Bad Hair Algae

[Hallowhead]

Howdy,

I am trying to keep this hair algae under control but it's exponentially growing / spreading.

My nitrates are low maybe 1 ppm my phosphates are .03 ppm.

I am dosing vibrant weekly & I just added 30 snails & hermits to help out. The issue with the snails is they have not found the algae yet on the egg crate as they're beneath it. I don't see them being much of a help.

FYI torch coral isn't open because my ATO was empty and return was shooting bubbles for a good bit.

Any thoughts?

 

[MadReefer]

In my experience if it's long HA nothing will really touch it. Try an algae blenny maybe. Not sure what else is in there but peroxide dosing will get rid of it. Just some corals don't like it.

 

[Hallowhead]

In my experience if it's long HA nothing will really touch it. Try an algae blenny maybe. Not sure what else is in there but peroxide dosing will get rid of it. Just some corals don't like it.

It's suffocating smaller ones - I can try an algae blenny but I'm hoping that vibrant kicks in soon. It's 3 weeks now - I hope by next week it's turning colors.

Next water change in gonna scrub good

 

[Sponge]

IMO. Vibrant. Great. Peroxide. Great. Nutrient reduction. Great. But the perfect fix for that tank to destroy hair algae as well as other types of algae. Are the following critters (and yes snails have there place as well But have there own issues)
1. Tuxedo urchins... unimaginable Voracious consumers of algae but will eat coralline as well and will move things. But I found leaving stuff like shells and rubble usually keeps them from taking and relocation most of your stuff.
2. Emerald crabs... mine destroy hair algae and many others types. Plus eats bubble algae. Super active crab. Always seem cantankerous but mine have never hurt a fly.
3. Tailspot Blenny... think of it as a small lawn mower. But yes they eat hair algae, very well I might add. But are better at it when the algae is new and small which makes them great to keep it at bay.
And the bonus is. They are all beautiful fun characters in a display. Very fun to watch. And have personally to boot.

 

[Cjk90978]

It's suffocating smaller ones - I can try an algae blenny but I'm hoping that vibrant kicks in soon. It's 3 weeks now - I hope by next week it's turning colors.

Next water change in gonna scrub good

This is intriguing because when I started dosing vibrant is when I had hair algae issue start and I’m currently dealing with a similar outbreak. Did you get it before you started dosing vibrant or after? I’ve been dosing vibrant about a month. Dave mentioned you me he’s heard it having reverse effects on tank. Wonder if it’s promoting this particular algae growth by eliminating particular bacteria.

 

[Hallowhead]

IMO. Vibrant. Great. Peroxide. Great. Nutrient reduction. Great. But the perfect fix for that tank to destroy hair algae as well as other types of algae. Are the following critters (and yes snails have there place as well But have there own issues)
1. Tuxedo urchins... unimaginable Voracious consumers of algae but will eat coralline as well and will move things. But I found leaving stuff like shells and rubble usually keeps them from taking and relocation most of your stuff.
2. Emerald crabs... mine destroy hair algae and many others types. Plus eats bubble algae. Super active crab. Always seem cantankerous but mine have never hurt a fly.
3. Tailspot Blenny... think of it as a small lawn mower. But yes they eat hair algae, very well I might add. But are better at it when the algae is new and small which makes them great to keep it at bay.
And the bonus is. They are all beautiful fun characters in a display. Very fun to watch. And have personally to boot.

I want a tailspot just can't qt anything until after Xmas.

I bought a emerald crab with reef cleaners order but it arrived dead. Need to pick another up

 

[MadReefer]

This is intriguing because when I started dosing vibrant is when I had hair algae issue start and I’m currently dealing with a similar outbreak. Did you get it before you started dosing vibrant or after? I’ve been dosing vibrant about a month. Dave mentioned you me he’s heard it having reverse effects on tank. Wonder if it’s promoting this particular algae growth by eliminating particular bacteria.

Yes, sometimes it can be a reverse affect. I used it to battle dinos. They never went away but never increased understated the same. I searched found out what Dave stated.

 

[Sponge]

This is intriguing because when I started dosing vibrant is when I had hair algae issue start and I’m currently dealing with a similar outbreak. Did you get it before you started dosing vibrant or after? I’ve been dosing vibrant about a month. Dave mentioned you me he’s heard it having reverse effects on tank. Wonder if it’s promoting this particular algae growth by eliminating particular bacteria.

Not sure if that’s probable. But hey it is possible. My opinion is the frag tank is super young and is going thru normal growing pains that you would expect. And since there are no fish, crabs or inverts Other than snails Recently introduced. There’s nothing to keep it from exploding. It’s like they say An ounce of prevention keeps the doc away. Same applies here you need to have critters that eat it faster Than new tank syndrome can promote it. In the end the tank will mature. And you will win. Of course one major thing that will speed things up is Grease lots of Grease. Ya know the kind that is secreted from your elbows. MANUAL REMOVAL is a Pain in the neck but very effective

 

[Mark_C]

Vibrant does well with most algae, I've used it recently to clear up a bad turf algae outbreak. Like, really bad, and it saved my tank.
Dosed to directions, repeated 1x per week over 4 weeks (no water changes), blew off rocks daily, hand molested the dying algae I could reach.
Worked well, but Vibrant can, and did, cause outbreaks of red slime algae while killing off the hair/turf/whatever.
Red slime can be vacuumed easily enough.
I also lost 90% of my zoas, including large colonies. Whether this was from the overrun from the turf algae or the Vibrant I don't know.

 

[Hallowhead]

Not sure if that’s probable. But hey it is possible. My opinion is the frag tank is super young and is going thru normal growing pains that you would expect. And since there are no fish, crabs or inverts Other than snails Recently introduced. There’s nothing to keep it from exploding. It’s like they say An ounce of prevention keeps the doc away. Same applies here you need to have critters that eat it faster Than new tank syndrome can promote it. In the end the tank will mature. And you will win. Of course one major thing that will speed things up is Grease lots of Grease. Ya know the kind that is secreted from your elbows. MANUAL REMOVAL is a Pain in the neck but very effective

Matt the tank has had cuc since it cycled. The hair algae without a doubt was introduced via a frag. I do agree it's light on fish and I only want two fish in here (pest eater Mr. Wrasse and an algae eater most likely tail spot.). I have been manually removing but my thought is won't removing without a water change just cause nutrient explode thus resulting in more algae?

 

[Sponge]

Nothing wrong with water changes. Assuming you have good RODI water. I knew a guy. Who kept asking what to do and I kept saying geez. Do another water change, do another water change. Turned out he was using sink water from town and just kept making it worse. Taking it out manually won’t hurt. It WILL Helps but if your water test low nitrate low phosphate than water changes does nothing. But here’s the rub. If you have a lot of algae proportional to water volume. You can not trust your test. Macro algae when large enough can uptake phosphate as fast as it is created. So it grows. Hence the explosion but your test sees nothing. That’s why the manual removal. You need to physically get as much out first or your test results can not be trusted. In a nut shell. Yes. Frequent water change manual removal, critters and Chems will knock it out fast. And if you have an Urchin. In your display tank. Temp put him on there. They eat stuff relentlessly. It really isint hard to beat algae. It’s just a simple plan and patience. But I really can’t express how much you can’t trust tests with a lot of algae.

 

[nightmarepl]

I want a tailspot just can't qt anything until after Xmas.

I bought a emerald crab with reef cleaners order but it arrived dead. Need to pick another up

I want a tailspot just can't qt anything until after Xmas.

I bought a emerald crab with reef cleaners order but it arrived dead. Need to pick another up

funny you say that i ordered 3 from them all dead along with bunch of other stuff they kinda suck when it comes to shipping their stuff... snails and crabs is your best bet from them anything else is death zone i got some chaeto to try and seed my tank with pods cause supposedly they their chaeto has " good amount of pods " came in literally scanned the whole thing found maybe 10? all dead haha horrible shipping form no heat packs barely any water in the bags cause they worried about weight charges ..

i got my emerald crab from petco on rt3 clifton huge one been plowing algae and seaweed strips
my last tank i had a big sprout of hair algae all my hermits and emeralds eat it all never showed up again i also siphoned alot out mine was in the sand everything off the rocks got chewed up

 

[Hallowhead]

funny you say that i ordered 3 from them all dead along with bunch of other stuff they kinda suck when it comes to shipping their stuff... snails and crabs is your best bet from them anything else is death zone i got some chaeto to try and seed my tank with pods cause supposedly they their chaeto has " good amount of pods " came in literally scanned the whole thing found maybe 10? all dead haha horrible shipping form no heat packs barely any water in the bags cause they worried about weight charges ..

i got my emerald crab from petco on rt3 clifton huge one been plowing algae and seaweed strips
my last tank i had a big sprout of hair algae all my hermits and emeralds eat it all never showed up again i also siphoned alot out mine was in the sand everything off the rocks got chewed up

Yeah he wound up shipping stuff Monday before Thanksgiving and didn't get it until Friday... Stuff was frozen

 

[nightmarepl]

Yeah he wound up shipping stuff Monday before Thanksgiving and didn't get it until Friday... Stuff was frozen

yup they suck haha never getting anything but snails from them maybe some hermits thats it i was so excited the first time i ordered got like $100 worth of stuff to 90% of it being dead then fighting for a refund for weeks,,, till i got pissed off and made a credit card claim he wanted pictured of every single dead creature i sent him a few he told me that the crab is playing dead... that hell get up in a day or two when the bag smelled worse then a gas station toilet...

 

[Hallowhead]

yup they suck haha never getting anything but snails from them maybe some hermits thats it i was so excited the first time i ordered got like $100 worth of stuff to 90% of it being dead then fighting for a refund for weeks,,, till i got pissed off and made a credit card claim he wanted pictured of every single dead creature i sent him a few he told me that the crab is playing dead... that hell get up in a day or two when the bag smelled worse then a gas station toilet...

Hahaha yeah I opened the box and almost threw up

 

[amado]

Hey get a urchins. long spine urchin is possible it will eat the hair algea. If it’s on the frag tank then I would get a small tuxedo

 

[Hallowhead]

Hey get urchins long spine urchin did possible it will eat the hair algea. If it’s on the frag tank than I would get a small tuxedo

Would the tuxedo navigate on the egg shell

 

[nightmarepl]

Would the tuxedo navigate on the egg shell

shouldnt really be an issue they get into some tight spots so walking on those grates i think would be ok

 

[amado]

Would the tuxedo navigate on the egg shell

Yeah it should be fine

 

[Sponge]

They could scale Everest. Seriously they have about a thousand legs. Ever try to pull something off one. Real amazing grip.