[cichlidfort]

Hello guys, my friend has an 850 gallon saltwater reef tank and he thinks he has some problems with it. He is starting to get hair algae. Is that really bad? Doesn't that mean your calcium levels are too high? How can he make it go away? Thanks

[Samper]

If your friend is keeping an 850 gallon reef I would imagine he should know how to get rid of it.

[Reefland]

And hopefully would know that high calcium has no relation to nuisance algae. It have everything to do with excessive nutrients.

[SKRIZ]

Sorry to say, but that response was something I would expect at a different (larger) board! What's up?

[CSeaSee]

How long has he had this 850-gallon tank? Do you have any details you can give us? If he has access to the Internet, it may be better if he can make a post.

[Samper]

I think it would be better if he posted. We're not trying to blow you off but an 850 is a serious commitment in more than one way and I think if he is having questions like this he needs to come address the problems. It's hard to give info to you when we know nothing about his setup or anything.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by cichlidfort

Hello guys, my friend has an 850 gallon saltwater reef tank and he thinks he has some problems with it. He is starting to get hair algae. Is that really bad?

It can be really bad. I've seen some people get so frustrated that they tear down large tanks (500+ gallons) and start all over again with new live rock and a new sand bed.

Nuisance algae is nitrogen and phosphate limited. If you control NO3 and PO4, then you will have no problems. That's easier said than done in many situations. A lot depends on EXACTLY how his tank is set up. How long it has been set up. And what sort of maintenance he performs.

Doesn't that mean your calcium levels are too high?

No. On the contrary, one of the things that seems to help to reduce nuisance algae is to raise both the calcium and alkalinity levels. It's the alk that you really want to raise but you will need to raise the calcium at the same time to keep things in balance. He should try raising his alkalinity to 12-13 dKH and his calcium to around 475 ppm.

How can he make it go away? Thanks

He can make it go away by starving it to death. That means getting the nitrate down to less than 5 ppm and the phosphate down to undetectable with a hobbyist test kit. Whether he can do this or not may depend in large measure on exactly how his tank is set up. In particular, exactly what sort of filtration methods does he use? And exactly what sort of sediment bed does he have in that tank?



P.S. -- To tell you the truth, I have to agree with what some others have said in this thread. I can't believe we're offering advice to someone with an 850-gal reeftank on how to control nuisance algae unless this is one of those situations where he paid someone else to set up and maintain the tank for him. If that's the case, then maybe it's time to switch maintenance companies. If he actually set up this tank himself, then he must have previous experience. I don't know of too many people who set up an 850-gal reef as their first tank.

[cichlidfort]

Well he has had his tank for 6 years and his bed sediment is all live sand. He has less than 20 fish believe it or not becuase he has puffers, clownfish and damsels. Its a reef tank with all kinds of corals, polyps and anenomes. He's going to send me some pictures of it soon. He said he does 20 percent water changes every three weeks.

[Poseidon]

Puffers in a Reef?

I thought I was odd with my Odonus Niger!

I wish good luck to your friend, I was fortunate to battle back an outbreak in my own tank. I basically followed exactly what Ninong stated above.

[CSeaSee]

I also agree that this is definately one of the more bizarre threads that I've posted to (and that's saying something with me :slap. Ninong is (of course) right about the need to limit and remove nutrients. There's a recent thread at Hair algae control questions that also is dealing with hair algae problems. Your friend seems to have quite the interesting set-up... did something large die that he doesn't know about? Are his puffers getting huge, crapping like crazy, and fouling the water? In the end, it's all about the nutrients, or lack thereof. Many of us, including myself, have had this problem at some time or another, in varying forms, for varying lengths of time. The solution is always the same, though: figure out where the nutrients are coming from, remove them, and keep their levels low.

[cichlidfort]

No nothing died. I think he might need to do bigger water changes and raise the alkalinity and calcium. But I guess he made the puffers ok with his reef tank.

[Reefland]

You might also direct him to the past eduitions of RHO where I dealt with the problem myself recently.