problems.

Snails, some fish (mostly for largish setups) and as mentioned, sea hares can use the algae as food, but food leads to amonia, so unless you've got some auxiliary controls... lather, rinse, repeat.

[muck]

Welcome to the board!!
Great to see the Edmonton reef scene growing..

[Reefhawk1]

Welcome to the board.

A couple things to focus on are your phosphate levels and your lighting. What type of lighting are you using?

[Winters]

Beneficial algae, like chaeto, is a very hardy competitor for these nutrients and can draw down the levels for unwanted varieties, and then the nitrates can be directly exported by pruning the stuff out.

I agree!

When I started my tank an year+ ago, it went through several algal blooms. (I'm using well water filtered through RO/DI) Hair algae was definitely a big problem. I tried the usual suspects: urchins, Sea Hare, Lettuce Nudibranchs,
snails, Hermit Crabs, Emerald Crabs, Lawnmower Blennies, etc. and nothing worked. I kept having to take rock out and scrub the horrid hair algae off every other month.

UNTIL.. I got a clump of Chaetomorpha, and a light for the sump. I put it into the sump and did one last algae cleaning. I've never had to clean it again. In fact, I don't have a single strand of hair algae anywhere in my 90g any more. Best $10 I've ever spent.

I believe the issue, as you've been suggested, is Phosphates and Nitrates, which the macroalgae should help remove. (And even if your test kit doesn't seem to show much of it present there could still be enough in there to cause a problem, but since it's all being absorbed by the hair algae the test may not be detecting it) I would definitely try Chaeto before going the Phosban (and other chemicals, etc.) route. Cheaper, natural, and considerably easier.

Good luck!

[rusty]

I will agree with Imran, I am a true believer in a cheato fuge if you have a sump that stuff is awsome for removing nutrients from the water! And Welcome!!!

[littlevicious18]

thanks everyone
i may have have make alittle sump for the tank, i am not handy at it at all, anyone want to make one haha, and try the algea way
as for my lighting its new just had the new lightbulbs in them, i cant remember the watts right now since i am not there, i used tap water, i thought it didnt make a differnce now i know better, but i am willing to try the sump way, once i find a way to make one thanks everyone