Hair algae purchased from LFS

[mattybecks]

Hi Guys,

Picked up some red macroalgae yesterday at the LFS, and included with this came some green hair algae which is pretty much covering the plants. Felt like I was purchasing more hair algae though. I got it all quite cheaply and it was the last they (or any of the other LFS had in my area) had.

I have never had hair algae before, its never been a problem for me so I don't have first hand experience dealing with it, but I was wondering if it would naturally die off in my tank and leave the slower growing red macros?
Most likely not, but I'm hoping it wont spread either?
Will the hair algae kill off my red macros by growing on it? I would imagine limiting light and smothering it. How long do I have to clear it off before its a problem? LFS said it is normal and wont be a problem.
What can I do to get rid of it? Are there any invertebrates you would recommend who could help me with this? Or just leave it?
included is my water quality test for nitrates. I haven't tested phosphates as I don't have the kit for that yet.

Thanks!

 

[Tahoe61]

There appears to be other algae types present in the system. Higher nutrients and lighting type and duration that maintain those algae types may indicate that GHA will also grow.
I would routinely use a turkey baster to blow of the detritus and to also some extent the algae. Or just pick up the piece and vigorously shake it in a separate container of SW.
I see hermits, do you have any snails?

I really like your fish choices.

How old is the tank and what type of filtration and lighting please.

 

[Coralreefer1]

Microalgae and microalgae require and will compete for the same thing, nutrients and light. You can try snails, crabs, certain fish and Urchins however, it is a hit or miss proposition. The best thing would be to remove the microalgae by hand using a toothbrush or other form of removal tool to eradicate the nuisance algae from encroaching upon on your good microalgae.

 

[mattybecks]

Just gave it a clean with my fingers (in a separate bucket) and removed some of the very bad pieces, essentially trimming it down...

 

[mattybecks]

Can only seem to attach one image at a time on this phone and then post

 

[mattybecks]

The other clump

 

[Tahoe61]

Cool beans it looks much better.

 

[mattybecks]

Microalgae and microalgae require and will compete for the same thing, nutrients and light. You can try snails, crabs, certain fish and Urchins however, it is a hit or miss proposition. The best thing would be to remove the microalgae by hand using a toothbrush or other form of removal tool to eradicate the nuisance algae from encroaching upon on your good microalgae.

Thanks... I noticed my hermits all over my Fauchea the other day (when I first put it in) and it was clean afterwards. So I'm hoping they will do the same to the red bamboo type. Just don't know if those little legs of theirs can get climb it..

 

[mattybecks]

There appears to be other algae types present in the system. Higher nutrients and lighting type and duration that maintain those algae types may indicate that GHA will also grow.
I would routinely use a turkey baster to blow of the detritus and to also some extent the algae. Or just pick up the piece and vigorously shake it in a separate container of SW.
I see hermits, do you have any snails?

I really like your fish choices.

How old is the tank and what type of filtration and lighting please.

Thanks for the lovely compliment! And the advice!
I am really enjoying the marine stuff, I have just move over from freshwater. That used to be a freshwater tank not so long ago.
It is a 100cm X 40cm X 45cm tank about 170 L I think it is.
I have some hermit yes. About 10 of them. Blue legged ones. I have one nassarius snail in their somewhere too.
The rest of the stock is 2 X clowns, 2 X firefish , 4 X banggai cardinals, 1 X coral beauty , 1 X pink spotted goby.
I also have anthelia coral with has just started growing and Kenya tree. They started growing in crevices about a week ago, and have doubled in size since then. I didn't focus the camera on them, but I'll start tracking their growth soon. Seem to be doing well though.
Then 4 mushroom corals in the bottom right corner, one is just splitting now making it 5 .

Lights - Two blue and white LED lights in the canopy, 24 watt. My light schedule is too long at the moment. From 8am to about 10 30pm. I am planning to reduce that haha. Just love staring at the tank every waking hour lol.

Filtration: I have one sunsun canister 304 B (it's rated at 2000lph) filled with little ceramic tubes.
Along the length of the canopy I have a tray (wet dry filter) which is about 90cm X 10cm X 6cm. That too, filled with ceramic tubes.
Half the rock was live rock, the other half was "fresh" dead rock which I got from my LFS display tank they had just shutdown. But none of it the artificial live rock.

Tank must have been set up for about 6 weeks now.. I joined this forum shortly after starting it.
Added the fish slowly, not altogether. The most recent is the blenny which I added yesterday.

 

[mattybecks]

Forgot to add the lighting is mostly white LED as you would have seen, with a blue every 3 or 4 white LED.

My tank was fully cycled for fresh when I changed it, so it didn't take too long to cycle again once I added salt to the water. I had some Malaysian trumpet snails from the freshwater system in the substrate which died off when I added the salt, so I guess that ammonia also helped the re-cycle.

What I need for the future :
Sump filter, protein skimmer and proper lighting.
Which will all come in time. I didn't realize how expensive lights where though.

The sump I'll do when I get the lighting as it would involve getting rid of the canopy and changing the whole top area do I can actually get some plumping into the tank for the sump.
For now the system is doing well though

 

[Tahoe61]

Lights - Two blue and white LED lights in the canopy, 24 watt. My light schedule is too long at the moment. From 8am to about 10 30pm. I am planning to reduce that haha. Just love staring at the tank every waking hour lol.



Tank must have been set up for about 6 weeks now.. I joined this forum shortly after starting it.
Added the fish slowly, not altogether. The most recent is the blenny which I added yesterday.

Yup me too I love to see the tank. But yeah you should reduce that lighting period.

Try some Certh snails, they are small and will help to keep the glass clean.

Welcome to R2R.

 

[mattybecks]

They seem like the type of snails I need! I'm sure I have seen loads of them in the ocean here. It's where I gathered the padina algae from haha.

Great forum. Knowledgeable, friendly people here.

 

[mattybecks]

Yup me too I love to see the tank. But yeah you should reduce that lighting period.

Try some Certh snails, they are small and will help to keep the glass clean.

Welcome to R2R.

Would these be cerith snails?

 

[Coralreefer1]

No they are not Cerith Snails. I don’t know if they are Nassarius snails either. If not, they need to be gone as they are not reef safe.

 

[Tahoe61]

No they are not Cerith Snails. I don’t know if they are Nassarius snails either. If not, they need to be gone as they are not reef safe.

Agreed they might not be Reef safe.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Would these be cerith snails?

Looks like trochus

 

[mattybecks]

Thanks guys ....

 

[mattybecks]

Looks like trochus

Don't trochus have the triangle type conical looking shell? There were loads of those everywhere yesterday. When you pick them up they really do a great job flipping over again and move pretty quickly.
The other snails in the picture I found amoungst those trochus snails (which I'm pretty sure they were) so it seemed like they were sharing the shame food source... No corals at the beach I was at last night...