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New Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 7/2/2009 9:56:04 AM
Posts: 3,
Visits: 5
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| Hello, I have been into saltwater reef tanks for a number of years and never really had problems with nuisance algae till now. I replaced my R.O. membrane 3 months ago , replaced the cartridges including the DI and even added a second DI cartridge. Also I have added mangroves and use a algae scrubber setup. I tried a phosphate reactor to, but no real results (media is spendy to). I do 10% water changes on my 120gal tank every two weeks. Outbreaks seem worse after a water change. My nitrate readings are 0 with three different test kit brands. My Phosphate is at .2-.25 with Seachem brand , .0 with Red Sea and Nutrafin brand test kit. The Tap tested before R.O was 2.5 on Seachem and .15 - .25 with the other two brands. Silicate tested 0 ppm also. And TTS on R.O. water output is 001 PPM. My lighting is two 14000k 250w halide bulbs. There about 2 months old. My lights are on for 10 hours a day. I don't overfeed. I only have 4 small 3 inch fish with the corals. I use a quality protein skimmer. Any Ideas on getting rid of this algae? Matt
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Senior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 1/5/2010 3:59:32 PM
Posts: 1,091,
Visits: 2,471
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| Depending how old the old bulbs were, the change to new bulbs could have caused a temp. algae outbreak, as bulbs age the spectrum changes and different algaes like different spectrums of light. If the outbreak started with the change in bulbs this could be the culprit and will go away eventually as bulbs age. Also can try cutting back the lighting 1-2 hours, I keep mine at a 10 hours on/14 hours off and it works best for my tank, but I have a fairly shallow tank compared to most people though. Most foods have some phosphate in them, if your feeding heavily, try cutting back on feeding. I had a hair algae outbreak a few months back out of the blue, lasted a few weeks and then it all went away as fast as it showed up. Depending on age of your tank it could be one of the natural algae cycles newer (under 1 year) tanks can go through. I find phosphate tests useless, I have 4 different brands and all 4 show something different, and some are not close in results at all, I decided to stop using them altogether. Lawnmower blennies are good with hair algae, and can help small outbreaks under control. Sorry I dont have any specific answers but this is a little of what I experienced with my tank, and what others have told me when I asked.
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29 gallon f/w glowlight tetra's, 4 cories, Neon tetra, zebra danio. 29g f/w convict cichlid. 10g s/w Percula Clown
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New Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 7/2/2009 9:56:04 AM
Posts: 3,
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| Thx for sharing your experience with hair algae. It's got me perplexed as to why this is a issue. I have never had this much trouble with it before. My advice to anyone buying live rock is look your pieces over very well , so no hair algae is ever introduced. But even thats no guarantee.
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New Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 7/2/2009 9:56:04 AM
Posts: 3,
Visits: 5
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| OK.. I found some information and I think I know my problem. Have you ever thought that you can have to much Intense lighting? I'm at 9 hours a day and I'm slowly cutting back to about 6. I feel that my two 250w halides for 9hrs a day are overkill for my 120 gal tank with SPS. I'm going to try 4 t5's on for 9 hrs. and have my halides kick on in the middle for maybe 6 hrs. I have been researching other setups and I have found that hair algae will thrive under low nutreints but with intense lighting. I'm at 8 hrs a day now with just the two halides and I'm seeing some die off of green hair already. I'll keep posting my results.
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New Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 1/18/2010 8:29:09 AM
Posts: 19,
Visits: 122
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| I have the same problem. I have a 24 gallon Nanoaquarium with corals and the like. The tank has been up and running for under a year so this could be part of the natural cycle. The Hair algae is starting to grow around my xenia corals and a concerned that the algae may stunt the growth of the corals. With the tank being only 24 gallons any tangs are out of the questions. Can anyone give me any suggestions on what can I add to the tank to clean up this hair algae problem. Had a lawnmower blennie in my 55 and it did a poor job with hair algae. Snails don't seem to work either. HELP ME!!!
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Fishkeeping GURU
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 3/9/2010 8:08:42 PM
Posts: 12,694,
Visits: 6,319
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Have you tried mexican turbo snails specifically (and made sure they really were turbo snails and not astraea which seem to be fairly often sold as turbos in my area)? I got a few to help with some small clumps of hair algae in my tank, and though they haven't gotten rid of it completely, they do seem to have helped.
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