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

[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

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Do you run lights in your refugium on a reverse cycle? In other words, does your PH remain constant?

I know that the higher the PH, the lower the levels of dissolved Co2, which would help (in theory) to reduce algae growth.

[michika]

Originally Posted by Der_Iron_Chef

Do you run lights in your refugium on a reverse cycle? In other words, does your PH remain constant?

I know that the higher the PH, the lower the levels of dissolved Co2, which would help (in theory) to reduce algae growth.

I don't run my lights on my refugium on a reverse cycle, because of how my tank is set up. My apartment is one big room, and the 'fuge light is quite bright, thus making it hard to sleep. I only see a slight pH drop though from say the middle of the day with MH & actinics, to just the moonlights at say midnight. Day is 8.2, and night is about 7.9.


argileh,

Unfortunately lowering my salinity is not a viable option. For starters it would probably kill my tank, clams, inverts, etc.

Would you be able to show me, or point me to the literature that you read on a lower salinity?

[Quagmire]

Don't know what your Alk is at,but you can try raising it to around 10-12.Algea doesn't like the high Alk.Also take a small piece of algea covered rock and clean it off.Then put it in a bowl with fresh made salt water.Let it sit a couple days and test for nitrates.It seems that everything you have done so far should have had at least some effect,so maybe your rock is whats causing the problem.

[Redrover]

I had it a few years back...good old foxface to the rescue, he was like a lawnmore,never had it since...he now is helping another reefer.

[fishoholic]

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

[Edmonton Eskimo]

the only other thing that I could think of is iron. Is there somehow excess iron entering your tank? The algaes feed on this as well. I've seen this algae and it's very weird. Not the same color or consistency as much of the hair algae I've encountered. Good luck catherine!

[Chaloupa]

I battled hair algae for many MONTHS. It was the toughest thing...whew. When I see a strand now I just freak....I did all of the above as you did...some of the snails I used were amazing...I don't remember their name, but they were not turbos, J&L was out and they gave me these large snails instead (Rene at J&L's) and man do they clean up, PLUS they are too large for the hermits to kill easily, and when they fall over they can right themselves unlike turbos, mine in large part was a nutrient issue, plus poor lighting, a new tank and just about every other thing you can imagine....among many many others, I did beat it but it wasn't easy.... it does take MUCH patience, perseverence and hope!

I do agree that you most likely are on the winning side now...with switching to RO, new bulbs, plucking it out, CUC, etc etc, I think it will just take time, and drive you nuts but I bet you have the start of the end!

I can't say that I dropped the temp or salinity...I figured there was enough of a battle going on to add that to my mix...

[68shelby]

I had a problem with hair algae as I had inherited the tank from someone who lost interest. I did the water changes the new halide , introduced a algae team of crabs , lawnmower blenie and 2 tangs, Pulled algae from the rocks by hand, and I wasnt winning . I finally pulled out the rocks that were bad and scrubed them with a toothbrush and rinsed them with water change water in my kitchen sink. Took about a month of work as I would do 3-4 rocks a week. By the end of it my yellow tang finished the rest. And then he ate the zenia becuase I had no algae left.

[Mr. Fairy Wrasse]

I had the same problem and tried the same things but in the end, I tried ALGONE at a high dose and the HA dissappeared, simple as that. Good luck!