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hair algae..........this is getting out of hand

R

reseter5

Guest
i definatly need some advice now... i am battleing hair algae like its a war.... it just keeps comming... advise please before i do freshwater...lol just kidding

im doing like 25% r/o water changes a week... less light.. its crazy
 
K

kason42

Need more details. Lighting, water parameters, livestock...etc. etc. How long has it been since you've changed your cartridges on the ro. Do you have a TDS meter. What's it reading? I'm sure we can help. ;)
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Change 100% of the water as often as you can. Make sure you're using RO/DI. Scrub the rock as often as you can! Pull it out by the handful. Find 100 turbos.
 
R

reseter5

Guest
Live stock. Besides coral. Coral beauty. Maroon clown. 4 cardinals. Snowflake eel. Lawnmower and scooter blenny. Ro filters are less than a month old. 2 175 watt halides. 2 65 watt actinics. I don't have a tds meter. And need to get a refill on my phosphate test kit.
 
R

reseter5

Guest
i will definatly do as big a water change as possible... and i'm just waiting for will or reefs to reptiles to get in a sea hare to start eating it away.. even with the lights off for a few days it doesnt make a difference
 
B

Brian

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I was looking at that the other day...it really looks interesting. I do wonder if that tube would be a bit small and get clogged?

Are you sure it's hair algae and not Bryopsis? If it looks feathery it's Bryopsis and raising your Magnesium level (1400 i think) would get rid of it.
 
R

reseter5

Guest
i took each rock out 2 weeks ago and scrubbed em... im just gonna do a huge water change to get it back in gear and scrub off what i can as i siphon out the water.. i am making r/o as we speak
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

Agree you need to find out what is causing it, without a doubt excess nutrients.
Question is are you feeding way to much or is there excess in the rocks?
Suggestions I have.
1) agressive water changes 30% per
2) check actinic bulbs how old?
3) turkey baster the rocks before water change
4) run phos/silcate remover, GAC
5) temp...keep level below 80
6) cutback on feeding some
7) rinse food, some matters some not so much, SF brand I don't like but that is me
 
B

boontonbob

A sea urchin (tuxedo is best or pincushion) would probably mow it down as well. I added one about two months ago and it's incredible how much algae it took out. Some say they scrape off a lot of desired coralline algae, though. I don't have enough to notice. In fact, if you are close, you can have mine. I am trying to let some slight nuisance algae come back as food for a tang I am adding.

Stay with the battle, I recall I fought it for about 8 months before my better feeding habits and regular changes reduced it 90%.
 
R

reseter5

Guest
The tap water was all my fault and the big problem because originally I was only doing fowlr. As of today a week after the 100% water change I have no loss. Yesterday added some more snails and a seahare. Wow the seahare is an animal. Doesn't stop eating. Just keeps going. New bulbs. And levels are where they should be. Time will tell
 
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