Hair Algae

lwooters

AC Members
Jan 5, 2007
225
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Maryland, USA
So the previous owners of my saltwater tank didn't believe in clean up crews, so I've got quite a mess on my hands. I've been assembling a bunch of guys but I just don't think they will be able to get rid of all the hair algae as well as the *gasp* bubble algae that is threatening to take over my tank. My LFS said there's a reef safe additive that gets rid of the algae immediately, but he didn't have any in stock. Anyone know what this might be and where I could get it from online? Any other suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!
 
IMHO, the best thing is just lower nutrient levels. products such as chemi-clean will work, but i have seen tank failures occure because of when people swear they followed the directions.
 
Honestly, fighting the algae in a more natural way will provide better long term results. The algae is there for a reason, and that reason is elevated nutrient levels. Do you know what the nitrate and phosphate levels are in your tank? There are reef safe media available to help bring those levels down.

Manually removing as much of the algae as you possibly can, while incredibly time consuming, will be very helpful. In physically removing the algae from your tank, you are also removing any nutrients the algae took up. If you do this often and consistently, stock an appropriate clean-up crew, perform regular water changes using RO/DI, and not overfeed; you'll be surprised how quickly things will turn around. You may want to consider adding a refugium to grow macro algae to compete with the other algae for available nutrients, limiting the growth of the unwanted algae.

Chemical additives are in many cases just a band-aid. The reality is, that if you simply kill the algae with a chemical additive, the algae is still going to require manual removal, otherwise the dieing algae is just going to decay and release all of the nutrients it took up back into your tank.

Other alternatives include "cooking" your rock, which is method of storing live rock wet in complete darkness for weeks to months -- there are different ways of doing this and lots of info available on the web. Some people have pressure washed live rock to remove large quantities of unwanted algae, but you risk having to cycle your tank all over again. Either of these additional suggestions may or may not be feasible, depending on what's already in your tank in terms of livestock.
 
My LFS just suggested a product to me yesterday called Marine S.A.T. I asked the folks over at www.nano-reef.com what they thought about the product. I am in favor of the natural method. My hermits and snails can clear alot of hair alage fairly quickly. I have a small CUC but they get the job done. Apparnetly my LFS uses Marine S.A.T. in all her tanks (she has no hair algae). It is made by TLC Aquarium and Pond Products in Westlake, OH.
 
emerald crabs do wonders....i had a little and they ate it all and my bubble algae plague was destroyed buy the crabs as well....look to nature its been around for sometime. and as all the others said the problem is water quality. my tanks is always sparkling clean and when i do water changes it comes out with only a hint of yellow.just clean more often and it will go away.
 
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