Hair Algae Control

[cybrchic]

I have recently developed filamentous algae - commonly called hair algae. It is spreading a bit and I need to try to control before it gets out of control. I have hermit crabs, sea cucumbers, starfish(s), sea urchin, emerald crab, lawn mower (rock) blenny and nothing seems to eat this stuff.

Water parameters are almost perfect. Phosphate is not high and I even placed phosban in the sump, just in case.

I was adding Iron, but someone told me to stop, since that could be causing the hair algae to grow...? Also - I have heard that Prodibio's biokit would do the trick, but I have not used this before and wanted some feed back as to the effectiviness before I purchase.

Any ideas? :?

Thanks!

 

[mr_X]

what kind of urchin do you have? my buddy had a long spined urchin that ate anything. nothing lived but bacteria on his rock.

if you cut down on the nutrients entering the tank, the hair algae should go away. don't add anything. and do regular water changes. that should be a big help.

 

[Anonymous]

I think the most effective method of dealing with nuisance algae is to pull it out manually.

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php Good article here about diff. water parameters. A good reefist doesn't do a lot of additives. Iron is recommended here only if you are growing macroalgae.

Otherwise I'd say you are still running very very low trace amounts of phosphates. Maybe not detectable with your test kit. You are running Phosban... but how old is it.. is it working? You could also try a refugium someday if you can find some other reasons to do so like growing pods, food for tangs ,etc. Otherwise I've read that running both isn't necessary.

 

[cybrchic]

Hi - I should have added that I do have a Sump/Algae filter. I do have macroalgae growing - both Caulerpa and Chaetomorpha. The filter is 55 gallons and the tank is 175. The Iron was being added since the tank has been up for less than 4 months and I needed to get the macroalgae growing as someone had suggested...

I also do monthly water changes.

maybe I am over feeding the corals?

 

[mr_X]

the macros will grow. you don't need to add anything to help them along.
what kind of bio load do you have in that 175?

 

[cybrchic]

Tank Specs:
Filtration - 200 lbs live rock and 180 lbs live sand bed; Berlin protein skimmer flows into 55 gal sump total; compartment for trickle/bio ball system that flows into refugium with caulerpa, 3 inch bed of mud which flows into smaller sump with carbon and phosgard bags; then into 36w UV sterilizer

Lights: Coralife Aqualight Pro Metal Halide; 3X250W HQI 10K & 4X96W Compact Fluorescents, 72 inch

Temp. - Current USA's Prime 1/3HP Inline Chiller. Water temp set at 78 degrees F.

Occupants:
15 blue green chromis, 1 true percula, 1 coral beauty, 2 scooter blennies, 1 Psychedelic Mandarin, 1 sailfin tang, 1 naso tang, 1 powder Brwon, 1 Yellow Tang, 2 Blue Tangs, 1 cLown Fairy Wrasse, 6 large cleaner shrimps, 5 sand shifting stars, 1 orange star fish, 1 urchin, 2 cucumbers, 75 red legged hermits, 7 electric blue hermits, 7 red scarlet hermits, 1 emerald crab, 1 frogspawn, 1 neon green fine grape coral
1 neon green open brain, 2 candy cane corals, 1 Colt coral, 1 ToadStool, 1 yellow leather finger coral, 1 Pink Donut, 1 red donut, 1 green/red brain coral, 2 star polyps, 1 daisy polyps,colony pulsing xenias, 1 purple/green hammer, 1 white tipped torch coral, 1 long tentacle neon green plate coral, 8 cinn. polyps, 8 frags various colored zooanthids(15-25 polyps), 1 frag sun polyps (7-8 polyps), 3 emerald green ricordias, 2 blue/green ricordias, 2 orange.blue ricordias, 3 green ricordias, and many diff. types of mushrooms from green to blues, red and purples, One small acropora frag.

 

[mr_X]

there is your problem. you have a tremendous amount of pooping critters in that tank. i would start by upgrading your protein skimmer. i would get one that is rated for a tank twice that size (total volume).
i would also get rid of the bio balls in the sump. all they are doing is capturing detritus.