My New Hair Algae Tank!

[Reinhold]

I've decided to quit fighting it and convert my reef tank to a hair algae tank. Here is a photo. Of course, my Killer Hawkfish has to be in the picture.

I've tried Turbo snails, hermit crabs, a Red Lipped Blenny and 20 water changes with RO/DI water over the past 4 weeks, and my hair algae continues to fluorish.

I've now cut my lighting by 4 hours per day.

Other than dismantling the LR and scrubbing off the hair algae, any other ideas for battling this?

I'm thinking of adding Aptasia too.

[scubadude]

Dude put a mantis shrimp in there.....I heard they will fix your hair algae problems... seriously though man.....Im tellin ya....Lawnmower Blenny!!

[Reinhold]

scubadude:

Good idea! Do you think the Mantis shrimp would bother the shoal of Sohal tangs I have in the tank?

[scubadude]

Originally posted by Reinhold
scubadude:

Good idea! Do you think the Mantis shrimp would bother the shoal of Sohal tangs I have in the tank?

I hear they will clean the parasites off of them

[PerryinCA]

That looks to me like bryopsis. It's near impoossible to get rid of. Best thing you can do is limit the available nutrients, and add some blue leg hermits. Pull it out by hand as much as possible.

If you can remove all the LR, and replace it, thats the way to go IMO. I have had my fair battle with that species.....

-Perry

[chip]

I had the same problem with my tank. I could not figure it out until I switched to di water my local fish store sold. Previously used ro water from the machines outside grocery store and used a home ro filter. I did a 40 percent water change and with in two weeks the algae started to die off. Badly fitlered water plus any additives you put in the tank help bryposis to grow.

[tendar]

You know that if you try to actually turn it into a hair algea tank it will die and you will back at the begining. Nothing ever works the way you want it to.

Anyway when is last time you replaced the cartriges in your ro/di unit?
Do you have TDS meter to see where you water is coming out of the unit?

I just had to replace all my filters because my local water is so bad that it went through them in less than a year. My water measures 550ppm out of tap and was up to 250 after going through the RO/DI. After replacing all filter it is back down to 0-1ppm.

[bongobrian]

I'm just thinking... that tank would make a killer refugium! How large is this tank? You should purchase a new tank, much larger than this one, and use this tank as the refugium for the new tank! so this actually goes along with your "hair algea" tank idea. IMO if you really wanted to get rid of that stuff, I'd get a lawnmower blenny, a yellow tang, and a foxface. All of those teamed up should chow that stuff down. Perry is probably right though, you might just have to suck it up and buy new LR.

[Reinhold]

bongobrian: I like the way you think! A new, huge tank would be great fun....until it turned into a hair algae tank too.

Do you think simply scrubbing the LR piece by piece would be adequate? I'd hate to have to buy and re-cure all that LR.

[bongobrian]

Why thank you Reinhold actually I have hair algea growing in my fuge, and it hasn't spread into the main tank. I have talked to several other people that have this happening as well. Personally, I think you have way to much hair algea to ever completely get rid of it. I mean, nothing is impossible... but I just don't see all of that hair algea going away. Here's an idea- could you possibly put your live rock in another tank with absolutely NO lights on it? and maybe even cover the tank so that it is pitch black inside. You would obviously want to heat, filter, and circulate the tank as well. But then maybe, after time, the algea will start to recede from the total lack of light. Use all R/O water as well so that the algea gets zero nutrients. Bacteria grows better in the dark anyway, so the lr should stay healthy. You could do this, or you could move your corals to a new tank and then keep your current tank un-lit. I would rather move the liverock though and keep your corals in the mature tank. Just a couple of thoughts. Without any light, I don't see how the algea could survive. You may want to try a combination of things... try scrubbing as much off by hand, and THEN toss the rock into the "dark tank" and starve the algea out of the tank. Good luck man! don't give up hope just yet.

[organicreefer]

reinhold,that is indeed the dreaded bryopsis,ive battled that stuff for a long time before i wised up...hear is how i cured it(i still have a tiny bit in my tank ,but it barely grows at all and is definitely on the way out ,im so happy ):
i removed some of the rocks that were less appealing for whatever reason,that were the most infested
i added a refugium with caulerpa-very important
i pulled and scrubbed it alll out as best i could,and here is the key ,imo:i scrape the surface of the live rock (with a screw driver or whatever)where the bryopsis is and around it,hard enough to remove the corraline and a layer of rock even to eliminate the "roots" (for lack of a better term)
you can beat it but it will take a little work.good luck.

[karun]

rienhold,

My yellow tang cleared up my hair algae problem in a few days.

Karun

[FishKid]

my 2 queen conches ate all my bryopsis, and my LMB, but it comes back every now and then...

[organicreefer]

guys,pretty much nothing eats bryopsis-if it were hair algea it would be easy to deal with-looks like reinhold is giving up -and i cant really say that i blame him if his tank really is covered.................................

[Fw_to_reef]

I'm new to reef. Just one year in this hobby and had exact same trouble. IMO only way to get rid of it, is scrubbing it off. Nothing will eat that kind of algie like organicreefer says.

[dattack]

I am growing either bryopsis or hair algae on my sand right now. I have seen a few pictures of bryopsis and hair algae and they look so similar.

How do you differentiate between the two?

[organicreefer]

bryopsis gets "feathery "at the tips,and sometimes has a bluish sheen to it.it can be less or more feathery at the tips,in reinholds pic ,its less feathery,but if you look close you can see it.
if you have bryopsis REMOVE ALL OF IT NOW!!!!!!ans stay on top of it -it will come back.
bryopsis releases spores in the aquarium,creating new tufts,and it can easily overun youre tank.add a refugium and pull/scrub it as soon as you see it.

[scout]

Reinhold, I came to the same conclusion several months ago. I've had my 30 reef now for 2 1/2 years with hair algae. I've tried everything, (5 powerheads, snail/crab combinations, low light treatments, scrubbing rocks with toothbrush) I even added a refugium with feather and razor. They are now also tangled in the hair algae.
I am able to keep it under control by hand picking and scrubing with a toothbrush during water changes.
Does anybody want to buy some great looking Hair Algae?
Mike

[ndmatthews]

I've decided to quit fighting it and convert my reef tank to a hair algae tank. Here is a photo. Of course, my Killer Hawkfish has to be in the picture.

I've tried Turbo snails, hermit crabs, a Red Lipped Blenny and 20 water changes with RO/DI water over the past 4 weeks, and my hair algae continues to fluorish.

I've now cut my lighting by 4 hours per day.

Other than dismantling the LR and scrubbing off the hair algae, any other ideas for battling this?

I'm thinking of adding Aptasia too.

If you find out how to get rid of the green hair algae please let me know. My tank is over run by it. I am tired of water changes because they are not doing any good.

[Reinhold]

If you find out how to get rid of the green hair algae please let me know. My tank is over run by it. I am tired of water changes because they are not doing any good.

There are people having success in killing hair algae by raising the magnesium level in their tanks. The algae dies over a period of several days. Do a search here or over at RC.