Hair algae question

Bryan47 · Mar 26, 2015

One of my rocks in particular has had this short hair algae on it for a while now. It doesn't really expand although it is on the bottom side of some suspended rocks. I have a blue hippo and lawnmower but clearly they aren't interested lol. I was reading if phosphates are 0 the hair algae shouldn't be able to survive and my reading on the api test comes up 0. But I have read trace amounts can allow it to survive that won't show up on tests. As many of you have probably read I am moving in a month and upgrading to a 72 gallon with a 29 gallon sump. My current sump just has live rock rubble and carbon in it and does not have a proper fuge with macro algae. I also have two phosban reactors that I plan to add to the system (1 with GFO and 1 with carbon).

Will the adding of a refugium with macro algae as well as the two reactors solve this problem or should I take other steps? It never grows beyond what's in the picture I just would really like to get rid of it. Thank you!

mike007 · Mar 26, 2015

All nuisance algae problems are normally caused by excessive nutrients or lighting. If your parameters are where they should be you might what to make sure your lighting is adequate. Algae uses phosphates to grow so many test kits will not so phosphates. I find that overfeeding causes most algae problems.

Reefing Madness · Mar 26, 2015

API test kit can't read low enough for phosphates, you want them to read .05-.03, you really need a Hanna Low Range Checker for that.
With that said, the GFO will take care of it for you, but you'll still need to find out where your number is at, because once the GFO is full, it will no longer pick up phosphates and your number will go up.