Hair algae takeover

[C.lewis23]

I'm having a hair algae takeover in my tank. I've done everything to try to stop it and can't seem to keep up with it. I recently added a skimmer to my setup and seems to be removing some skimmate. I've been reading some forums about dosing peroxide and having great results in removing algae. My question is has anyone done this and if so how much did you use, and did you keep your skimmer going while doing this process?

 

[HanKami]

How big is your tank, and do you have a clean up crew. I suggest a good clean up crew to clean up your tank. I'm not a fan of chemicals in a tank. Reason once you fix one thing something else needs to get fixed later.

 

[C.lewis23]

I have a 29 gallon biocube. My clean up crew consist of about 15 hermits 4 Astraea snails. I had turbo snails but they are to clumsy and fall off and die.

 

[Tanked_Life]

Check the filter on your RODI water system. Im having that problem right now. At first I thought it was a PH problem since it was a little low but now that all my levels are fine, I realized every time I did a water change it got worse. I checked my phosphate levels of the RO water that I was using and it was higher than my tank levels because I needed a new RO filter. Always try to find the source. for me I needed to change the filters and also if you aren't using RO water and you are using the tap then that is the source of the hair algae

 

[C.lewis23]

Check the filter on your RODI water system. Im having that problem right now. At first I thought it was a PH problem since it was a little low but now that all my levels are fine, I realized every time I did a water change it got worse. I checked my phosphate levels of the RO water that I was using and it was higher than my tank levels because I needed a new RO filter. Always try to find the source. for me I needed to change the filters and also if you aren't using RO water and you are using the tap then that is the source of the hair algae

 

[C.lewis23]

Check the filter on your RODI water system. Im having that problem right now. At first I thought it was a PH problem since it was a little low but now that all my levels are fine, I realized every time I did a water change it got worse. I checked my phosphate levels of the RO water that I was using and it was higher than my tank levels because I needed a new RO filter. Always try to find the source. for me I needed to change the filters and also if you aren't using RO water and you are using the tap then that is the source of the hair algae

I get the ro from my LFS. I only have a small system so I haven't needed to buy one yet.

 

[CodyRVA]

Lighting schedule & how much are you feeding?

 

[that Reef Guy]

Tiger Trochus
Tiger Trochus
Tiger Trochus

I cannot Stress them enough.

They PLOW through Hair Algae.

I had a Tank Covered in Hair Algae (I am Talking 8 Inches Long in Some Areas! - No Joke).

No Skimmer, No GFO, No Nothing besides adding Tiger Trochus Snails.

Within a Week there was Not a Speck of Hair Algae and it Never Came Back.

They are often called "The Cadillac of Snails"

 

[Tanked_Life]

I would still test the RO from the store as you never know

 

[Tanked_Life]

Tiger Trochus
Tiger Trochus
Tiger Trochus

I cannot Stress them enough.

They PLOW through Hair Algae.

I had a Tank Covered in Hair Algae (I am Talking 8 Inches Long in Some Areas! - No Joke).

No Skimmer, No GFO, No Nothing besides adding Tiger Trochus Snails.

Within a Week there was Not a Speck of Hair Algae and it Never Came Back.

They are often called "The Cadillac of Snails"

How much would you recommend for a 55?

 

[Brandon42]

I'm having a hair algae takeover in my tank. I've done everything to try to stop it and can't seem to keep up with it. I recently added a skimmer to my setup and seems to be removing some skimmate. I've been reading some forums about dosing peroxide and having great results in removing algae. My question is has anyone done this and if so how much did you use, and did you keep your skimmer going while doing this process?

peroxide worked well for me but i had cyano in my tank. are you sure its hair algae and not cyano? looks very similar when it gets bad.

 

[C.lewis23]

peroxide worked well for me but i had cyano in my tank. are you sure its hair algae and not cyano? looks very similar when it gets bad.

It's most certainly hair algae. I neglected the tank for a couple of weeks and it's started taking over. How much did you dose and did you run your skimmer while dosing.

 

[Brandon42]

1ml of peroxide for every 10 gallons every 12 hours. i ran my skimmer the whole time but it might help to turn it off. but peroxide just seemed to keep it from growing more for me. chemiclean is what finally wiped it all out.

 

[that Reef Guy]

How much would you recommend for a 55?

It Depends on How Bad the Situation is.

I added 70 of them in My 55 to Take Care of a Severly Bad Hair Algae Outbreak.

 

[C.lewis23]

So little update guys. I've added 1 sea hare 5 Astraea snails 7 tiger snails. (Cleaned out my LFS on the snails) I hope to add another 5-7 each next week.

 

[andrewey]

Just my personal opinion- I would hold off on any too many snails/hermits. While they help, they're more of a bandaid if things have gotten out of hand and in high enough numbers can really make the problem worse (eventually some die from starvation, predation from snails, natural die off, etc.) as they simply add to the bioload. While I have nothing against a good clean up crew, for me, the gold standard is to get all lighting/feeding/and water parameters in check so that I don't have nuisance algae even without the cleanup crew. You might just be delaying your problem and it would be worth it in my opinion to track down the cause of the hair algae (over feeding, high TDS in your RO water, too long a photoperiod, etc).

 

[coralbeauties]

My guess is high phosphate levels. Have you tested for them with a good hanna meter? I used lanthanum chloride dosing to reduce my phos levels and my hair algae slowly died off. I now have an algae free tank.
Jeff

 

[that Reef Guy]

Just my personal opinion- I would hold off on any too many snails/hermits. While they help, they're more of a bandaid if things have gotten out of hand and in high enough numbers can really make the problem worse (eventually some die from starvation, predation from snails, natural die off, etc.) as they simply add to the bioload. While I have nothing against a good clean up crew, for me, the gold standard is to get all lighting/feeding/and water parameters in check so that I don't have nuisance algae even without the cleanup crew. You might just be delaying your problem and it would be worth it in my opinion to track down the cause of the hair algae (over feeding, high TDS in your RO water, too long a photoperiod, etc).

I Disagree Completely.

Tiger Trochus are MIRACLE Workers!

They are NOT a Band-Aid but the Solution.

They Knocked Out All the Algae and it NEVER Came Back.

 

[Ontheway]

If snails are falling off then check Mg levels to see whether they are higher then 1350 ppm.