Hair algae in sump.....

[clhardy5]

I'm in the middle of using Humble Fish's site's method of H2o2 dosing to get a little ahead of an ich problem. Yes...I'm going with Ich management - but that is not what this post is about. (I've lost no fish - and this is at the recommendation of Humble Fish)..... So far...things are going as expected - Ich seems to be improving - no fish death (although I did lose a cleaner shrimp). The problem is...the Chaeto in my sump has suffered.

ie....my chaeto has died in the process of the hydrogen peroxide dosing (I kind of expected it)....but in it's place, I have quite a bit of hair algae growing in my sump - although none in my tank - thanks to the appetite of my tangs.

Long story short - and advise needed....

1). Should I turn off my refugium light for now.....to help with the hair algae problem (I'm a little worried about a night time PH drop). or ....
2). Should I put some critters in my sump - snails, crabs, etc - to help with the hair algae problem, but leave the fuge light on? If so....do I worry any about them getting into the skimmer or main pump? My fuge is just an egg crate contraption in the middle chamber - where my skimmer lives.
3). Pull out all the hair algae that I can - but leave the fuge light on?
4). Any combination of the above?
5) Or something else.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[Lavey29]

I recently got my fuge going and quite a bit of GHA developed also. I added 4 trochus snails and pull out what I can and it is stable now. For you, since no chaeto, I would cut down the fuge light time, pull out what you can and add some snails for the rest. GHA is easy to remove in small open areas like a sump.