Hairy Algae growing mad

[samksy]

My 180 is full of brown hairy algea. It's growing all over the rocks. I tried to siphon them out as much as i can and it grows right back. Does 30 gallon water change every two week.. I'm using 6 stage RODI (new) water filter. I'm also dosing two part, followed the instruction, baked the baking soda. When i try to dose the 2 parts.....the hairy algae grows even faster. I have phosphate remover in my skimmer DAS 2 skimmer compartment. Will get a phosphate reactor soon. I'm also running carbon, don't seem like it's working at all. I have been feeding much lightly than usual, once every day..... Any clue on what's going on and solution?

 

[junglebase]

Old light bulbs maybe??

 

[deelucky]

lights can be an issue like jungle said how old is your ro unit,maybe its time to change filters and or membrane.hair algae is due ti high nutrients,if im not mistake due to high nitartes or phosphates.

 

[thepudge]

I would take the rock out, scrub it with a toothbrush, and get rid of as much of it as you can. Then get a sea hare or a bunch of small hermits to keep it under control. A fuge with cheeto also helps.

But I was only really able to get rid of the hair algae after scrubbing my rocks first. Once its there, it is really tough to get rid of by nutrient reduction alone.

 

[ReeferGoneMad]

What are your nitrates at?

How old is the ro/di and your lights?

What does your cleanup crew consist of?

Did it start happening out of no where?

What brand of baking soda are you using?

I think it might be nitrates and or phosphate. You need to test your water parameters ASAP.

 

[deelucky]

i agree with pudge remove if you can scrub in tank water,get something to eat this stuff up for now but that will only help to control the problem,not fix it.so test and correct.

 

[House of Laughter]

The same happened to me when I started dosing the home made 2 part solution - I swear I'd never go back and now only use the B-Ionic because of the algae issue.

Good luck with it, it's a tough battle once your in it - scrubbing is key, though.

House

 

[Tonyscoots84]

i dont have the brown algae problem and im dosing randy 2 part :scratch:....

 

[House of Laughter]

i dont have the brown algae problem and im dosing randy 2 part :scratch:....

You must be doing it correctly - not that anyone would attribute thier tank woes to a non-reef related DIY project. My experience was different and is the reason I changed. I remeber quite a few people having problems with thier tank and needing to make major changes right around the time they were using 2 part. Please don't go down the "to use or not to use" two part solution debate road -

Since this is a thread about HIS hair algae problem, let's keep the issue on topic - my comment is merely for his to review his habit of obtaining, mixing etc of his 2 part - since their is no absolute way to determine what they use in the water of the Ca solutions that everyone uses (Peladow etc) perhaps he should look at that - Eliminate all the factors in your control - that's what I am recommending he do.

Oh, and scrub his rock.

House

 

[dzuckerm]

I think its also important to know how old the tank is. Mine is now at the one year point, but I had the biggest fight with hair algae for 5 months (3rd through 8th month of the tanks existance). I through tons of time, energy and money at the problem (including tons of scrubbing, water changes, bought a better ro/di unit, better skimmer, bigger clean-up crew, etc). In the end...I scrubbed the rock for the umpteenth time and it just never grew back.

I honestly believe that hair algae is just a normal cycle that most tanks go through in the first month of existence, and, of course, should be fought, but is somewhat inevidable. I think its God's way of weeding out the weak hobbiers, and teaching the strong ones ho stick through the problem valuable lessons.

 

[Pooshay77]

I had the hair algae problem in my first month and was after the standard diatom outbreak. LFS advised it was the phosphate levels from my tap water that I foolishly used at the time to top off. When they measured my phosphates they were quite high. Since then I haven't used tap water and instead have been using the pre-mixed seawater (have a 24g nano so cost isn't insane) I'll eventually go the RO route.

My cleanup crew cleared the outbreak in literally 2 days. I had 6 turbo snails and one fire shrimp. The snails mowed it over in visible trails!

I also now use a micron bag of Phosban in the filter to combat any phosphates and change it once a month.

So far been no return of the hair algae. Overall, new to the hobby but just trying to interject my experience with the above.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

You must be doing it correctly - not that anyone would attribute thier tank woes to a non-reef related DIY project. My experience was different and is the reason I changed. I remeber quite a few people having problems with thier tank and needing to make major changes right around the time they were using 2 part. Please don't go down the "to use or not to use" two part solution debate road -

Since this is a thread about HIS hair algae problem, let's keep the issue on topic - my comment is merely for his to review his habit of obtaining, mixing etc of his 2 part - since their is no absolute way to determine what they use in the water of the Ca solutions that everyone uses (Peladow etc) perhaps he should look at that - Eliminate all the factors in your control - that's what I am recommending he do.

Oh, and scrub his rock.

House

easy jimbo :supermad: :lol2: just was wondering why because i have never experienced what you stated. ... anyways back to topic :biggrin:

 

[Tonyscoots84]

samsky what exactly are you feeding, dosing and have you checked out ur nitrates, phosphates (with a hanna meter), husbandry...

 

[jackson6745]

Algae all over your tank = high phosphates.

 

[LeslieS]

I never had hair algae - because bryopsis covered every inch of my rock! At about 2 months it started growing and never stopped. My nitrates were 0, phosphates 0. I even checked iron - none. There was so much that my clean up crew was getting fat, but the algae was getting so big that it became macro algae and they wouldn't touch it!

I took every single rock out of the tank. Scrubbed it with a wire brush. Rinsed. Scrubbed again. Rinsed. Scrubbed the noonks and crannies. Rinsed. Scrubbed difficult areas with a tooth brush. Rinsed. It took about 3 hours.

I put the rock back in the tank.

There was still bryopsis - aghhhh!!!

Luckily it was now small enough that the cleaner crew could and did keep it in check and I have only seen one small bit since then.

The End.....

the thread http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum...t-my-algae-looks-like.html?highlight=bryopsis

 

[samksy]

I'm just switch to a NEW 6 stage RODI during winter time....cuz my old one cracked when i was filtering outside in the cold.

My tank age is around 5 months, the algae problem started about 1.5 months ago. Have around 15 fishes in my 180 gallon tank. Mostly small fishes and anthias. One medium size hippo tang and a small tang, 4 small damsels and 3 clown fishes.

I believe the hair algae started after i start dosing the two part....then i play around with the dosing sugar to lower my nitrate.....nitrate level was at 20ppm and still at 20 ppm. Phosphate..hmmm..have no idea. Strangely, hairy algae are very concnetrated at certain rocks.

I'm using the Hammer Brand
My clean up crew is all snail and several hermit crabs....i'll try to get some turbo snails, hopefully they'll eat them up.

I was feeding sushi eggs, and some chopped up claims, cyclopeeze and seaweed. I was thinking that was the culpert, right now i'm just feeding two mysis cube every night.

As for light....i just put on new 4X54 t5 several months ago.....my mh might be a little old...don't remember, but to find out if it's really the light bulb problem. I am going to turn off the mh for 2 weeks and see if there'a any improvments.

Also i did a testing on light on/off. I turned off the whole day yesterday and when i came back today.......there seems to be some hair algae die off......i hope that's the real problem so all i need to do is change the mh bulb.

As for scrubing the rocks.....i'll leave that to the last resort, as there's corals on them and i really don't want to do that at this point. I'll get some turbo, hopefully it'll eat them all up....lolz

AND THANKS FOR EVERYONES THOUGHS

 

[House of Laughter]

Sam - eliminate everything you think is the cause one by one. Eventually you'll find it - then add the same ones one by one and you'll find what it is -nitrates are a problem and not knowing your phosphates is an even larger problem. 15 fish doesn't sound like alot, but is your skimmer doing it's job of taking out the nitrates?

I would definately get a phosphate kit and find out what your levels are before you start breaking your regimen. Best to isolate all the issues and systematically eliminate them until you find the one that is the cause.

Good luck with it, algae sucks!

House

 

[PalmTree]

I got a huge turbo snail from InLine6 and let me tell ya... that guy took care of business in like 4 days. I had a moderate out break about 9 monthes into the tanks new setup and it was getting pretty bad. I knew it was part of the cycle that was happening but none the less it was getting ver unsightly. I would try a beefy clean up crew to attack the problem.