Green hair algae

[secondthief]

I just wanted to publicly say I freaking hate you

 

[fishes2889]

got a problem with it?

dose mag!!!! it works.....ive been dosing mag from kent and its worked wonders. I actually overdose a bit....

 

[Azurel]

I tried that and lost 4 out of 7 caribbean morphs......I used epsom salt though might have to try a premixed mag.....

 

[fishes2889]

epsom salt?

 

[dc_909]

epsom salt= magnesium sulfate

 

[dmjordan]

i have one piece of lr with it on it also. i keep pulling it off but it comes back. thinking about taking the rock out and giving it a good scrub with a stiff bristled brush.

 

[kevin]

Have you tested po4? You may see that you have close to zero po4, but in fact the po4 is being used up the green hair algae.

 

[surfn]

you can grow MOST nusence algae's in freshly mixed saltwater........so while testing for PO4 helps to eliminate other problems......its not the tell all solution to eliminating nusence algae. even testing with the hanna calorimeter results in a 0ppm PO4 reading most of the time, while hair algae is thriving.

here are some links to look at in regards the the addition of Mg battling algae.
http://www.club-zoa.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4321&highlight=bryopsis

http://www.club-zoa.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6512&highlight=bryopsis

even though the forum is only a year old, the FREE search engine function can be quite helpful.

 

[dmjordan]

my phosphates are at 0 and trates are at 10.

 

[Blue Water]

You want to get rid of green hair algea, get a turbo snail. Never heard of this not working.
I fought it for 6 months, finally spent the 7 bucks for two and problem solved.

Be fore warned though, they will move small rocks!!! and frags.

 

[jonbar1]

Hair algae is nothing...try battling Caulerpa!

Last night I took every coral out of my display tank and put them in my prop tank after removing every trace of Caulerpa I could find. Now my tank consists of Caulerpa covered live rock and live sand. I think I'm gonna buy new, dry rock and use the old live rock in a sump. Hopefully having the live sand helps speed the process of colonizing the new rock and then I can put corals back in it. What a PITA all because when I started my tank over a year ago I thought the little sprig of a plant would be nice to have like in a freshwater tank.

 

[dmjordan]

is it the grape caulpera? i have this kind in my fuge along with chaeto. it is not the grape though.....

 

[jonbar1]

No, I have Caulerpa brachypus. It has small serrated leaves and grows nearly a half inch a day. Looks like this:

 

[Azurel]

I am in the same position you are Jon, thought yea a little green would look nice. I wish I would have never made that mistake....Any tank I have from now on will never have caulerpa in it.....Can't get rid of it, and it is so invasive and grows into colonys and frags...a real PITA....

 

[dmjordan]

wow. don't even like the looks of that one. i made that mistake with halimedia (sp?). bought a coral with one stalk on it and left it there. about a week later i decided i didn't want it so i pulled it off. now i have one rock that it keeps growing out of. it has about 4 different stalks on it and it grows a new leaf (coin) on each stalk every couple of days. i pull it off at the base of the rock and a few days later it comes back. thinking about taking out the rock and letting it dry out before i put it back in.

 

[Reef Goddess]

Hate to keep beating a dead horse, but they have great sea hares for this problem that are reef safe. I had some really bad red slime algae break out in some of my prop tanks while they were cycling. It was all over my frags to the point that my zoos wouldn't even open up. I used 3-4 sea hares in the various tanks and a phosban reactor. 2 weeks later my problem is almost completely gone.
My hares are great they'll eat diatom, red slime, hair algae, small caulerpa, gracilaria, another one I don't know the name of, and who knows what else?? They don't like hard macro algae tho (kelp looking). Just trying to let you guys know that you can end your suffering if you choose to. LOL

But at least use a phosphate remover if nothing else!! ;] Get rid of the excess nutrients and your algae will stop growing too.

 

[Reef Goddess]

And for the dreaded bryopsis there's lettuce hares which are also reef-safe. You wouldn't believe how fast those little guys can take down an infestation of the stuff.

 

[Azurel]

The times I have had bryposis, lettuce slugs did nothing for it.....Wonder if it is lucky of the draw?

 

[Reef Goddess]

No, they will eat it. Are you sure it was bryopsis and you had the right hares? Mine always eat it.
I have noticed that the ones from Nicaragua that are purplish/green are more keen on it than the ones from the Keys. Maybe the ones from the keys don't like it as much if the bryopsis is really big.
Like I've noticed the big hares prefer to eat the new shoots on caulerpa more than the old growth.

 

[Azurel]

Sorry I was thinking of lettace nudibranchs......Not sea hares, I might have to try one but they get so big. Have you ever tried the mini-hares?