Green hair algae, DAMN!!

[robizo]

I have a 100 gallon tank with metal halide lighting, refugium, and a good protein skimmer. I have about 8 fishes and just bought two sea hare. My phosphates are 0 and my nitrate and amonia are also almost non existant. In the afternoon the sun gets into the tank, my question is, is the afternoon sun creating this green hair algae? Is there anything I can buy aside from the sea hair to help me combat this problem? HELP.

[CSeaSee]

First off, WELCOME TO REEFLAND!
The sun is exacerbating your hair algae problem, not creating it. Somewhere in your tank, you are importing nutrients, and your hair algae is "soaking them up" so your readings are low. The sun is acting as a cataylst. I'd start by re-testing your tank water, and then look into these possibilities: nutrients in your make-up water, over-feeding, or something died. If these check out, we'll go from there.

[My2heartboys]

I have a 100 gallon tank with metal halide lighting, refugium, and a good protein skimmer. I have about 8 fishes and just bought two sea hare. My phosphates are 0 and my nitrate and amonia are also almost non existant. In the afternoon the sun gets into the tank, my question is, is the afternoon sun creating this green hair algae? Is there anything I can buy aside from the sea hair to help me combat this problem? HELP.

You might try a turbo snail while you are trying to track down the source. Let me tell you---those turbo snails can really mow a tank quick. Quicker than a margarita snail.

Anne

[williamstlj530]

The Sea Hare's are awsome! They will completely clean the aquascape! Very Quickly also I might add. The one I have never harms my corals at all, he does get very close to clean around them. I would recommend these to anyone! You just have to keep him with something to eat. So, I never worry about hair algae, and stays fed. They won't allow it to become unsightly. Just my experience, I thought I would share.

[peachykeen]

what is a sea hare and are they better than the turbos, my 2 havent helped much, and will it eat my pretty puple coraline that i would perfer to keep

[Freddy Twotimes]

I agree with CSeaSee, The reason yor readings are probably low is the hair algae is feeding on the nitrates and phosphates leaving you with low level readings.

I have recently been working with my fish store and to my suprise, some of the test kits that are on the market are not as acurate as I thought and certainly not as acurate as what my fish store has. My Sea labs nitrate test was reading much lower than actual levels. You may want to ask questions about test kits? I am learning a lot about that right now... vbmenu_register("postmenu_125065", true);

[sheppdog]

i have a lot of green algae forming on my rock is this good or bad?