Green hair getting out of control!

[lohitha]

Go on 2 or 3 day blackout and a water change. Let the ambient light flow in. Feed as normal. You should address the root cause or it will come back.

[MikeTR]

rock can certainly leech phosphates.. could certainly be the cause. Your abundance of hair algae is using up all the phosphates/nitrates and is why your tests are reading 0.

[beyondcomp251]

if hair algae is out of control it comes down to water quality, if your running any media like bio balls or ceramics..pull it, they do nothing but build up debri that cuz high levels of ammonia and then hair algae heaven

[Cytosol]

I've installed the new phoenix bulb. Man is it ever blue! I think this blue will turn more white after a few weeks, but I think it looks great. I have not noticed any additional algae growth in the last 4 days with the new bulb, so i'm hopeful that this may be what was needed.

 

I also made a new thread for the GHA frag dip, located here: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=257271

 

Here is a picture of the tank with the new light! Still some GHA, but it's looking way better! I'm really happy to see this.

 

 

 

[SBrob]

I've installed the new phoenix bulb. Man is it ever blue! I think this blue will turn more white after a few weeks, but I think it looks great. I have not noticed any additional algae growth in the last 4 days with the new bulb, so i'm hopeful that this may be what was needed.

 

I also made a new thread for the GHA frag dip, located here: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=257271

 

Here is a picture of the tank with the new light! Still some GHA, but it's looking way better! I'm really happy to see this.

 

 

 

 

 

It sure is looking a lot better and that new light is sweet IMO. Keep an eye on your sps they will definitely let you know when the water is getting better by coloring up. Can't wait to see some progression shots!

[Cytosol]

Hey all, I figured I would do another update on my tank.

 

Unfortunately the last month or so has been another insanely busy period, and I am back to neglecting my tank.. Well maybe not neglect, but I should be spending way more time cleaning it.

 

However, even after a month without a water change, my tank looks almost exactly the same as in the last picture. No more GHA other than what I didn't remove last time, which means changing my light is what fixed things. I still have a bit of GHA, but it doesn't seem to really grow anymore. I have other types of algae blooming, but i'm able to just pick those off!

 

I am 100% confident that changing the light did this, as there isn't anything else I was doing differently.. So i'm really happy to say my GHA problems are completely under control. I am changing my light every year for now on, because what I had to deal with was insane!

 

I will take some pics when I am able to do a water change and clean the glass and such!

[mlindsey711]

I had a really terrible GHA problem with my tank. It turns out the premixed RO/DI water I was buying from a LFS was no better than tap water. I tried everything and finally just took the live rock out and put it into a pan of salt water and scrubbed it with a stiff plastic brush. After replacing the rock in the aquarium and putting all of my livestock back, I still had a little hair algae but now the CUC could keep up with it and they wiped it out. I also did a 50% water change with my own RO/DI water and put Chemipure plus in the filter basket. The GHA has been completed gone since the CUC ate the last of it a couple of days after the scrubbing. It has been about 3 weeks since I did this and my tank is now perfect.

 

Good luck, I know how you feel.

[SpringFever]

Hmmm... Lets cry and complain about how bad your HA outbreak is, claim everything has been done to correct it but nothing works, start to get it under control, then not do a WC for a month...

 

 

Dude... Seriously?

[Trogdor447]

quit buying and ADDING things to the tank.. its not going to do any good. If the GHA is there, it stemmed for a reason.. I have been battling my outbreak which is probably worse then yours. I debated doing a lights out period, vowed against it however.

 

I have lost some zoa's from the GHA killing them..

 

My suggestion as with everyone elses.. MORE frequent water changes, if you don't know the TDS off your RODI go buy walmart distilled, your much better off.. I am now 4 months into the battle, and my RODI unit should be here hopefully by the end of the week.

 

 

The one thing that has truly helped me is floating a bag of chaeto, it got so big in 3 weeks i had to make another bag to float (they are hooked under my lights so they dont blow around and cut light off to things)

 

 

Before:

 

After months:

 

My routine, weekly water changes, pulling rocks out plucking it off in separate buckets, nursing each zoa that has GHA on it. 2 gallon water changes on a 20 gallon tank so thats ~ 20% water changes after displacement.. Changed bulbs to 2x ATI Blue +...

 

Nothing in this hobby happens quickly, only more problems. Take what i have said with seriousness to it. I added a clean up crew from Johny at reef cleaners for a minimal price, they are just unable to do any damage on the vast majority of this... Now that it is starting to go away the CUC is starting to be able to maintain what i got.

[qbical]

I've installed the new phoenix bulb. Man is it ever blue! I think this blue will turn more white after a few weeks, but I think it looks great. I have not noticed any additional algae growth in the last 4 days with the new bulb, so i'm hopeful that this may be what was needed.

 

I also made a new thread for the GHA frag dip, located here: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=257271

 

Here is a picture of the tank with the new light! Still some GHA, but it's looking way better! I'm really happy to see this.

 

 

 

 

i was having the exact same problem and i JUST got the exact same bulb you did too. However, my sunpod was pretty close to the water surface too so I raised that up before putting in the new bulb. so i have a feeling that it was my old bulb and light being too close to the water (temps were rising) that caused my bloom. it is now in a steady decline (knocks on wood)

hope you get your stuff under control

[CollegeNano]

I had a pretty aggravating HA problem. It is now slowly dwindling! I did a few things similar to what yeast did.

 

Added Chemi-pure elite (GFO),

EMERALD CRAB is currently decimating this stuff, I would highly recommend this

shortened my light cycled by 2 hours

started dosing vodka

 

In all thruthfulness I think the emerald crab is doing most of the work. I see him eating that stuff all the time and the first day I added him he completely cleared my acan of the hair algae.

[Natural71]

I had wicked GHA when I was running pc 10,000k stocks on my BC29. I went to MH 20,000k and haven't had any since. I have to feed my CUC now so they won't starve. I have run Chemi-pure elite since day 1 and still had the GHA like mad until I changed to 20k MH.

[Juce23]

Im pretty new at this havemt even set up my tank yet but have read a ####load of books and stuff but does anyone think that alon with doing all this that using a uv sterilizer would help to control the further spread after hes almost eliminated it. Might be a dumb question but just wondering

[matt frizz]

Replace that bulb. Test for phosphates. Change your RO/DI filters maybe?

[Cytosol]

Replace that bulb. Test for phosphates. Change your RO/DI filters maybe?

 

If you read my updates, I did all those things.. In fact I did everything one could possibly do (except for change the bulb) and nothing helped.. But yeah, the only thing I didn't do (change the bulb) seemed to be the actual cause.

 

Everyone pointed me towards nutrients being the problem, but they never were. In fact, during the entire history of my tank, I have never registered any phosphates or nitrates (except during the cycle of course). This is even after months without water changes; my tank was pretty much perfect for months on end with little to no maintenance. Then all the sudden, I had this huge GHA outbreak, and even after 3 months of solid weekly water changes, and everything else I could do, it just wouldn't go away. It goes to show you how much a bad light can aggravate the situation.

 

Since I have finally figured out the culprit, I am doing a big tank clean with 50% water change, sand vacuuming and all that good stuff. It feels good to have finally figured this out, because I was inches away from tearing the whole tank down and swearing off the hobby.

[chumcrazy]

If you read my updates, I did all those things.. In fact I did everything one could possibly do (except for change the bulb) and nothing helped.. But yeah, the only thing I didn't do (change the bulb) seemed to be the actual cause.

 

Everyone pointed me towards nutrients being the problem, but they never were. In fact, during the entire history of my tank, I have never registered any phosphates or nitrates (except during the cycle of course). This is even after months without water changes; my tank was pretty much perfect for months on end with little to no maintenance. Then all the sudden, I had this huge GHA outbreak, and even after 3 months of solid weekly water changes, and everything else I could do, it just wouldn't go away. It goes to show you how much a bad light can aggravate the situation.

 

Since I have finally figured out the culprit, I am doing a big tank clean with 50% water change, sand vacuuming and all that good stuff. It feels good to have finally figured this out, because I was inches away from tearing the whole tank down and swearing off the hobby.

 

I am glad that your starting to get it under control but understand that even if the old bulb was the perfect spectrum for growing algae it CAN NOT grow without nutrients. Also water changes and GFO dont work over night so you could just be seeing the effects of those now. Like I said earlier stick with it and you will win but keep an eye on your nutrient load.