are there any factors I haven't considered yet?

[knutcracker]

my tank has been overrun with hair algae for the past month. I pull off enough hair algae each week to feed a small child.

here are my setup and parameters:

26g bow front
55w PC's full range and actinic (10 hr full, 12 hr actinic)
small eheim (newly changed filter pads)
CPR bakpak skimmer
hagen powerhead 301
CC substrate, 50lb LR, various LPS and softies, maroon clown, firefish, wrasse, hippo tang, cleaner shrimp, 4 hermits

i feed daily with formula 2 and mysis shrimp. Also just switched to distilled water for water changes from using tap water for 13 months. Did a 6 gallon change a week ago followed by a 5 gallon change 3 days later. no improvement at all.

pH: 8.0
ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate: 0
calcium: 420 ppm
carbonate hardness: 12 dkH
temp: 75 F

what else am I missing? TIA

[Reefland]

The obvious. You have too great of a bio load in that tank for any bacteria population to develop and take care of the nutrients before the hair algae eats it up. 4 fish is way too much for that small of a tank.

Additionally, what are your silicate readings? Might be worth a look but I think you are just overloaded.

[knutcracker]

thanks scott.
i'm confused because i have been keeping this same bio-load (corals and 3 or 4 fish) for a year now and have only had one very slight outbreak of hair algae 9 months ago (which i believe to be a part of the cycle). to compensate for the heavy load, i really have a lot of great quality LR's (50lbs in a 26g). If it is because of the load, what do u think triggered it all of a sudden? and what would help other than reducing load?
also, what are silicates? I don't have a reading of them. thanks.

[Reefland]

So this is one of the effects. For months your tank can appear very healthy and then all of the sudden, problems start appearing. The tank is only large enough to facilitate the growth of a certain bacteria population and at one point, that population will reach it's maximum size and processing capacity. The nutrient level starts to rise until one day it becomes a problem.

This is just my thought and would be the first thing I would go after. Either reduce the fish load or upgrade to a larger tank; as bad as both sound.

Silicates are another nutrient that can feeding algae blooms.

Scott Z.

[knutcracker]

thanks scott

could doing drastic consecutive water changes, lets say, half the tank size (so around 12 gallons) putting few days in between each change "reset" the system, such that if I become really cautious with feeding afterwards the problem can be solved? thanks.

[knutcracker]

basically, are there anyway out other than reducing load or going up to a bigger tank?

[Reefland]

Unfortunately, I don't think there are other ways out of it. You can try aggressive water changes but unless the new water matches the old water perfectly each time, this can be stressful as well. I honestly think reducing the load or going bigger is the solution.

Sorry,
Scott Z.

[knutcracker]

what a bummer, i will try cope. thanks scott