Hair algae, is it worth scrubbing?

[SOGavity]

I have had a really bad hair algae issue for a few weeks now. I've tried Peroxide and increasing my clean-up crew. Tangs, foxface, tuxedo urchin, hermit crabs, snails... not one will touch the stuff. I also have a refugium which is doing really well, but no where near combatting other algaes in the main display. I added two more bottles of copepods. I dose phytoplankton. I stopped direct feeding the corals. As of today's testing, here are my parameters...

90 gallon
Salinity 1.025
Temp. 76.7F
pH 8.6
dKH 8
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 1.9ppm
Phos 0
Magnesium 1420
Calcium 425

My phosphates and nitrates have never been this low. My issue is... is the algae just absorbing it all? Or is my tank starting to... well, tank? I know I can dose nitrate and phosphate but I worry if I do, it'll only make the algae issue worse. Is it worth it to remove all the rocks (yes, every rock is infested) and leaving all the corals to sit in the sand, while a scrub the rocks and dip them in peroxide? Or will that hurt the microbacteria and make things worse? I have a few corals who are not doing well at all. They are shrunken and some are even changing color. Other corals are still doing very well.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

How old is your tank? New tanks will go through algae phases in the first 6-12 months.

How is the flow in your tank? Low flow will allow detritus to settle which creates bad bacteria and algae often starts growing as a result.

Are you overfeeding? Uneaten food increases the dissolved organics, which is something we can't test for. DO will feed algae, at a certain point, algae will outperform the corals. I think this is a great article to give good understanding of how a reef reacts to high DO levels.

https://reefbuilders.com/2024/06/21...hy-reef-tank-heres-a-new-method-to-manage-it/

 

[JayM]

Early on I had about 60% of my rock infested with GHA. I removed and scrubbed a couple of the easy to remove pieces, but the vast majority of it I just left alone. It went away on its own within a couple months, though I imagine the tank inhabitants helped at least a little bit.

 

[SOGavity]

How old is your tank? New tanks will go through algae phases in the first 6-12 months.

How is the flow in your tank? Low flow will allow detritus to settle which creates bad bacteria and algae often starts growing as a result.

Are you overfeeding? Uneaten food increases the dissolved organics, which is something we can't test for. DO will feed algae, at a certain point, algae will outperform the corals. I think this is a great article to give good understanding of how a reef reacts to high DO levels.

https://reefbuilders.com/2024/06/21...hy-reef-tank-heres-a-new-method-to-manage-it/

My tank is about 16 months old. I have pretty high flow at the top half of my tank and medium at the bottom. I do not overfeed the tank IMO. I use a turkey baster and pretty much feed each fish piece-by-piece twice a day. Any food they do miss is picked up by the brittle stars and cleaner shrimp. Three fish remain hiding during feeding, so I do squirt a little food into their caves. Don't get me wrong. I am sure a few pieces decay in the tank, and I do feed the corals twice a week with reef roids, amino acids, and pellets. I'm sure there is decay just like every other tank.

 

[SOGavity]

Early on I had about 60% of my rock infested with GHA. I removed and scrubbed a couple of the easy to remove pieces, but the vast majority of it I just left alone. It went away on its own within a couple months, though I imagine the tank inhabitants helped at least a little bit.

So, you thnk I should just wait this out. I have a duncun coral that is one of my favorites that is now refusing to open. I really don't want to lose that one.

 

[JayM]

So, you thnk I should just wait this out. I have a duncun coral that is one of my favorites that is now refusing to open. I really don't want to lose that one.

I would focus on stable parameters for your Duncan. Maybe remove and scrub whatever rocks you can without majorly disrupting your rockscape.