Hair Algae

[Geoff]

Hey guys. Starting to have a problem with hair algae popping up on some rocks. Running a barebottom IM Nuvo 40 with skimmer. Upgraded media basket with sponge and matrix on bottom 2 shelves. Mp10 powerhead and tunze nano wavebox. Ecotech xr15 pro gen 3 for lighting. And a phosban 150 with HC gfo. Hanna tester says 0.00 phosphate. Any ideas what I can do to get rid of it? Doing weekly waterchanges with red sea coral pro salt.

 

[Josh]

if the rocks are saturated with phosphates and leeching out the hair algae would attack it before the GFO had a chance.

 

[Geoff]

Rock was cured in another tank for about 9 months before I transferred to the Nuvo.

 

[TORX]

What is your lighting schedule for the Radion?

 

[Geoff]

8 hrs on coral lab 40% intensity. Lowered the whites manually though. Think they're around 18%

 

[TORX]

So this is on your 32 gallon cube? I would assume the lights are up about 12"? That intensity and schedule is good. The tank is also fairly new if I remember.
When was it set up?
Where did you get your rock?


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[Geoff]

It's on a RMS mount and no it's on my 40gal Nuvo. The cube I had ran for about 6 months then upgraded to this. Same rock and livestock. Everything in the tank is doing great. Corals... Clown and mandarin. Anemone split about month ago and both are getting big again side by side.

 

[TORX]

Oh you said that in the OP, my bad. Then IMHO I think all you need is patience and keep doing what you are doing. As it dies off, it feeds the rest of it, so it can take months to get rid of it. Keep that HC GFO pumping and replace it every few weeks despite your testing saying 0. Maybe look at picking up some Mexican turbo snails or some addition CUC that is specific to hair algae.

 

[bugger]

The tank is small I would pull the rock and spray with 3% hydrogen peroxide

 

[Anthony]

I had a massive hair algea issue, (must be something in the Brantford water)

Pull as much out as you can (every day) and replace the gfo every 3-4 weeks, it took me about 10 weeks to clear it up,

Once it gets too long, not much will eat it,
I tried turbo snails, crabs, lawn mower blenny, nothing worked but,

Manual removal, gfo, water changes and time,...

 

[harleymike]

I purchased some used rock and have fought it also. I am running GFO reactor. Its slowly going away.
GFO, water changes seem to help.
Cut my lighting back a bit too.

 

[Boga]

You may want to cut a bit from feeding. Do you feed anemones as well?
I had very good experience with Mexican Turbo snails. Run GFO, feed less, and add one Mexican Turbo. You can take it out when issue is solved.

And Hanna PO4 tester, ...... hmm I don't trust it.

 

[Geoff]

Thanks for the advice everyone

 

[jeffopentax]

I’ve found GFO will seem to do nothing for the first month or so, then all of the sudden the hair algae will start to disappear. Stay patient and be sure to change GFO at least once a month, for the rest of your life. Miss one change and you’ll be back where you started. I feel like I’ve suggested this before. [emoji846]


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[Salty Cracker]

Ditto on the GFO. Make sure you swap it out every 3 weeks (it will get saturated and won't work), and just be patient. I should have taken a picture of my tank last year, my old rock was pure white, and used rock I bought was green and fuzzy. Not a huge issue a LOT of reeefers have excess phosphate in their systems (which is often why the rock was for sale), and it does take up to 3 months to leech it all out. As it's coming out of the rock HA will feed on it, until the supply is exhausted.

Also, if your hanna checker is reading 0.00 and the test was accurate (reagents not expired, good sample etc), then you might want to borrow a phosphorous checker and see what the real number is...

Stick with it, and don't do anything drastic!!