Djm9288 Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 So how long? I believe I currently may hold the record. Since July. Its not like I couldnt get rid of it, its lack of time/transportation/funds. Link to comment
Metznreef Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 i have had hair algae since june but it was only a big problem for like a month. Link to comment
HuBu Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 ever since january, got worst when i transfered my stuff into the 29 gal tank and my snails kept on dying off bc of that freaking hermit. Link to comment
Djm9288 Posted January 4, 2003 Author Share Posted January 4, 2003 Ya well mine has been pretty serious, but it looks like it may be dimishing! Link to comment
ross76053 Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 Since September, so I'm right behind you man. And I've tried it all. - skimming - keeping my hands out of the tank - using RO/DI water for topoffs - Phos-Guard - Phosphate pads (just about all of 'em) - Poly Filter in my fuge(currently trying) - Power Filter (with Poly Filter media) - Hermits, all kinds - Lawnmower Blenny - scrubbing daily If one more LFS employee says, "All you need to do is....", I'm gonna slap 'em. Link to comment
Djm9288 Posted January 4, 2003 Author Share Posted January 4, 2003 Geeze, ill be so happy when it finally goes away! I am embarrased to show my tank to ppl! Link to comment
JIM27 Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 Hair algae? I've had once, for a few weeks(that was before my refugium was added). It was never out of control though, my blue legs and emarald ate alot of it. Link to comment
mattdog Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 Algae is always going to be present in our tanks, whether we like it or not. It's natural. If it wasn't why do you think there are so many creatures out there that eat the stuff. Although we are "stuck" with algae, it's only when it becomes an eyesore when we decide we don't like it and need to do something about it. Here is my advice on solving some problems that would contribute to an outbreak. Keep in mind, this is based off my own experience and the experiences of others. There are several ways to take care of an algae outbreak. Here are the ways in order in which the reefer should take care of there problem. Hope this helps everyone going through this problem. 1.) Finding the "root" of the problem Algae has to feed off of something. A lot of algae is photosynthetic and uses all the possible light to create it's food. In addition to this, algae uses nitrates, phosphates and other organics in the system to grow and reproduce. When one of these resources is in an overabundance, that's usually what causes a bloom. The first step in fixing your problem should to be to find out what the algae is feeding off of and then try to compensate for the problem. Test all your levels to make sure everything is acceptable to most of the salt water community. These specifically include Specific Gravity, Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia (shouldn't be the cause, but if things are dying because they are being choked out by the algae, it's fuel for the fire so to speak), phosphates are important, as well as alkalinity and calcium. If all these are in line, that usually means that there is a nutrient problem. This could be caused by several things. These things could be die-off, over feeding, over crowding, etc. Die-off would cause ammonia (we already covered that so ixnay NH4). Overcrowding would be....well if you don't know whether your tank is overcrowded or not, you shouldn't really be reefing, but probably the most logical cause at this point would be overfeeding. Try cutting back on your feedings for a little while (at least half for at least a month I would think). If your live rock is plentiful and is healthy and you have a sandbed, your fish will have more than enough "food" due to all the bugs and animals living in those places. If not, oh well. If this doesn't pan out, and you don't see a dramatic decrease in your algae, then move on to step number two. The second step of algae control deals with your lighting. Although lighting is not directly responsible for the root of your algae problem, it can help the algae to grow out of control. The first thing to do would be to replace your lights if they are old, let's say semi-annually. This is just a recommendation, I suppose all lighting is different. This is what I was told by a local manufacturer, use at your discretion. If all is well with the age of your lights, you may want to try to cut back your light cycle, say to about 3-4 hours (unless you have some light hungry corals, then you're screwed if the light bulb change didn't work). This method has never worked for me but it has for some, thus the pitch. Contrary to the information that is available for the most part, I find that hair algae and cyanobacteria "burn out." What I mean is if they get too much light, they receed and go away for a while. It happened to me so that's why I'm telling you. I left my lights on for four days straight, the algae was gone (it came back later, but it was pretty for a week or so). If neither of the two methods listed and described above work, then it's time to move on to the final step in this advice column: Cleanup Crew! The third step in algae control is your clean-up crew. All reef tanks need some sort of animals to clean up the place. Traditionally, these animals include but are not limited to: snails, hermit crabs, star fish, herbivorous fish, nudibranchs (sea slugs and cucumbers included), shrimp, urchins and much much more. For my reef tank, the most effective cleaners and easiest to keep (without conflict) were mostly gastropods (snails in English). I believe that snails are the backbones of a good cleanup crew. Just a hint of advise. DITCH ALL YOUR HERMIT CRABS{(and all crabs in general) except the pretty scarlet ones } !!! THEY SUCK @$$; mainly because they'll kill your snails and usually they'll eat everything that you don't want them to. If your tank size allows, get a conch (If not true nassarius snails will do). Get 1 true turbo, trochus or astrea snail per gallon (get small one's, when they get bigger, trade). I would do 20% turbo, 20% astrea and 60% trochus grazer. True grazing snails are probably the best control against algae. Now the secret to successful snail keeping is acclimation and being sure your salinity is right. For good reading about snails, here's a link to a great article by Dr. Ron Shimek from RC. : http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/19.../wb/default.asp Glazer had some major success with a lettuce sea slug (sometimes called a nudibranch for no reason). I would like to reccomend these creatures also...with two exceptions: 1. They will get caught in any intake tubes that you may have (i.e. HOB filter intakes, power heads etc.) 2. Once the hair algae is gone (specifically that algae in the bryopsis group) the slug will starve to death. So make extra sure that the animal has a suitor with an algae problem before you get one. The most important rule about adding livestock to your tank to control a problem, is that the addition of these animals is the last resort to your problem. Systematically, you have tried everything else that you know to do and this is the last thing that could possibly work. Well that just about wraps up my preaching for today, but there is one more thing that needs to added that I know everyone tries. MANUAL REMOVAL. Gets the problem out of eyesight for a while. The key is to adjust one of the control factors listed above so that the algae doesn't go out of control again. HTH, Matt P.S. Blooms can occur after trauma occurs in your tank such as re-aquascaping, a move, etc. I think someone had moved a small tank into a bigger one. That's the reason for the post script. Link to comment
mattdog Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 THE REPLY WRITTEN ABOVE WAS ASSUMING THAT ALL LEVELS WERE FINE AND THE WATER QUALITY WAS THAT OF RO/DI AND A GOOD SALT MIX. AS FAR AS WAYS TO ADJUST SOMETHING SUCH AS NITRATES, DO A SEARCH AND READ SOME MORE. MATT Link to comment
cjm033 Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 i had it one time for 2 weeks if that i just turned the lights off for a few days did w/c and siphoned what i could out,Chris Link to comment
Dave ESPI Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 Originally posted by mattdog Algae is always going to be present in our tanks, whether we like it or not. It's natural. If it wasn't why do you think there are so many creatures out there that eat the stuff. That sounds GREAT ! send me some when ya find ones that EAT hair. 1.) Finding the "root" of the problem The first step in fixing your problem should to be to find out what the algae is feeding off of and then try to compensate for the problem. HEHE...... NOTHING. it sux. Im at a loss the only thing I can think of is the fact that Im using Tonga Branch and VHOs. Test all your levels to make sure everything is acceptable to most of the salt water community. Get 1 true turbo, trochus or astrea snail per gallon (get small one's, when they get bigger, trade). I would do 20% turbo, 20% astrea and 60% trochus grazer. True grazing snails are probably the best control against algae. . IF they EAT it. Tl;Dr... fuked. Ive been battling it all in my 40 Long fer 321 days and counting. Hence... so far I win. Tonight I had caulerpa of an unknown species go sexual and I had to remove a ######load. I STILL have hair that is plagueing my tank. If it doest die off by April 1st (the oneyear aniversery of the tank, Im stripping it and sand blasting the rocks. Even Us pros have cancer sometimes... the only way to deal with wildfires is to drop a F'n A-Bomb. Ive never had a tank I couldnt lick, but this is damn pesky. Link to comment
mattdog Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 You're absolutely right Dave. A lot of fighting an algae problem is correctly identifying the algae. This is a painstaking and difficult task but it is well worth the effort. There's gotta be an animal that eats it for almost every type of algae, otherwise the natural reef would be overrun with the algae. Certain animals, eat certain algaes and that's the only reason I included the livestock chapter in my algae mini-book. The most important thing is that is a last resort (other than dropping your "A-Bomb"). I just wrote what has worked for me and what I've seen work for others. You can't argue that someone will not pull any useful information out of my post. Otherwise, thanks for the heads up. Matt Link to comment
Dave ESPI Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 Originally posted by mattdog You're absolutely right Dave. A lot of fighting an algae problem is correctly identifying the algae. This is a painstaking and difficult task but it is well worth the effort. ..... You can't argue that someone will not pull any useful information out of my post. Otherwise, thanks for the heads up. I couldnt agree more. It was a great post, Im not knocking it, simply being a pesscimist. Link to comment
mattdog Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 Thanks for the compliment...and keep your head up dude....the biggest thing really (for a reefer of your caliber) would be simple positive identification and then biological irradication. Just gotta get some marine botanist or biologist to put a positive I.D. on the stuff. I would so Dr. Ron but he knows d*ck about algae, maybe Mike Noren knows. Who knows? LOL!! :| Link to comment
cmoreash Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 I NUKED my hair algae. My solution: phosguard, rip out all the hair algae you can (get it trimmed! lol), and unleash mechanized infantry! Turbo snails! They are GREAT until the algae is gone, then they are 'tards. Link to comment
ross76053 Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 DITCH ALL YOUR HERMIT CRABS{(and all crabs in general) except the pretty scarlet ones } !!! THEY SUCK @$$; mainly because they'll kill your snails and usually they'll eat everything that you don't want them to. Hmm....I've got 15 assorted crabs and 10 assorted snails. I've never had a crab kill or even attack a snail yet - because I've provided larger size shells for them to move into when they outgrow their own. And they've never eaten anything I didn't want them to. Excellent post... Unfortunately I've tried all the above, and am still stumped (except for the lettuce sea slug, which I've been looking for around town for a about a month). And I've identified the source of my hair - as you mentioned, it's high phosphates. Can't get rid of 'em. Since they're already in the tank (within the hair algae), it's a cycle. When some of the hair dies, it releases more phosphates, which fuels even more hair. I pull & yank the crap out every day as much as I can. The Poly Filter does seem to have stopped the new "tufts" of hair growth, but the existing ones continue to thrive. Fortunately, I'm starting to see a good bit of coralline growth on the rock, the tank glass & powerheads, so I'm hoping it will eventually out-compete with the hair. Edit: Matt, thanks for the Ron Shimek article....great stuff! Link to comment
tinyreef Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 after two years hair algae reared its ugly-@ss head again in my display tank. just a small tuft and an actually very pretty patch of fluorescent slime algae too. (they're still dead meat tho) : also a tube algae i thought had died out a couple of years ago from a tang i had back then. (i think i'll keep that tho) the common thread? i removed my skimmer a couple of weeks back. also there's probably a higher nutrient level still within the system from a couple of weeks of autofeeding (i.e. twice a day feedings) back in november. i agree with dave on matt's post. very well put! he hit the nail right on the head imo. the first thing i had to unlearn from FW was that algae can be a valuable ally and very beautiful decoration in SW. algae isn't unnatural but a valuable element of the ecosystem we all are trying to replicate. Link to comment
BCOrchidGuy Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 Not only do my blue leg hermit crabs kill and eat my snails for the shells (even though I have provided 3 xtra shells per snail) but the little beggers eat my Montipora. I have seen them strip a section of the Monti bare then the move on, the Monti recovers in a week or two but I'm soon ripping the tank apart to get rid of every last blue leg hermit. Link to comment
Nishant3789 Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 my key to it was leave it alone and dont do a water change for a few weeks, lower the light time, and dont add any addatives. soon enough ull starve the hair algea of phosphates and itll slowly die off then do a water change each day about a gallon or a half gallon and then slowly usually the algea will be lost of phosphates... at eklast this is what aworked for me. that and i had the help of astrea snails and a mexican turbo. nishant Link to comment
Dave ESPI Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 Nishant3789 followed my advice.... my key to it was leave it alone and dont do a water change for a few weeks, lower the light time, and dont add any addatives. soon enough ull starve the hair algea and itll slowly die off then do ...... Works great on FOWLR tanks, but on a full blown reef, a drop in lighting can be deadly to PH, ORP, O2 and other 'synthetic animals. Just food fer enlightenment (pun intended) Link to comment
Nishant3789 Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 ah maybe tahts why it worked when i didnt have any corals in my tank. thanks for the edit dave nishant Link to comment
tgrupert Posted January 5, 2003 Share Posted January 5, 2003 from my avatar you can tel I have been batteling hair algae for a long time. well, actually i'm not exactly fighting back. my father and most men his age are doing well. Link to comment
Djm9288 Posted January 5, 2003 Author Share Posted January 5, 2003 wut r u talking bout? Link to comment
tgrupert Posted January 5, 2003 Share Posted January 5, 2003 110111101 club doesn't have a reading comprehention program. I pity the fool. Link to comment
quiksilver5768 Posted January 5, 2003 Share Posted January 5, 2003 im with Djm on this one, i have absolutely no clue what you meant in that last post Link to comment
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