Just can't seem to get rid of my hair alge. I use RO water, Ammonia-0.. PH-8.3..Nitrate-0..Alk-9.8(DKH)..Ca-380 Do not feed alot. New PC lights..I am using a 5k MH bulb though. PC's are on for 10 hours..MH is on for 7 hours. I have 40lbs of live rock in a 70gal tank.(I know i need more) 4 inch sand bed. No refugium(Don't really want to do one)10gal. sump with a skimmer. 3 powerheads. Any suggestions????
Hair alge
- Thread starter ZigZagZombie
- Start date
Well tripple z, assuming your test kits are working properly and the reagents aren't old, when my inputs are under control and I still get hair algae, I release the hounds and employ the terrible fighting onch or perhaps a strombus gigas. Those ferocious hair algae predators can run down even the nastiest clump and will take care of sand bed diatoms too. Just make sure that you have enough sand bed to maintain a good continuous supply of diatom beasties as that is their primary food and be prepared for rapid and exponential growth, i.e. line up a a future sucker or a sushi bar when your conch gets too big for your tank.
What are some of the main reasons why you can get an algae out break? my understanding is as follows:
new lights
new fish/corals/anemones added
changing the salt???
too much light - timewise
not enough cleanup crew
What else can you add?
Thanks
Patrick
new lights
new fish/corals/anemones added
changing the salt???
too much light - timewise
not enough cleanup crew
What else can you add?
Thanks
Patrick
Well with the reasons you said, only time lights are on and clean up crew fit my bill. Is 11 hours too long? And thats only atinics. The other lights go out sooner. Also what does everybody have in there tanks for a clean up crew. Maybe i don't have enough.
Hair alge is one of those things that varies from person to person. I know I have battled it over the past year in my 125gl reef and all my perameters are optimal. You will get tons of advise on how to control it and reasons for having it, and most of the time they will not get anything but open ended questions like how new is your tank? What is your lighting? what are you measurements? Whats in the tank? I have heard them all and I also have kept my tank in check (Nitrate-0, Phosphate-0, Silicates-0, Alk-5mel/l, PH-8.3, cal-450), and I still have hair alge. I have tried all the cures and have finally desided to just use the old tooth brush and keep the perameters optimal. Your lighting times seem fine to me and like me your keeping you perameters at a good level so good luck in you struggle with this pest
Hey there,
From what I gather most people prefer a much larger number of snails and hermits (if they like hermits) for your size tank. Some people say as a general rule you can get up to 1 snail per gallon of water. I have heard of hermits close to the same number as the snails too. If you look at some of the mail order sites they have custom made packages that you can get. Might have like snails and hermies and a starfish or something for example. Anyway, I don't have that many but I add some now and again to keep the numbers up and the scraping down.
Good luck
HARRISON
From what I gather most people prefer a much larger number of snails and hermits (if they like hermits) for your size tank. Some people say as a general rule you can get up to 1 snail per gallon of water. I have heard of hermits close to the same number as the snails too. If you look at some of the mail order sites they have custom made packages that you can get. Might have like snails and hermies and a starfish or something for example. Anyway, I don't have that many but I add some now and again to keep the numbers up and the scraping down.
Good luck
HARRISON
I'm not agreeing or diagreeing with others just want to say that up front. I'm just talking from my experience. I have a 125 gl reef with about 250Lbs of LR. The only thing more live rock does is give the alge more places to grow. I have 50-60 hermits and 70+ snails, 4 sallie light foots and 4 emerald crabs. Still have the the hair alge. I even took all my rock out and put it in buckets (no light)in the garage with power heads for circulation. It got rid of it for few months and then it grew back again. Hope this helps.
I've never heard such confidence about the fighting conch. At LFS, he said they sometimes do good. I don't remember the drawback. Are the conches THAT good at removing the algae? Will they really eat the stuff better than regular pet snails, who has pet snails anyways?
I bet you probably have already, but I would suggest that you go through your tank and check all of the obvious things.
When was the last time you cleaned your skimmer, not just the cup? How is it skimming? Is it working as well as it used to?
Your return pump, I assume you have one because you have a sump. How is the flow? When was the last time you cleaned it?
One thing that has gotten me in the past, I would buy a boatload of snails mail order and then forget about them. Then after a couple of months of fighting cyano or some kind of algae outbreak I realize I have 10 left. Once I replenish the snails or hermits everything would be back under control.
Try a variety of herbivores. I didn't have much luck with the snails I tried for green hair algae, but an algae blenny would eat some of it. Whereas for red hair algae turbos worked great, but the algae blenny wouldn't touch it. And most tangs are worthless.
These are some of the things I would suggest.
Derek
When was the last time you cleaned your skimmer, not just the cup? How is it skimming? Is it working as well as it used to?
Your return pump, I assume you have one because you have a sump. How is the flow? When was the last time you cleaned it?
One thing that has gotten me in the past, I would buy a boatload of snails mail order and then forget about them. Then after a couple of months of fighting cyano or some kind of algae outbreak I realize I have 10 left. Once I replenish the snails or hermits everything would be back under control.
Try a variety of herbivores. I didn't have much luck with the snails I tried for green hair algae, but an algae blenny would eat some of it. Whereas for red hair algae turbos worked great, but the algae blenny wouldn't touch it. And most tangs are worthless.
These are some of the things I would suggest.
Derek
Your right,you do seem to get all those questions. I also take the rocks out and use a toothbrush. Then a couple weeks later it looks like i never did it. Iv'e heard that the more live rock you have in your tank the better it does for the problem. We shall see. I only have 40lbs in a 70gal,so im going to add some slowly. Also going to beef up my cleaning crew. Only have about 8 snails and a couple hermits.
ZZZ - I had a lot of luck after introducing a couple urchins to my 6x2x2 they fixed my hair in a couple weeks, note they also like coraline. I,ve got heaps of turbos and small hermits also, but they do nothing compared to my urchins.
I've watched my hermits at times and i,m positive they eat more coraline than slime. I recently removed my bigger urchin as my coraline was declining, but not only did the coraline recover, the turf algeas have started appearing again. Have Fun !!
I've watched my hermits at times and i,m positive they eat more coraline than slime. I recently removed my bigger urchin as my coraline was declining, but not only did the coraline recover, the turf algeas have started appearing again. Have Fun !!
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