Dealing with green hair algae - order snails or chemicals or both?

[Atherial]

I've been off the forums for a few months because I was having green hair algae problems. I have not solved the problem. My cleanup crew needs a refresh and I bought some snails and an urchin locally but I need more. I was also told that it might be time to try fluconazole.

Any advice? Where should I order more cleanup crew from? What to get? Chemicals?

The urchin is working well but he keeps cleaning the glass instead of the rocks. I think he's a pencil urchin. So I think another urchin would be a good idea.

My tank is 90gallons and most of the coral got swallowed up by the masses of green hair algae. Pulling it is a temporary solution as is water changes. I've also tried temporary blackouts and feeding less to minimal effect. I think I need to get rid of what is there and then add enough cleaners to keep it in check.

 

[Starbuxxx]

Seahares worked wonders for me. I had 3 in a 150. Once they clear out the tank, pass them on to another reefer. I also manually removed every time I did a water change.

 

[Atherial]

Where did you get your seahares from? I don't think I've seen any locally.

 

[kevgib67]

I’ve heard good things about seahares as @Starbuxxx mentioned. I have good luck with an urchin ( the best at algae removal). Turbo snails, trochus snails, ninja star snails and emerald crabs. You could definitely add another urchin.

 

[melonheadorion]

just be aware that using livestock to remove GHA isnt always guaranteed. at length, things like snails dont do a whole lot to combat GHA.
the key to getting rid of mine was manually cleaning rocks, but also the use of refugium. i gave the algae somewhere else to grow, and eventually stopped growing in the tank. the success was likely in addition to carbon dosing that i was doing as well.

 

[Starbuxxx]

just be aware that using livestock to remove GHA isnt always guaranteed. at length, things like snails dont do a whole lot to combat GHA.
the key to getting rid of mine was manually cleaning rocks, but also the use of refugium. i gave the algae somewhere else to grow, and eventually stopped growing in the tank. the success was likely in addition to carbon dosing that i was doing as well.

I agree. I had a 150g COVERED in GHA. I embraced it as "the ugly stage" and just let it take over. Along with Seahares and manual removal, I also have a Algae Turf Scrubber that took some time to start producing. Now I have chaeto and caelerpa in the refugium as well. After GHA went away, I immediately saw coralline algae replacing it.

 

[Seansea]

Algae scrubber. Problem solved

 

[Stomatopods17]

All of the above.

CUC + removed as much by hand as you can + 3 day black out or however long you can if you have coral + water change for excess nutrients and or cut back feeding.

You have to be really aggressive else it'll just come back. Once its down and taking its time to come back smaller CUC like snails can keep up with it.