Hair Algae

[chris489]

Hi guys.
Been battling with hair algae for around 3 months now. Nitrates are 0 and phosphate was around 0.5, now down at 0.2 according to salifert test.
Still the algae continues to grow! LFS has suggested that it may be down to my lighting. I'm currently using an evergrow unit. Whites are on for 8 hours and blues are on for 10 hours. The light unit ia dimmable and is currently dimmed to 60 percent white and 70 percent blue. Any ideas??

 

[justjes45]

Just lurking- battling the same here-
Most of my seem to originate from one rock in the back – of course one of my base rocks.
Someone here suggested to remove that rock- I just did this today. We'll see!

 

[chris489]

What are your nitrate and phosphate readings?? (Just out of interest) and what lights are you using?

 

[mannyhernz]

Im fighting it too, using very aggressive pruning and phosguard..winning small battles but not the war yet

 

[domination2580]

Turbo snails have a reputation to mow down on gha

 

[Blue Seas Aquariums]

Chestnut Snails and Money Cowries are a huge help!

 

[robert]

A sea hare is the best I've ever seen at taking out GHA.

0 nitrates and 0 phosphates is not an unusal reading when GHA is raging in your tank - the N and P are there - the GHA is locking them up.

I had horrible GHA in a frag system - couln't figure it out - 0 nitrate 0 phosphate...
Turned out to be a cheato die off that was feeding the hair algae. In my case, I had too much chaeto and the chaeto was too thick. Not enough light was reaching the bottom of the chaeto and as it died it fed the GHA in my tank.

I thought the chaeto was helping and actually it was causing my issues...

 

[chris489]

I have a small amount of cheato in my sump. I'll have a look at it later...

 

[robert]

I had a large system and a lot of chaeto - it was weird that altough I had four large tanks plumbed together - not all were overrun with GHA -

look for white or yellowing in the chaeto and if you find it - it may be your source.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hi guys.
Been battling with hair algae for around 3 months now. Nitrates are 0 and phosphate was around 0.5, now down at 0.2 according to salifert test.
Still the algae continues to grow! LFS has suggested that it may be down to my lighting. I'm currently using an evergrow unit. Whites are on for 8 hours and blues are on for 10 hours. The light unit ia dimmable and is currently dimmed to 60 percent white and 70 percent blue. Any ideas??

People make the mistake in thinking algae is due to one thing they must fix. That is NEVER true.

You need to think of it differently, IMO, than any one compound driving algae.

Algae need an adequate source of ALL of N, P, iron, some other trace elements, light, and a place to grow. For diatoms only, you can add silicate to the list.

If you reduce ANY ONE of those low enough you can stop algae from growing.

As a source of nitrogen, nitrate is not the only compound available. Ammonia can also suffice. And you need not have a level of nitrate detectable with most hobby kits to be plenty. Your phosphate is also more than adequate. Many types of algae do not become limited until you are below about 0.03 ppm phosphate.

In general, folks often find it easiest to drop phosphate to the point where algae is limited without hurting other organisms such as corals.

In many cases, using biological control (snails, fish, etc.) can be a better option than chemical control.

 

[chris489]

I've read on another forum that raising the magnesium levels in the tank can kill off HA with no detrimental effect on corals or fish. Has anyone any experience with this?

 

[chris489]

Forgot to mention, I have a beast of a sea hare in my tank! He's been in there 4 days but hasn't shown much interest. He buried himself in the sand for a day and I've seen him making his way around the tank earlier today. Not the voracious eater I was expecting though!

 

[brandon429]

we're all ok with a little dissention at times, especially in GHA threads, its not fun without



The claim about nutrients being the final control works in about 50-60% of tanks as a simple means of control, and in a large portion of tanks, adjusting/stripping those will not help, after months and years of trying



where those threads that do use nutrient controls (ATS for example, meets the giant thread proof of statement criteria) exist, you still do not see total penetrance, you see good command but not total command, I think that should be said so the stage is clearer.



I fully 100% believe that lowering iron, po4 and no3 can stop GHA and sustain it in every tank on the planet, not debating that.
debating the ease of writing it vs applying it across 5000 reef aquariums. something is lacking, it doest work for about 40% of tanks. we need to be told that counterpoint, imo

 

[brandon429]

IMO we also have to frame GHA correctly

can anyone name a one off option that simply keeps it gone after a single act?

to me that means GHA control is circular, repeating, across all methods. nobody's ATS runs without cleaning, nobodys GFO runs without refresh, refugiums pruned, we must harvest detritus in many problem tanks to lessen the source, its all circular and we seek what will require the least work with the best sustain, that's the deciding factor on how to fight GHA in tanks, select your circular act and begin. that's where outcomes range.

People need to know if your tank is in the 40% that simply target killing can provide as long, *or longer* sustain (time in between circular acts) time than the methods touted as total control without actually being total control for 30 yrs.

The threads we run regarding GHA controls via spot killing are just massive and have tons of accountability and strong outcomes in them, tons.


consider the option of being GHA free in 48 hours, too

 

[chris489]

GHA free in 48hours?? I'm listening!!

 

[brandon429]

I use peroxide to kill gha and compile the results over and over for 6 years now across forums, but ill state right off the bat its an illegal, back alley method in most developed countries and you'd be better off smuggling small fruit bats out of south America than considering this method



do research on it, see if you want to try it. we do it differently than most dosers, so our outcomes are different.

I absolutely guarantee you that some form of nutrient control will kill and keep your GHA at bay as well and that is the more accepted method. This is a thread about nutrient controls, I'm just a counterbalance. peroxide will not fix every tank.


The risk in attacking the algae directly is that it may grow back so fast the initial kill was never helpful. if that was occurring very often, we'd not have giant threads. to me you can simply pick the number of hours you want GHA in your tank, and enact that.


Post your full tank shot, lets see the details other than the actual algae (our key strategy)

I will make a regrowth prediction off your single full tank shot. <---also not possible by nutrient controls only. your po4 levels don't matter to me.


Before you attempt it, don't go off this thread, look around other places and do the typical checking to see. when people make fantastic claims especially about 48 hours (quick fixes in reefing are illegal) they could indeed be just typing stuff, im open to research before starting.

what like most is public self obligation before even seeing someones tank, knowing that big variables await

 

[chris489]

2ft x 2ft x 2ft clearseal cube tank.
Evergrow it 2040 dimmable led light unit.
2 x hydor koralia wavemakers.
25kg live rock.
2 x bubble tip anemones (recently split)
1 x Medusa tree
Green mushrooms
GSP
Pulsing xenia.
Feather Duster.

1 x Snowswirl clown (ocellaris)
1 x Yellow Tang
1 x Flame Angel
2 x Bengai Cardinals
3 x Blue Chromis
2 x Conch snails.
1 x Sea Hare
2 x cleaner shrimp

Sump
Alfagrog ceramic media
Live rock rubble
Purigen
Carbon
GFO

Eden return pump running 1200lph
TMC Vecton 600 uv.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I've read on another forum that raising the magnesium levels in the tank can kill off HA with no detrimental effect on corals or fish. Has anyone any experience with this?

That is not generally true, although many people have dealt with bryopsis using a particular brand of magnesium (Kent Tech M) for that purpose.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

FWIW, I don't see that much green hair algae in your tank, Chris489, and I'm surprised the yellow tang does not keep it under control. Where is it growing?

 

[chris489]

Lol. I launched an assault on it today. There's not much left! It seems to like growing on the rock that the anemones are attached to. Yellow tang pecks at the rocks all the time but doesn't touch the HA