NEED HELP: HAIR ALGAE PROBLEM

A

Anonymous

Hi, i have about 150 lbs of live rock. They started to have hair algae and grew pretty long. I recently took all the LR that had hair algae on them and placed them in a large cooler with a powerhead inside. My tank also has green algae sticking on the side of the glass. If anyone can help me with destroying the algae in the cooler and keeping it out of the tank, i was greatly appreciate the advice. Is there any chemical i can place into the cooler or tank to get these algae problems out? Another question, I have my 75 gallon tank running with coral and fish right now with very limited amount of rock and two powerheads and a filter, the sump is also off (i'm planning to build another one), would that be okay for the mean time while i deal with the hair algae problem? Thanks in advance for the help.
 
Sounds like you have poor water quality.

1. Have you checked your source of water for TDS?

2. What are your phosphates at right now in the tank?

3. What cleaner crew do you have ie. Tangs are great algae eaters also emerald crabs.

First check into the water quality I could almost bet you that your getting poor water into your tank that is feeding the algae.

Second get your self a phosban reactor by http://www.twolittlefishies.com/tlf_prod_access.html?lang_id=1 "ebay is a good source"

Third to kill off the alage in your tank kill the lights for 3 days and tape up your tank with black trash bags so no light gets in.

You can buy a 4 inch razor blade by black and decker and scrap that algae off your glass. just go slow and your glass will look brand new :D

Good luck!
 
Thanks for the tips. I buy water from one of the local purifier stores, which they told me they use a 13 stage filter so there should be no phosphate right? I don't have the test kit for phosphate level, but i'm going to bring it to a fish store to get it tested. IF the level of phosphate is okay, do i still have to get the phosphate reactore or no? Is there any chemical i can use or are they harmful to the tank?
 
I would never trust a lfs or water depo with out first investing in one of these http://cgi.ebay.com/HM-Digital-TDS-meter-TDS-4_W0QQitemZ160019669852QQihZ006QQcategoryZ20756QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem under 20 bucks and you can see it will help you to understand what your buying. Another thing to remember is that a lot of water stores do not run DI resin in there water process. DI will give you 0 tds if its charged correctly. Most of the time it is not.

I would suggest you invest in a rodi unit as this will save you a bundle and a bundle of time also. http://www.thefilterguys.biz/ro_di_systems.htm

These guys rock when it comes to service and dont be shy to call them they will help you with all your needs.

I do not know of any so called chemicals that will kill this type of algae. I could be wrong and if I am sure someone will chime in. :lol:

I would do like i said earlier. first clean the glass as best as you can with a razor blade then black out the tank let it sit with no light for 3 days. Do the dame with your live rock just make sure you have air going to it.

This issue is a major for many members on the board so dont feel to blue about it. Hang in there and follow the instructions and your tank will look good as new.

But you have to find the source of the food your algae is growing from.

Start with your water source I bet you will be blown away when you buy water and see what your paying 50 cents a gallon for is just plain ole tap water that has about 500 tds in it. :shock:
 
What are your feeding habits? Im battling the same and its getting better. Check your water (as mentioned), check your feeding (ive backed off big time untill this gets cleared up), clean crew (snails). Lets not forget the water changes. You may not be registering phos. as its being taken up by the HA quickly (mine is).

In the past, ive pulled my rocks, cleaned them good with a nylon "parts brush", rinsed well in SW and rescaped. This did the trick once, along with good husbandry...good luck, its a little frustrating, but certainly beatable :!:
 
or yellow tang. How old are your light bulbs? I used chemi-clean but that doesnt cure the problem, the problem is excess nutrients or old lights, or water. Chemi clean will just kill the algae, then you must suck out all the dead algae residue, if what caused the algae is still there, a new batch will be happy to take over the old algaes place.
 
THANKS A BUCH YOU GUYS. I've decided to just let the rocks sit in a cooler with a power head for a while and then scrub my butt off until everything is gone. I will probably just run the lights on the tank for very limited amounts of time because i still have quite a few corals in there so i dont want them to die. About purchasing the ro/di system, i already had one before so i thought it was the ro/di system that i was using that was creating the problem. i just recently changed to the store's water so i don't really know if it's the water or not. The algae's been there for a while, before i even used the store's water. We'll see how it holds up. Thanks again for all the advice.
 
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