Hair Algae Success

[Rascal]

Here is what my tank looked like in October, at the 3 month mark. Keep in mind this was AFTER spending a couple of hours scrubbing and pulling out as many clumps as I could, and at the time I was trying to take pictures which minimized the sight of the algae. It was really a lot worse than this:

 

[

 

Here it is now:

 

[EDIT: Update with shot from Aug '08]

 

Edited September 26, 2007 by Rascal

[Folta]

Sweet. I battled hair algae for close to a year, finally getting it to succumb to my will with sugar dosing and ozone. What did you do to get rid of it other than pull it out?

[inedukated]

Share your tricks/secrets....

 

I do 2 water changes each week (10% total) and have to keep it in check constantly. Looking for better suggetsions

[dzekunoi]

I keep a priceless Tomini tang whish likes hair algea. It's hit or miss, mine does eat hair algea happily.

[Rascal]

I know there is a ton of information out there about this, and there many, many solutions offered for the problem, but I thought it might be useful to some people if I added my experience and lessoned learned. So here goes:

 

Here's what I was already doing as of October:

 

150G display, 15G pre-sump, 55G sump. about 125 lbs LR in display, 3-5" DSB - mix of oolitic and reef grade by caribsea. About 1000 gph through return goes 1st to pre-sump w/ ASMG-4 w/ recirc & gate mods, fed by OR2700 pump; From pre-sump, 1 drain goes to fuge and another goes to return section of sump. Fuge is 36" x 12" fuge w/ 6-8" DSB, 30lbs LR, chaeto under 4 x 15W Power compact clip lights. Polyfilter and purigen used continuously. RODI by WaterGeneral -- 16 months old. 15W UV. 10-15% water changed per week. Top off through DIY kalk reactor. Ca and Alk maintained by Kalk and DIY Ca reactor. Alk 10-12 dKh. Nitrate undetecable. Phos undetectable or just barely by Salifert. Various types of GFO in phosban reactor -- usually about 250-300 ml at a time, changed about every month.

Total flow in the display was approx. 3000 gph.

 

For herbivores I have a 1 Yellow and 1 Hippo Tang, blue & red leg hermits, margarita, nerite and a few turbo snails. Also Sallylightfoot and mithrix crab. I have tried Lettuce nudibranches, but ironically the only time I have had one last very long is in the last month, when there doesn't seem to have been as much to eat. Both of my tangs eat the algae, but were not able to keep up with it. Of the crabs the blue legs and sally lightfoot seemed to be the best for my tank's type of HA.

 

Here are the changes that I think made a difference (in order of importance)

 

1) Rowaphos.

I finally had to admit to myself that every time I used rowaphos, I would see a significant die off of HA for the next 3 days. Despite reading all of the studies and articles that say there is little or no difference in effectiveness between brands, I just didn't see the same reaction with other brands of GFO. So I decided to get serious about it. I began using 500 ML at a time, changed every week. Previously I would try to change it when I saw the HA start to green up and come back. Now I decided to try to stay one step ahead. I committed myself to changing it every week until the last HA was banished. About a month ago I added a 2nd reactor, and I now run them inline, 500 ML in each, changing and rotating 1 each week (I got that idea from D. Saxby). I am VERY careful about how I use this product. I run the outflow through 3 of the filter pads (ordered an extra set from MD), and I have 3 filter bags zip tied around the outlet hose. Before I put the outlet in my tank, I run it into a sink until it is clear -- this usually takes about 5-10 Gallons. Water changes are always a good thing.

 

2) Water changes.

Still doing 10-15% at a time, but I started doing this 2x per week.

 

 

3) Harvesting.

I believe the timing was important with this one. My schedule went like this: change out rowaphos --> die off for 2 days ---> pull as much out as I can, scrub more w/ tooth brush, temporarily put filter sock on one of my drains to catch some of what comes loose ---> Water change that day or the next. I think you really have to do this in order to break the cycle. Once you have figured out how to get it to die, you've got to try to remove before it comes loose from the rocks or the nutrients from the die off just fuel another bloom.

 

4) Increase lights over Chaeto.

I had been running them on a semi-reverse cycle, 18 on, 6 off. When I switch to 24 hrs on I get more growth. I pull some out about every other week. I also began cutting it with a scissors (thanks Dhoch for that suggestion), and I think this has helped as well.

 

5) RO/DI

I basically stopped taking this for granted. I got a dual TDS meter and learned how to use it. I now aim for 0 TDS all the time, and will change something if it climbs above 3. A couple of the changes I made recently were to start using the chloramines package from TheFilterGuys, and replaced my cheapo ebay RO membrane with a Dow Filmtek. I plan on getting a 2nd dual TDS meter next month so that I can get measurements pre and post filters, membrane and DI filters.

 

6) Flow

Total flow in display is now about 5000 gph.

 

 

Another piece of info that some might find useful has to do with hermits. About 1 1/2 months ago I removed almost all of the crabs from my tank to do the interceptor treatment (another story). I put them into my fuge and took that offline during the treatment. As an experiment I have kept them there, to see if I would see any difference in the amount of HA. I have seen no increase without the hermits.

 

Hope this info is useful for those of you who are still struggling with this. Mostly I hope that I don't jinx myself with this post. I'll probably come home tonight to a sea of green. :(

[jason the filter freak]

CONGRATS on your success! . Thanks for breaking it all down, i haven't had the HA problem yet, but I've done battle with cyano. So this is good to rember in case I ever do. Can tell us what the "presump" is for and why you use it? Or did i miss that somewhere...

[Rascal]

CONGRATS on your success! . Thanks for breaking it all down, i haven't had the HA problem yet, but I've done battle with cyano. So this is good to rember in case I ever do. Can tell us what the "presump" is for and why you use it? Or did i miss that somewhere...

 

I meant to write "pre-sump". It is a place for my skimmer to sit, and it catches all of the turbulence from the drains coming from my display (there is about a 10 foot drop). I like it b/c 100% of the water drained from my display passes through the skimmer chamber, but only 50% goes to the refugium. 1000 gph would be too much for mine I think. I also believe it adds signficantly to the overall oxygenation of the water, just by having an extra set of drains -- there is a lot of air/water mixing going on there. Since I seem to be quite picture happy today -- here's another:

 

The pre-sump just sits on top of the 55. Like most other things I do, it ain't pretty, but it works. That's my UV sterilyzer plumbed into it. I have it gravity fed and use a ball valve to control the flow.