Brown to Green hair algae

[mantis32]

I had some brown algae that went to hair algae on my overflow. I decided to leave my A/C on all day so that I can turn on my new lights. 2x250W MH, 2x54W T5 15K and in a quick two day period now I have green hair algae on the glass and on the overflow...

Should I scrape this off immediately? What should I do?

No coral yet, and just 3 fish. My hermit crabs stole the shells of most of my snails, so working on getting an algae attack pack from liveaquaria along with empty shells. I did my first water change of 5 gallons and I routinely top off the water daily.

 

[mantis32]

I'm thinking about getting a black sailfin blenny or an algae sailfin blenny...any chance of putting two together in a 55gal?

 

[Carlo]

I wouldn't specifically buy a fish to get rid of this. Just hand remove what you can and then work on getting your phosphates to zero so you don't get hair algae.

Carlo

 

[mantis32]

How do I work on getting my phosphates to zero and how can I test that?

 

[Phyl]

With a new tank it just might be cycle stuff that will pass with time. If you're using Tap water or feeding excessively it might be nutrients.

Phosphate test kits might show something but if you have a good case of hair algae you might test out 0 even if you're introducing it into the system because the hair is absorbing it as fast as you add it.

Seachem makes a decent PO4 test kit. One of the better "over the counter" ones is Tunze, though if you can get your hands on a PO4 colorimeter all the better.

A sharp increase in light (especially MH lighting) will spur a hair algae problem rather quickly. It should burn out on its own unless you're feeding high PO4 food or using tap water with high PO4. With no corals in the tank lower your MH photo period to 1-2 hours and build SLOWLY (15m per week) from there to a 6 hr photo period.

 

[mantis32]

sounds like a plan. i believe i may be overfeeding, so I've cut down on that too.