Can't control my hair algae.

[dotc0m]

I don't know what's going on but my hair algae is really hard to control. I never gave my CUC a chacne to clean it before I added my first shroom, and now I feel since I need to have the MH lights on at least 8-10 hours, I am just feeding the hair algae into growing more. I have 4 blue legged hermits, 3 reef hermits, 1 scarlet hermit, 1 mexican turbo, 1 emerald crab, and 4 nassarius snails.

 

The green is getting thicker in patches on the rocks. The tank has been running for almost a month now, and has 2 black percs, 1 frag of pink polyps, and a piece of LR with a patcfh of 6-7 red mushrooms.

 

Why didn't I listen when you guys told me to take it slow. =(

[scarfish]

The tank has been running for almost a month now, and has 2 black percs, 1 frag of pink polyps, and a piece of LR with a patcfh of 6-7 red mushrooms.

 

Why didn't I listen when you guys told me to take it slow. =(

 

Why is there livestock in a tank less then a month old?

 

Take rocks out, scrub all the GHA off you can, test nitrates and phosphates, do a few water changes with phospahte free water (RO/salt), shorten light cycle, drink a few beers.

[clifford513]

At least you're acknowledging the problem. You don't need to run mh lighting to maintain shrooms. I would suggest manual removal of gha, frequent waterchanges, stringent cleaning of mechanical filters, feeding schedule of every three days and lightly, lighting schedule of three days on two days off for a couple weeks, and do not add anymore livestock.

[dotc0m]

So manually would mean taking it out and scrubbing it off? Would it cause my tank to recycle if at that?

[clifford513]

Not if you keep it submerged in some tank water and rinse it with some tank water before putting it back.

[dotc0m]

So can I dismantle my rock work, keep it in the same tank, and just scub it off in the aquapod and put it back to where it is and hope that the mechanical filter picks it up?

 

Or should I make a new batch of salt water, and scrub it in there and then place it back inside the tank

[scarfish]

So can I dismantle my rock work, keep it in the same tank, and just scub it off in the aquapod and put it back to where it is and hope that the mechanical filter picks it up?

 

Or should I make a new batch of salt water, and scrub it in there and then place it back inside the tank

Do a water change, drain the old water into a bucket, put the rocks in, use a firm brush to brush off the GHA, put rock back in main tank, refill with fresh salt water, drink a few beers.

[clifford513]

I would do it in tank water in another container and rinse it before putting it back. Use the new water for a waterchange and to replace the water you used in the spare container. Two birds, one stone

[dotc0m]

Thanks you two, what kind of brush am I looking at for this?

[clifford513]

Toothbrush is fine, or if the old lady has been on ya lately, just rinse her good hair brush and use it.

[awjn]

ya make sure you do not do it in the display tank or else the hair algae you scrub off will just cause more hair algae to grow!

[LSUtiger]

Not trying to hijack the thread, but will the CUC not be able to eventually get rid of all the GHA? I'm battling some myself now at day 1 of my setup. My CUC was just added 2 days ago...no other livestock other than the promiscuos pods.

 

Seems like if his crew can't keep up now, the algae will just grow back over time? True/False?

 

Thanks,

Mark

[scarfish]

Not trying to hijack the thread, but will the CUC not be able to eventually get rid of all the GHA? I'm battling some myself now at day 1 of my setup. My CUC was just added 2 days ago...no other livestock other than the promiscuos pods.

 

Seems like if his crew can't keep up now, the algae will just grow back over time? True/False?

 

Thanks,

Mark

False, if he reduces nutrients by using better water, more water changes, add macro algae, and reduces light cycle.

[clifford513]

I'm battling some myself now at day 1 of my setup. My CUC was just added 2 days ago

I know, you meant since day 1. Just struck me as funny. Good observation scar, I fail to include the addition of a fuge or macros.

 

The real problem with letting it grow, ime, is that most cuc won't eat the long stuff and as it starts to die it releases stored nutrients and the whole cycle just continues. Removing it is another form of nutrient export, so to speak.

[mikellini]

As well, the CUC may be able to eat the algae (unlikely), but they still poop the nutrients back into the water. If you have a big HA problem, you need to remove it first and then set up preventative measures, such as a CUC and a macroalgae refugium. This is what works for me, every time.

 

1. Turn off the lights. Moreover, cover the aquarium so ambient light doesn't feed the algae. Do this for 3 days.

 

2. Do not feed the inhabitants. Don't add anything to the tank, and just leave it alone.

 

3. At the end of the third day, about an hour before you turn the lights back on, scrub down the glass and remove any remaining HA (shouldn't be any unless it was really bad), then do a 40-50% water change with RO or distilled water (I prefer distilled).

 

4. When you turn the lights on, implement a reduced photoperiod. Increase it gradually over the next three days to no more than 8 hours of MH lighting. If you don't have any extremely light-hungry corals, go with less. If you want to be able to look at your aquarium, and you don't get home until later on in the day, then don't turn the lights on until just before you get home.

 

It's really that simple for removing the HA. Any harm to corals will be minimal and will be reversed within a few days. Remember, not every day is sunny on the Great Barrier Reef. Our corals have evolved to survive very lengthy periods of decreased light. Once the HA is all gone, you can look into prevention: better filtration, more frequent water changes, and reduced lighting.

[clifford513]

^ Well said. Though I might add, if you have good flow the nutrient rich poop (detritus) will be remove by your mechanical filter and an occasional basting to create a detritus storm.

[LSUtiger]

Thanks for the replies.....and I meant day 17. I'd be insane by now if I had it at day 1. : )

 

Mark

[mikellini]

I agree... I just caution advising increasing flow to combat algae. It really doesn't change much, the nutrients are still there and the algae will find a place with lower flow. But having good flow combined with good filtration does help

[clifford513]

I agree... I just caution advising increasing flow to combat algae. It really doesn't change much, the nutrients are still there and the algae will find a place with lower flow. But having good flow combined with good filtration does help

Yeah, that was also in addition to my list above The waste has to be removed from the filter before it can break down. Flow isn't a direct combat of the algae.

[dotc0m]

Well I scrubbed the rocks down like I originally planned. Now that I read the other 3 day plan period, I would have rather done that then spend my entire Sunday doing this (Thank god it's a holiday 4 day weekend!)

 

The rocks are clean now. I will leave the lights on for the rest of the day, then maybe for the rest of the weekend. If I see any signs of HA, I will probably try the other method.

 

Right now I'm just worried about any spikes or a mini cycle occuring. I'm sure I did a great job keeping the rocks in the tank water. I had taken about 30-40% out and put into two different tubs. I used one tub for scrubbing, and the other tub for rinsing.

 

Did this for all the rocks that had it bad, and put the rocks back in how they were (or at least close to how they were). This part took a while which is why I'm concerned about the die offs it may have had, but I'm atlking about being out of the water for > 1 Minute. I'm still not going to feed at all, maybe go on a schedule of feeding Monday and Thursdays. My turbo snail seems very stressed out, the shrooms are stretched out again so I'm very relieved, and everythign else seems okay so far.

 

Thanks for the help guys and was relieved that i only got bashed once. I know I made mistakes, but with the holidays, and the spare time, it's hard not to rush things and have things asked for Christmas hehe.

 

Again, thanks a lot.

[clifford513]

I think you should be fine. Shouldn't really be any die off other than trace amounts of algae. I would suggest leaving the lights off for a couple days to prevent regrowth. The cuc will work on what is left in the meantime.

[mikellini]

Leave the lights off. Then do a water change. It would be a shame for all of that work that you did to go to waste and have it regrow. Since most of it is gone, just leave them off for two days, but make sure you do a water change at the end of it. You do this at the end because when all of the algae has died off, the nitrates and phosphates it was composed of are dissolved in the water. You need to remove them or it will grow back once you add light back into the equation. And make sure you're not giving too much light, less is more... especially for mushrooms, they will actually be healthier and look better with less light than most corals

[Smurf]

You can try to make a hospital tank just for the shrooms. Turn those MH's on and let it run, in the hospital tank for the shrooms. And when everything is under control add the shrooms again.