Green Hair Algae Problems...

[dmatt56]

SO, the Green Hair Algae problems continue...

 

Added Purigen, GFO reactor, and Avast skimmer... reduced lighting... changed RODI filters... doing weekly water changed... added a yellow tang (thanks again DougS)... what's my next option? Can I submerge a poly filter in my sump? Can I add a 2nd Purgigen to a 180 tang (1 bag per 100g ...) Any magic chemical to add?

 

Tank is a reef (soft corals, LPS, monti caps, inverts, RBTA, and fish).

 

Thanks,

 

Matt

[surf&turf]

Looks like your well on your way to fighting it, what do you have for cleanup crew. Snails, hermits?

[zygote2k]

purigen and poly filter do nothing for HA.

you need to physically remove it all by hand, then scrub each rock with a brush till it's gone.

get a sea hare or two-barred rabbitfish to keep it nibbled away and make sure there isn't any source of po4- (water, food, etc.)

starting a fuge with something to outcompete the HA will also help.

[surf&turf]

Rabbitfish works great. Mine will even eat bubble algae.

 

 

[dmatt56]

I've heard rabbit fish go after zoas and other corals when GHA is gone.

[surf&turf]

Guess it depends on the fish, mine is a perfect citizen, I feed the algae sheets and he loves them.

[firecrackerbob]

Obviously, there are a lot of ways to run your system, but IMHO, I would add a refugium with macro algae(cheto) first before doing anything else. For me, I rely on my skimmer as my first line of defense. My fuge is my second line and chemical treatments are my final line.

After that, I would agree that doing as much manual pruning is a good way to go along with siphoning out as much detritus as possible.

[marinebiologist]

If you want it gone the easiest and cheapest way to do it is to black out the tank. You need to remove all light sources from entering the tank so if it is in a room you can block windowns and all great if not wrap the tank in something to block the light from getting in. Leave it blacked out for 3 days and then on the 3rd day turn on your lights and all and go to town pulling out all the algae you can and do a ~20% water change that night and a ~10% water change 2 days later. This will reduce the hair algae greatly. And if it does not totally wipe it out you can repeat the procedure ~2 weeks later. Your corals will all do fine with out the light for a few days but the hair algae does not fair so well and will die off. But note that if you have a refugium you want to leave that light on as not to kill your good macro algae you just want to block out the light in your main tank.

 

Just my 2cents. Its what i always do when i have a red diatom bloom or a hair algae problem and it works great and best of all no wasted money on all the chemical treatments.

[Jan]

This works! I did this and started pulling it out in clumps. It came off much easier after lights out for 3 days. I also got a sea hare. It's slow, but it's working it's way through it. I have 3/4 less. I'm leaving it alone for the hare. Good luck!

 

If you want it gone the easiest and cheapest way to do it is to black out the tank. You need to remove all light sources from entering the tank so if it is in a room you can block windowns and all great if not wrap the tank in something to block the light from getting in. Leave it blacked out for 3 days and then on the 3rd day turn on your lights and all and go to town pulling out all the algae you can and do a ~20% water change that night and a ~10% water change 2 days later. This will reduce the hair algae greatly. And if it does not totally wipe it out you can repeat the procedure ~2 weeks later. Your corals will all do fine with out the light for a few days but the hair algae does not fair so well and will die off. But note that if you have a refugium you want to leave that light on as not to kill your good macro algae you just want to block out the light in your main tank.

 

Just my 2cents. Its what i always do when i have a red diatom bloom or a hair algae problem and it works great and best of all no wasted money on all the chemical treatments.

[Origami]

If you're looking for a chemical option, AlgaeFix Marine is something that one of our members (Highland Reefer) documented in this Reef Central thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1595003

 

It doesn't address the root cause of high nutrients or whatever's causing your algae outbreak in the first place, but the thread's worth looking at.

[Incredible Corals]

Sea Hares always work for me. As soon as the HA is going you will need to find a new home for him fast. You should have no issues selling him again here or maybe taking him back to the LFS for store credit.

[gizmoody]

Light deprivation also worked for me. 3 days and I worried about my corals but my corals were fine.

[dmatt56]

Other update: I do have a refugium with cheato.

 

I like the 3 day dark period idea. Will my RBTA survive the darkness that long? I fear that he would start wondering all over the tank.

 

I also like the idea of a sea hare. Can't they release toxins? Any cons of introducing the hair?

 

Will look into the reef central threat too.

 

Thanks WAMAS - you're awesome!

[astroboy]

I had trouble with green hair algae (and bryopsis), and based mostly on what I read from wetwebmedia I boosted my Mg up to 1550 over a couple weeks. Killed the stuff within days. I also seem to have less trouble with all types of algae. It's been two years, fish and corals are doing great. I'd recommend upping the Mg before anything else. I've never heard anyone make a credible claim that it does any harm and it sure worked for me.

 

Best source of Mg is a mixture Dead Sea salts (used for melting snow, dirt cheap), and Epson salts, from any drugstore. There are discussions here and many other places, such as "reef chemistry calculator" or bulkreefsupply.com that discuss how to mix things up and in what proportions.

Edited October 25, 2011 by astroboy

[dmatt56]

I bought some Kent Marine Tech-M to raise my Mg and kill bryopsis. The bryopsis died on its own just by raising the alk and calc. I may try raising the Mg if there's a chance it'll kill the GHA too!