Hair Algae

[odi]

Hi,

Recently have hair algae growing in my tank. Just got a Salifert PO4 testkit. PO4 measured below 0.03. Could the hair algae growth be caused by my bulbs. Noticed that my MH is getting yellowish. What else could be the cause?

Thanx.

[Godzilla]

Hi,

Recently have hair algae growing in my tank. Just got a Salifert PO4 testkit. PO4 measured below 0.03. Could the hair algae growth be caused by my bulbs. Noticed that my MH is getting yellowish. What else could be the cause?

Thanx.

do a search on hair algae..sure to find your ans there. make sure u do it fast, it 'll take over your tank very fast..

[FuEl]

Try reducing phosphate levels to 0 and change your bulb to something 10,000K and above. Light in the yellow spectrum tend to promote algae growth faster.

[xiggie]

get a tang .......

[Fireclown]

My tank has been over ran by hair algae... How to get rid of them? Other than improving skimming and reducing photoperiod, what are the other remedies?

[Golden Tooth]

Change activated carbon, reduce feedings n employ more algae grazers.

[DragonGoby]

Try reducing phosphate levels to 0 and change your bulb to something 10,000K and above. Light in the yellow spectrum tend to promote algae growth faster.

I agree with that - used to have rather bad algae problem, but changed my bulbs to 20 000k and there's a drastic difference.

[Fireclown]

GT, activated carbon does help? In what ways? I know that cutting off it's fuel like PO4 and NO3 helps alot, but will it completely solve the problem?

[IcecruncherZ]

I just spent a total of 3 days taking out each and every piece of liverock and scrubbing it in salt water. Realised that there's still quite a bit of coralline algae beneath.

I believe manual labour + chemical means via activated carbon, phosphate and sillicate removers is the best method.

Good luck!

[Golden Tooth]

GT, activated carbon does help? In what ways? I know that cutting off it's fuel like PO4 and NO3 helps alot, but will it completely solve the problem?

Yup it helps. I wouldn't say completely solve the problem. N make sure that it's not leaching. This may create the problem too.

[tigershark]

Yup it helps. I wouldn't say completely solve the problem. N make sure that it's not leaching. This may create the problem too.

as wat bro GT said... make sure you are getting those high quality active carbon.... those cheapskate active carbon will still absorb amonia but at the same time, release high amount of phosphate compare to those good quality active carbon...

[Fireclown]

I understand that low carbonate levels do cause massive algae boom. Can anyone clarify this?

[Eric]

Hi,

Recently have hair algae growing in my tank. Just got a Salifert PO4 testkit. PO4 measured below 0.03. Could the hair algae growth be caused by my bulbs. Noticed that my MH is getting yellowish. What else could be the cause?

Thanx.

These works for me :-

1)Sailfin tang & algae blenny - eats my hair algaes

2)Change MH from 10K to 20K - reduced & slow down growth

3)Bio-phos 2 - reduce phosphate

4)Water change bi-weekly - reduce nutrients

5)Feed only once a day

6)Adding a refugium with 24hr photoperiod (latest) to help further reduce nutrients

Eric

[shiraz]

woaah hair algae! don't remind me of that period... a few weeks ago only did it totally go away! i had it for like 6 months! to make it totally go away, getting snails or tangs wont help IMO. u need to take the rocks out, scrub them well in your tank water. then make sure there is no more VISIBLE strands. then u introduce the grazers (snails being the cheapest and more efficient for me), u'll also have to reduce photoperiod drastically and reduce feeding. for me, i just upgraded skimmer and reduced feeding at 1st and it did not work..

one day my MH blew when i wanted to turn it on.. and i had to use some old set of PL lights. that is when the hair algae totally vanished! lights really do make the difference i guess... of course, water changes are also as important lah...

good luck in your brave battle...