Hair algae

[Bakedpwn]

So i found out my phos and nitratr were a little high but i reduced them finally down to almost 0 for nitrate and 0 on phos. i beleieve i was leaving lights on too long and slightly overfeeding.
but now i have hair algae all over my rock.
what methods would help to clean it? i have tried picking most with my hands and i bought more snails and crabs.
i bought a sea hare that didnt last long.

 

[Diesel]

Continue to keep your nutrients low and reduce light.
It will be a long road but you'll win the battle.
Of course nothing wrong to go after it yourself to by keep picking on it.

 

[|sCRIBe|]

I've ran gfo in a reactor and it seems to work well for reducing algae

 

[Diesel]

I've ran gfo in a reactor and it seems to work well for reducing algae

GFO can be aggressive on reducing the nutrients but will help you, just replace it often and don't use to much as stripping your tank from these nutrients can cause a set back on your corals.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

lowering the nutrients is the first step and will help it to not come back. Manual removal and cuc will help win the war.

 

[ngvu1]

good start. Now keep to doing water change weekly and you will see the result. This reefing is not happening over night...Patient :-)

 

[jsker]

How old is the system? @Diesel and @saltyfilmfolks stated, it is a slow process, and I agree with @ngvu1 it take a great deal of patient not to be reactive to every change. I also through my algae issue all the time, but I also document my footsteps, so I can put things in rewind if I have a crash or bloom:)

 

[Bakedpwn]

system is about 1 year old. it seems to be slowly going away now that my nutrients are down. i was just thinking maybe i can remove my frags from the rocks and dip the rocks in something or simply take them out for cleaning

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

system is about 1 year old. it seems to be slowly going away now that my nutrients are down. i was just thinking maybe i can remove my frags from the rocks and dip the rocks in something or simply take them out for cleaning

you def can. even just scrub add rinse in ro or old tank water will help. you can add a little hydrogen peroxide to the water but rinse well.

 

[Bakedpwn]

gotcha thanks. gonna try it on y next day off then. ill start with just scrub in RO

 

[kendavjac]

Been there and done that. You have a long road ahead of yourself. One thing to understand: If the algae is growing then you still have a nutrient issue. It is taking up all of the excessive nutrients so your test kits show ~0. The trick is to keep lowing them without killing your coral. H2O2 works well. You can either take the rocks out and spray them with H2O2 or I have been successful applying it in the tank (for rocks I can't remove). Turn off your pumps, use a syringe and spray the algae with the H2O2. let sit for 5 minutes and then turn pumps back on. Do small sections of your tank until is goes away. scub the rocks with a tooth brush between treatments. Search for H2O2, there are several great posts about how to do this.

 

[Bakedpwn]

thanks ill give that a shot.

 

[Bakedpwn]

its slowly getting better. been leaving the lights off except for feeding and ive been rearranging the snails when they stray

 

[Bakedpwn]

 

[gemini9]

Think we have all had this problem at one time or another. Part of the hobby. Water changes and reduced light. It will clear up on its own. Turning the rocks upside down helps. If you've got a rock with Los of algae and no corals, tlflipnit upside down. The algae won't get any light and will die off.

 

[a6walter1]

You can use Marine AlgaeFix by API, that worked for me in the past. Just make sure to take out any algae you want to keep (macros). Also when you are doing this you want to make sure to use some sort of mechanical filtration to catch the dead algae.

 

[Cory]

Two solutions, build an ats, or buy gfo and use it. :)

 

[Armydogracing]

I have been reading about dosing peroxide to control algae has anyone else heard of this?

 

[Cory]

I have been reading about dosing peroxide to control algae has anyone else heard of this?

Yes you can ive done it. Use 3% stuff and target the area. I wouldnt do it though anymore its a strong chemical that will kill pretty much anything.

That said, ive saved a nealry dead clownfish from ich by using one capful in 500ml of tank water, let him sit for 30 mins and back into the tank. Survived ich! Fish was completely covered jn white spots.

My second attempt on a different clownfish, was nealry 1/2" (the first was 1" fish), killed it. But I think it had velvet and not ich. Poor fish.

 

[Bakedpwn]

what kind of peroxide do i get if i just wanna take out the rocks and clean them?