Hair Algae - Tried everything.

[bug0926]

I've read all the posts and am stumped. Nitrate 0, Amonio 0, Salinity 1.025, 0 silicates, 0 phosphate, hair algae all over the place, some green on the glass as well as brown. Just switched to feeding every other day. Replaced vho bulbs less than a month ago, getting a new mh bulb tommorrow. Just to be sure, I put sea chem's phosguard and coralifes silicate remove in a bag in my canister filter (only thing in it) for a couple days.

I also tested the ro water, 0 on silicates and phosphates.

I am using instant ocean.

What else should I check?

I scrubbed clean the one rock that had the most and was easy to get to without dismantling the tank.

Only bad paramter is alk which is at around 5.

Calcium is also a bit high 450+ on the salifert kit.

Any more advice?

 

[fishfanatic2]

Sometimes there is more to water than technical stuff. If you can, get a TDS measurement of your ro water and make sure that is good. THere is more in it than silicate and phosphate. What size tank do you have, and what kind of skimmer? Is your bio-load to high or are you feeding toi much. You said you just switched to feeding every other day-the change won't happen immediately, and patience is key. I am having the smae problem, albight less so, and I just got a new skimmer. I havent seen any changes yet, but the skimmer has yet to break in. (I sound like a meditator, dont I? 8O )Have you doenanything to your lighting cycle to help slow down the spread? That could be another area for you to look at. Once it is slowed down, the changes you made iwill porobably work more affectively.

Just my $0.02 HTH!

 

[Jolieve]

Your tank water will test has having 0 phosphates and 0 nitrates while a hair alage bloom is present. Hair algae eats this stuff up pretty fast, and you won't find any in the tank water even if it is present thanks to the bloom.

Couple Q's before I can help you figure out what you're missing here.

1. What size tank? (actual measurements of the height, length and width would be very useful).
2. What kind of water movement do you have going on here? Powerheads, power filter, cannister filter, sump, skimmer? Can you tell me how many gallons per hour total?
3. What kind of livestock (fish primarily) and how many?
4. Are you using any bioballs, biowheels or ceramic beads anywhere in the system? If so, just ditch 'em. Great idea for freshwater and fish only systems. Nitrates are mission critical in a reef and those media excel at producing nitrates over time.

Start raising your alk toward a spot between 9-12. These are ideal levels for a reef tank. For that, I use kent superbuffer. Follow the directions, drip it slowly into the tank after lights out.

I'm not sure your problem is actually phosphates. Your calcium level is high enough that any phosphate content should be getting bound to the calcium before the hair algae can use it. I think you might have a nitrate sink somewhere in this system, or possibly not enough oxygen in the water. Need to know the answers to the questions above before I can tell you and be able to tell you what to do about it.

Good luck,
J.

 

[bug0926]

Sometimes there is more to water than technical stuff. If you can, get a TDS measurement of your ro water and make sure that is good. THere is more in it than silicate and phosphate. What size tank do you have, and what kind of skimmer? Is your bio-load to high or are you feeding toi much. You said you just switched to feeding every other day-the change won't happen immediately, and patience is key. I am having the smae problem, albight less so, and I just got a new skimmer. I havent seen any changes yet, but the skimmer has yet to break in. (I sound like a meditator, dont I? 8O )Have you doenanything to your lighting cycle to help slow down the spread? That could be another area for you to look at. Once it is slowed down, the changes you made iwill porobably work more affectively.

Just my $0.02 HTH!

I have a TDS meter...ro/di water reads about 10. Lighting is 10 hrs mh and 12 actinic. 46 gallon tank with berlin prizm which is producing lot a junk. 45 lbs live rock, esv sand bed, false percula, small hippo and a torch coral are the only inhabitants.

 

[bug0926]

Your tank water will test has having 0 phosphates and 0 nitrates while a hair alage bloom is present. Hair algae eats this stuff up pretty fast, and you won't find any in the tank water even if it is present thanks to the bloom.

Couple Q's before I can help you figure out what you're missing here.

1. What size tank? (actual measurements of the height, length and width would be very useful).

46 gallon bowfront.

2. What kind of water movement do you have going on here? Powerheads, power filter, cannister filter, sump, skimmer? Can you tell me how many gallons per hour total?

scwd with a 3mdq little giant pump just for circulation. Probably around 500gph since it is throttled back. Also have an eheim and a red sea priz.


3. What kind of livestock (fish primarily) and how many?

1 false percula, one small hippo

4. Are you using any bioballs, biowheels or ceramic beads anywhere in the system? If so, just ditch 'em. Great idea for freshwater and fish only systems. Nitrates are mission critical in a reef and those media excel at producing nitrates over time.

Nope.

Start raising your alk toward a spot between 9-12. These are ideal levels for a reef tank. For that, I use kent superbuffer. Follow the directions, drip it slowly into the tank after lights out.

The 5 # is in the other scale...the one where nsw is around 3.8 or 3.9. I forget the units.

I'm not sure your problem is actually phosphates. Your calcium level is high enough that any phosphate content should be getting bound to the calcium before the hair algae can use it. I think you might have a nitrate sink somewhere in this system, or possibly not enough oxygen in the water. Need to know the answers to the questions above before I can tell you and be able to tell you what to do about it.

Good luck,
J.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, what Jo said was good enough to quote!

Silcates won't affect hair algae (nor diatomaceous blooms from what I've read recently). It's truly about nutrient control. Big water changes with truly good, clean water may be in order here.

In the meantime, animalistic suggestions include tuxed o urchins, abalone (Ah! Baloney!), lawnmower blenny.

 

[Jolieve]

Flow seems pretty good... but... that skimmer... Is that a red sea prizm, prizm pro or red sea berlin skimmer? All of these are different skimmers for different size tanks, there is no berlin prizm that I can find.

If it's either of the prizms, I'd upgrade it to a remora pro. I know the remora pro is spendy, but it will really be worth it. Great skimmer, very low maintenance. This should help resolve some of your problems with hair algae. If it's the red sea berlin skimmer, you should be fine with that and not need to upgrade to something larger.

In the mean time... I'd do weekly water changes of about 10 gallons at a time and siphon as much hair algae as you can off the rock with each water change. Make sure you mix your nsw for at least a day before you use it for the water change. Don't add any fish to this tank just yet. Give the hair algae a month or so after you add the larger skimmer to die off.

You'll probably see new patches of hair algae any time you add a fish. Adding a fish increases the organics in the tank. Wait a month in between adding new animals to the tank and this will reduce the impact of the hair algae bloom significantly.

Sounds like a fairly newly set up tank you have here. Sometime within the first six months of setting up a tank, you'll see a rude algae bloom of some sort. Beyond knowing which skimmer you have, it sounds like things are in order and all you need to do is sit on it and wait out the bloom. Do the water changes to keep the hair algae away from your torch coral and to reduce the organics in the tank.

That should fix things for you... if not, let us know and we'll see what else we can come up with to get rid of this foul beast!

J.