Two questions

[Vaideen]

1. My tank is covered in hair algae, it grows everywhere, on the live rocks, on the macroalgae, how do you get rid of this stuff?

 

2. My tank is 15 gallons, and I added 4 small grubfish (similar to gobies, very slender and around an inch long, though one of them is 2 inches) today. The tank also contains two pistol shrimp and a crab. Is the tank overstocked?

[specore]

Not overstocked.  You can try manually removing hair algae, or biologically removing via snails.  In the end though there is an underlying problem which needs to be dealt with.  Could be organics leaching from your rockwork, overfeeding (which it sounds like you just added the first fish, so probably not), etc.  I would probably start with doing some regular relatively large (maybe 30-40%) water changes , blasting detritus from the rocks daily, and aggressive chemical filtration (carbon, GFO, purigen, etc).  If you are careful to not overfeed and diligent in regular maintenance the problem should begin to resolve itself eventually.  

[ninjamyst]

Manually remove as much as you can.  Since you said it's everywhere already, take a toothbrush and scrape them off.  Brush REAL hard and avoid damaging your corals.  Then dose fluconazole.  I just finished battling GHA after 4 months.  

[lpsouth1978]

As stated above, you need to resolve the cause of the hair algae or this battle will never end. There are a number of things that can cause hair algae. You need to take measurements and provide more info for us to really help you pinpoint the issue. Nitrates and/or Phosphates are somehow getting into your system and need to be reduced. Please post all of the details about your system that you can (including what you feed, how much, and how often).

 

Tank

Lights

Filter

Sump

Water movement

Temp

SG

Ammonia

Nitrite

Nitrate

Phosphate

pH

Calcium

Alk

Mag

[falcooo]

Are you overfeeding by chance? I had a hair algae issue, and then realized I was overfeeding. I corrected the issue and incorporated a phosphate removal pad into my filter media which I change out weekly and also added a few more hermit crabs. Problem resolved itself in a matter of a couple weeks.

[Clown79]

You have to evaluate the cause and correct it, without doing that all methods of removal will not be a permanent fix. It will return.

 

Gha is caused by nutrients.

 

Here are some questions for you which will help you and us determine the most likely cause

 

1.How old is the tank and what is the water source?

 

2. What are your nitrates and phosphates at?

 

3. What is the filtration method, media used, and maintenance on the media.

Aio tank, sump, hob, or canister

 

4. Do you vacuum your sand bed and Turkey bast rocks during waterchanges

 

5. What is your water change routine? How often how much?

 

6. What are you feeding, how much and how often.

 

7. Did you wash your sand prior to use

 

 

Honestly the best thing I ever learned for getting rid of gha once finding the cause- 3% hydrogen peroxide.

 

Sand with gha needs to be removed and washed thoroughly before returning to tank.

Vacuuming it will not remove the gha and it will spread.

 

On rocks- best thing is removing them from the tank, scrubbing the gha off, dip in SW, then do a hydrogen peroxide dip, then rinse again in clean SW, return to tank.

 

Scrubbing gha in tank can work but you got to siphon out every piece because it will just spread further.  So this method works for small tufts of it but completely covered tanks need a complete clean out. Aggressive action.

 

Can you post a picture of the tank so we know exactly how bad it is and best course of action.

[seabass]

Keep in mind that the algae is utilizing the available nutrients in the water.  Tests might not currently show a problem.  However, if you were testing nitrate and phosphate regularly, prior to the algae bloom, then you would have likely noticed high levels of phosphate (which led to the bloom).  Not to say that testing is pointless at this point, just that it might not currently show high levels.

[Vaideen]

7 hours ago, falcooo said:

Are you overfeeding by chance? I had a hair algae issue, and then realized I was overfeeding. I corrected the issue and incorporated a phosphate removal pad into my filter media which I change out weekly and also added a few more hermit crabs. Problem resolved itself in a matter of a couple weeks.

I think overfeeding might've contributed, I feed the pistol shrimp and crabs a pinch of frozen bloodworm, but they're pretty shy and probably only eat a small amount, which leaves a bit of uneaten food. Doesn't help that the tank is positioned under a tree, which results in leaves and the occasional dead insect falling into the tank.

3 hours ago, Clown79 said:

You have to evaluate the cause and correct it, without doing that all methods of removal will not be a permanent fix. It will return.

 

Gha is caused by nutrients.

 

Here are some questions for you which will help you and us determine the most likely cause

 

1.How old is the tank and what is the water source?

 

2. What are your nitrates and phosphates at?

 

3. What is the filtration method, media used, and maintenance on the media.

Aio tank, sump, hob, or canister

 

4. Do you vacuum your sand bed and Turkey bast rocks during waterchanges

 

5. What is your water change routine? How often how much?

 

6. What are you feeding, how much and how often.

 

7. Did you wash your sand prior to use

 

 

Honestly the best thing I ever learned for getting rid of gha once finding the cause- 3% hydrogen peroxide.

 

Sand with gha needs to be removed and washed thoroughly before returning to tank.

Vacuuming it will not remove the gha and it will spread.

 

On rocks- best thing is removing them from the tank, scrubbing the gha off, dip in SW, then do a hydrogen peroxide dip, then rinse again in clean SW, return to tank.

 

Scrubbing gha in tank can work but you got to siphon out every piece because it will just spread further.  So this method works for small tufts of it but completely covered tanks need a complete clean out. Aggressive action.

 

Can you post a picture of the tank so we know exactly how bad it is and best course of action.

1.  The tank is around a couple months old and the water source is natural sea water, though I occasionally top it off with rain water.

 

2. I'll get that tested

 

3. The tank is relatively small (15 gallons) and understocked, so I don't bother with heavy filtration, at the moment, it's just a single powerhead, live rock and a DSB. I plan to install a small sump in the near future, where I might install a refugium and a ghetto protein skimmer. However, I might borrow my HOB from another tank in case I need to use additional chemical filtration media. And if the bioload increases significantly, I might implement that ghetto protein skimmer.

 

4. No, might be time to get a turkey blaster and a proper gravel cleaner, because at the moment, all I do is siphon out the water and a bit of detritus

 

5. Until yesterday, the only inhabitants of the tank were the two pistols and the crab. Before, the tank was only around 30% filled (I plan to make a reef paludarium), so in the past few weeks, I've just been adding new water (right now the tank is filled to the top, so it's time to get into the habit of doing regular water changes.

 

6. A pinch of frozen bloodworm every two days for the pistols and crab.

 

7. No, I got it as live sand.

 

I don't think the HA is growing on the sand, just the rocks and macro.

 

Would the hydrogen peroxide kill the coralline microorganisms on the live rock?

 

Btw it’s brown hair algae, not green

 

Tank pics:

 

[falcooo]

 

16 minutes ago, Vaideen said:

1.  The tank is around a couple months old and the water source is natural sea water, though I occasionally top it off with rain water.

 

Natural sea water???

[Vaideen]

The stuff from the sea, lol

 

I live relatively close to the sea, that’s where I get my water (from a clean, pollution free area, of course)

[specore]

I suspect the natural seawater/rainwater is your issue.  Depending on the exact collection area they can contain excessive nutrients.

[falcooo]

Yeah, you're likely adding all sorts of unwanted organisms to your tank from the sea. Try mixing your own salt water or buying from a LFS, and also using RODI for top offs. Then you'll at least be 100% sure what you're putting in your tank and help you figure out why things are happening and how to resolve the issues.

[Vaideen]

It's possible that it might be the rainwater, the rainwater tank has a bit of detritus at the bottom of the tank. The seawater, maybe. The tank is filled with water from two locations, 70% is from near a harbour (explains the hair algae) and 30% I collected yesterday from a marine park. I'll use RO water in the future for topping off.

 

I have made my own saltwater before (might be time to buy another bag of the stuff), as well as buying from my LFS. Not as cheap as going to the sea but now that I think about it, it's way easier to buy the water rather than going to the sea. I think that's what I'll be doing now. Plus it's only a dollar a gallon.

[Vaideen]

So how many more fish can I add?

[seabass]

Here's a guideline that I try to follow.  Never add anything (except a cleanup crew) when your tank is having a problem.  Fix the problem first.

[Vaideen]

Touché 

[Clown79]

Rain water and sea water use is an issue. 

 

There are ppl that use filtered sea water without issue but it's been filtered.

 

Using natural sea water will bring in varied things you don't want in your tank.

Rain water has been advised not to be used in reef tanks.

 

 

If you have a dsb you cannot vacuum it. It is not meant to be touched.

 

I would manually remove the algae and spot treat with peroxide.

[Vaideen]

Yeah I reckon I'll stop using sea and rain water, gonna stick to RO and store bought saltwater.

 

The thing with my tank is that the depth of the sand bed varies, on one end, it's under a couple inches deep, while on the other end, it's almost 8 inches deep. This is part of the aquascape.

 

I've scrubbed off most of the hair algae with an old toothbrush, hydrogen peroxide treatment will follow soon, as well as a protein skimmer (once I get a wooden airstone) and refugium with another DSB, live rock and macro. Can I add hydrogen peroxide straight to the tank? Keep in mind I do not have any corals.

[seabass]

7 hours ago, Vaideen said:

The thing with my tank is that the depth of the sand bed varies, on one end, it's under a couple inches deep, while on the other end, it's almost 8 inches deep. This is part of the aquascape.

I get what you are going after with the drop-off aquascape; but it's more likely to cause problems down the road (especially with your level of experience).  You'd probably have better results with a shallow sand bed that you vacuum regularly.

 

7 hours ago, Vaideen said:

I've scrubbed off most of the hair algae with an old toothbrush, hydrogen peroxide treatment will follow soon, as well as a protein skimmer (once I get a wooden airstone) and refugium with another DSB, live rock and macro.

The DSB is probably better suited for a refugium, but even that could eventually cause issues.  However, at least it would be isolated from your display, so you can address issues separately.

 

7 hours ago, Vaideen said:

Can I add hydrogen peroxide straight to the tank? Keep in mind I do not have any corals.

Yes, 1 ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide (per 10 gallons) is sometimes used to treat a tank.  However, I've rarely found it to be an effective tank-wide algaecide, and the presence of decorative macro algae complicates matters.  Peroxide is usually best used to spot treat areas (I suggest outside of the tank).

 

Algae thrives in the presence of nutrients and light (especially certain light spectrums).  Addressing these would be a good first step.

[Clown79]

I've had excellent results dosing peroxide directly into my tanks with corals and fish. 

My 5g har, bryopsis and what looked to be dino's and the treatment cleared it up.

 

I have also spot treated with gha in tank(all water movement off so that it directly hits the specific area)

 

If you have macro algaes in the tank peroxide is not advised to be used.

 

I agree with @seabass with your sandbed.

 

Dsb is for experienced hobbyists, it can be challenging and specific care is needed. You cannot disturb it or vacuum it.

Having the 1 side high and 1 low is not often done in SW because of how the dsb functions versus a low sand bes function.

 

You need to decide on 1 or the other or expect that things may get complicated. 

 

[Vaideen]

8 hours ago, seabass said:

I get what you are going after with the drop-off aquascape; but it's more likely to cause problems down the road (especially with your level of experience).  You'd probably have better results with a shallow sand bed that you vacuum regularly.

 

The DSB is probably better suited for a refugium, but even that could eventually cause issues.  However, at least it would be isolated from your display, so you can address issues separately.

 

Yes, 1 ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide (per 10 gallons) is sometimes used to treat a tank.  However, I've rarely found it to be an effective tank-wide algaecide, and the presence of decorative macro algae complicates matters.  Peroxide is usually best used to spot treat areas (I suggest outside of the tank).

 

Algae thrives in the presence of nutrients and light (especially certain light spectrums).  Addressing these would be a good first step.

I can address the algae's need of light by removing the lights for the time being, until it dies (will the lack of light affect coralline?), and their need for nutrients will be addressed with the protein skimmer and refugium. The macro that I currently have is clearly doing little to stop the hair algae, so I'll go to my LFS to see if they have any chaeto or caulerpa.

 

I'm not keeping the macro as display, it's just sitting in the tank until I get that refugium set up.

 

Thank you, I'll heed your advice and rescape the tank, but I'll curious as to how something like this was accomplished. Btw this tank was the inspiration to my own.

1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

I've had excellent results dosing peroxide directly into my tanks with corals and fish. 

My 5g har, bryopsis and what looked to be dino's and the treatment cleared it up.

 

I have also spot treated with gha in tank(all water movement off so that it directly hits the specific area)

 

If you have macro algaes in the tank peroxide is not advised to be used.

 

I agree with @seabass with your sandbed.

 

Dsb is for experienced hobbyists, it can be challenging and specific care is needed. You cannot disturb it or vacuum it.

Having the 1 side high and 1 low is not often done in SW because of how the dsb functions versus a low sand bes function.

 

You need to decide on 1 or the other or expect that things may get complicated. 

 

I'll remove the macro from the tank during the hydrogen peroxide treatment.

 

Alrighty then, I think I'll remove the DSB from the tank and leave it as a shallow sand bed.

 

oh crap, did I just release nitrates into the tank by disturbing that sand bed?

[Clown79]

You need to read thoroughly on dsb and its care and how it works.

 

How another individual accomplished it is unknown by looking at a picture. You would have to ask them specifically their method of care. I can't tell you that because I use enough sand for aesthetic purposes and stay away from dsb's.

[1891Bro]

Even stores that sell NSW are selling filtered down NSW. And rain water? It’s the water first, feeding second, and whatever else. Get some clean water man. 

[Vaideen]

12 minutes ago, 1891Bro said:

Even stores that sell NSW are selling filtered down NSW. And rain water? It’s the water first, feeding second, and whatever else. Get some clean water man. 

I'm pretty sure that my LFS sells artificial saltwater, but I'll ask them just in case it isn't. I have the rainwater around to keep certain freshwater species, but I'll stop using the stuff for my saltwater tanks now.

1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

You need to read thoroughly on dsb and its care and how it works.

 

How another individual accomplished it is unknown by looking at a picture. You would have to ask them specifically their method of care. I can't tell you that because I use enough sand for aesthetic purposes and stay away from dsb's.

Yep okay, I'll ask the guy who set up that tank. I'm still thinking about a DSB (disconnected to the shallow sand bed, of course), but I'll do some research first. The main reason I want the DSB isn't for filtration, but it's to accomodate mudskippers (which is why I initially scaped the tank the way I did), which prefer staying out of the water. But if I cannot setup that DSB, I'll just stick to rocks poking out of the water.