hair alge whats so bad about it?(with pic)

[Iphantom]

(sorry about double posting but I for to put the pic)

I was told that this(green algie in the picture) was the infamous Hair alge I have heard so much about...but what I want to know is....whats so bad about it? I like it, I think it is attractive and makes it more appeling

if there are any other negitives besides the looks let me know

and how do I remove it? just pull it out?

also what are those redish things above and to the left of the damsel? they seem coral like and ar growing outward since I moved them closer to the light

-thanks

-Matt

[Acoustic]

pretty soon that small beautiful patch of grass wil be ALL OVER EVERYTHING! GLASS SAND ROCK PVC SHELLS INTAKE OUTTAKE EVERYTHING!.......thats all

[tinyreef]

as acoustic says, they can quickly reach plague proportions but they can also suck out nutrients very quickly. thing is you have to then rip it out (pita). it can overgrow and smother corals but also provide a good habitat for amphipods and etc.

 

they can look pretty. most peeps were "ooo'ing and ahh'ing" over my new office tank when all it had was a LOT of hair algae being blown by a couple of PH's. yeah, it looks kinda cool but when it's suppose to be a coralline covered rockface it's embarrassing. X)

 

the red bubble/fluffs look like red fleshy algae. can't really make them out tho. could even be nori jk, don't try to eat it. :

 

up to you on keeping either one. the only type i don't like is valonia. hth

[caja]

Pull as much of that stuff out as you can and get yourself a SLF crab or hermits to chow down on the rest.

[Crakeur]

stoma snails will also help. As an experienced algae farmer, I can say that it will most likely over-run your tank at some point so start pruning now and perhaps you will be able to keep it under control.

[Integracer]

I had quite allot of hair algea on my live rock recently, probably thanks to my 55 watt light. My roommate loved the stuff, but started to turn my purple live rock into a golf course. My Astrea snails and hermits didn't seem to do much to reduce the algea. Then I added a Rock-boring Urchin into my tank and slowly but surely he is mowing down the algea and my rock looks like rock again. I would recomend an urchin if you want a more permenant solution to the algea.

[freakaccident]

I had the same problem and I bought an Emerald Mithrax crab. He ate the green hair algae in no time.