Hair algae, bryposis, what is this?

[merkywater]

Seahare will demolish the stuff but will have to take out of tank after or it will starve.

 

[kilralpine]

glxtrix;812335 wrote: That is for Bryopsis...not hair algae.

You are correct, does the "stuff" in Kent M work on GHA? Just curious?

In my experience GHA comes and goes, better husbandry and maybe a reactor with fresh GFO makes mechanical removal much easier.

 

[dr_ fish]

Anyone normally stock Seahares?

 

[ryansg1986]

I had a really bad GHA problem not long ago. i tried water changes, phosgaurd, kents Tech M, massive amount of CUC, nothing worked. GHA was every where. finally broke my tank down, manually cleaned all the rocks as best i could, used a toothbrush on my GSP and Zoa's to get it off. i still have a little GHA but not much, much more managable. my tank wasnt fully set up so i was able to break it down. the best thing i had that worked was a Seahare. i got mine at Pure Reef, but about 2 days after i had it, he knocked a rock over while i was at work and i came home to a dead Seahare stuck under a rock (very smelly). He did a great job for 2 days. ugliest thing i have ever had in my tank. i named it "the turd". if i wernt able to break my tank down to remove the GHA i would still have it.

 

[kirkplunkett]

Dr. Fish;812389 wrote: Anyone normally stock Seahares?

Optimum Aquarium in Kennesaw... They are a sponsor here. Those things look nasty though.

 

[heathlindner25]

kirkplunkett;812396 wrote: Optimum Aquarium in Kennesaw... They are a sponsor here. Those things look nasty though.

no way man ,they're really cute. they kinda look like a bunny!

 

[ralph atl]

Dr. Fish;812372 wrote: True, but what I was meaning is that I never from the beginning ever saw any phosphates. Even when I had no algae at all and directly up to me first seeing it appear. I would assume there would be a bump up somewhere, I could have missed it though.



I use a BRS 5 stage RODI unit, bought new, 0TDS

then the test kit isn't a low range or is not calibrated correctly.

Edit:

leveldrummer;812428 wrote: lettuce nudibranchs will help a lot (sea hares) ive also read a lot about dosing hydrogen peroxide to the tank (or removing the rock and pour it directly on the HA) and it will kill it off in days. a quick search on reefcentral will get you plenty to read on H2O2 dosing.

I wouldn't dose a tank, but I would (and did) remove rock sections at a time and apply 3% H2O2 for Bryopsis. It would also work on hair algae.....

you could dose 10-20 ml of H2O2 in the evening with all pumps/returns off and hit it directly with a syringe & let it sit for 10 minutes, albeit I would dose more than 20ml-30ml per 24 hours...

 

[grouper therapy]

As long as you are introducing nutrients into the system and the hair algae has access to those nutrients before your other methods can export them it will not go away. the hair algae is a means of exporting nutrients, You have to remove the algae so the other methods mentioned can take over. I've used sea hares and snails with success. You can feed the sea hare nori/seaweed and keep him fat and happy.

 

[ralph atl]

grouper therapy;812482 wrote: As long as you are introducing nutrients into the system and the hair algae has access to those nutrients before your other methods can export them it will not go away. the hair algae is a means of exporting nutrients, You have to remove the algae so the other methods mentioned can take over. I've used sea hares and snails with success. You can feed the sea hare nori/seaweed and keep him fat and happy.

we disagree, but not totally............you are correct, and your advice is solid, however, if you continue to remove phates and trates at a high rate though the methods that I suggested, the HA will eventually starve.....

which is the source of the problem.

removing the HA will most certainly help! You can siphon off a bunch with the end of a hose during a water change, too!

 

[dr_ fish]

mysterybox;812457 wrote: then the test kit isn't a low range or is not calibrated correctly.

I have the standard Hannah checker that a lot use. Its not the low range model that reads in ppb but in ppm. In the end when you convert the units to match each other there isn't that much of a difference in their reading abilities.

I did a water change a few days ago, and with a hose I could not siphon it off the rocks. I ended up making a mess and bumping my rocks around.

I think I need to get a sea hare to help with the removal since it seems hard for me to get at it. I can then up my GFO, carbon, and water changes to remove any excess nutrients that would cause it to come back. I wont be in Atlanta until Thanksgiving to get a sea hare though. So first, I'm going to swap in some new GFO, Carbon, kill the lights again for 3 days, and wrap the tank so no light can get in, its somewhat close to a window.

 

[clifton]

My two turbo snails made short work of the hair algae in my 29 gallon Biocube. It was clear in just a couple of days and hasn't returned (5 months, now).

 

[ralph atl]

Brandon;812693 wrote: super easy fix. It will be all gone in about a week. google this thread and read it all if you have a spare two hours

pico reef pest algae problem challenge

and you'll see about a thousand pics just like yours that went to perfectly clean.

mysterybox;812457 wrote: then the test kit isn't a low range or is not calibrated correctly.

Edit:


I wouldn't dose a tank, but I would (and did) remove rock sections at a time and apply 3% H2O2 for Bryopsis. It would also work on hair algae.....

you could dose 10-20 ml of H2O2 in the evening with all pumps/returns off and hit it directly with a syringe & let it sit for 10 minutes, albeit I would dose more than 20ml-30ml per 24 hours...

as I stated in my response, I would not recommend dosing more than 20ml in a 100 gallons of water......I use 3% H2O2 on occasion, and it did cure my bryopsis problem which you can read my build, and Brandon's thread is actually linked there, too!

I would not, however dose my tank as Brandon is recommending........it kills so many things.....use, but use cautiously! I'll be happy to answer any questions that I can! 95% of my treatment was done outside the tank!

Brandon is an awesome guy, knows his stuff, but this is still kinda new....

 

[ff337]

Yellow tang works good on green hair algae. Ive also had good success with a kole tang as well for different types of algae.

 

[oil_fan]

I went through this myself in my 65 gallon tank. I was at the point where I was considering selling the livestock and pulling out the LR and bleach all of it just to kill the stuff. That's how bad the HA had become.

I was pulling out a bunch rock every week during my WC and scrubbing them in my used SW. Added more turbo snails. Everything I did only slowed it down. I was using phosguard and anything else I could to eliminate this pest. Nothing worked.

Now what I used should be a last resort as there are others more natural means that are safer that can achieve the same results. Algaefix by API. I used this for probably 6-8 weeks. It finally killed it all and it's never come back.

But again, if there's a natural way to kill this stuff, then it should be used. Agaefix can hurt coral in the long run if I remember the various threads I was reading at the time. This was probably 2 years ago now...

 

[ralph atl]

for the record, this H2O2 cured my tank of the worst pest that you can ever get, and most reefers leave and break down their tank after getting bryopsis!

Kent Tech M works a lot of times, but certainly not all for whatever reason.

I treated the whole tank with H2O2 @ 3%, but I took out all of the live rock and coral, treated in 5 gallon buckets and such and replaced pretreated rock as I could, and I did this in 3 phases (left side, center, right side), then treated my overflow and allowed it to dump in sump, and wetvac it out. I did & still do treat, on occasion, in tank, either mixed with Mrs. Wages pickling Lime, or with all pumps and returns off (for ten minutes), on any algae that appears....I treat a small patch maybe once or twice a month....albeit after my initial treatment, I did it quite often.

I do treat all rock and frags with 3% H2O2 before I put into tank!

 

[dylpik27]

I would change your bulbs. IMO, when nutrients are low and algae is still growing, the most probably cause is bad bulbs. Over time, your "white" bulbs will lose kelvin, so a 10K can become a 7K, if you will. If your white bulb is burning more yellow, it's likely causing algae growth. Also, you might want to double-check that it's a 10K bulb and not a 7500K or something.

 

[ralph atl]

dylpik27;812842 wrote: I would change your bulbs. IMO, when nutrients are low and algae is still growing, the most probably cause is bad bulbs. Over time, your "white" bulbs will lose kelvin, so a 10K can become a 7K, if you will. If your white bulb is burning more yellow, it's likely causing algae growth. Also, you might want to double-check that it's a 10K bulb and not a 7500K or something.

albeit I'm sure there is some underlying rational to this, but I've NEVER EVER changed my bulbs and the algae "went away". never.
:shades:

 

[dylpik27]

You've never changed your bulbs? DO you have LED or T5? IMO power compacts need changing most often, but T5's do as well. It's one of those things you might not realize until you need to do until you change them - you'll be shocked.

Edit:

mysterybox;812846 wrote: albeit I'm sure there is some underlying rational to this, but I've NEVER EVER changed my bulbs and algae "went away". never.
:shades:

your tank is gorgeous though, so do what you do!

 

[dr_ fish]

My bulbs shouldn't be an issue. I believe they are about 6-7 months old and are ATI brand inside an ATI sunpower fixture which does an amazing job at cooling.

I wrapped the tank in tin foil to keep out light for at least 3 days
Slowly raising the mag to 1550 from 1350 with Tech M
Swapping carbon and GFO today and will do so every couple days
Bumped the skimmer up a little to skim wetter
No feedings

Thats my plan as of now

 

[ralph atl]

Sorry, I change my bulbs every 10-12 months or so! What I was trying to convey was that I've never had any algae "go away"or even deteriorate after I changed my bulbs...