Impossible to rid Hair Algea, S.O.S

[slingfox]

Waterbox 180.
Reefmat, Algea Scrubber, 40 watt uv, Reef Octo 200int. I have plenty of nutrient export. Like I mentioned I was zeroing out after the first treatment of flux. Any sign of phosphates and nitrates and the algea comes back.
3 urchins 3 turbo snails, a plethera of hermit crabs and various other snails.
Foxface, Naso Tang, Hippo Tang, Tomini Tang, Coris Wrasse, 6 Line Wrasse, 2 clownfish, Purple Tang, coral beauty, 2 lyretail anthias, Starry Blenny.

It looks like you have all the core equipment as a lot of herbivore fish. You probably should get more snails if all you have is a few turbos. I have no idea how large a Waterbox 180 but you can take a look at the CUC packages on ReefCleaners to have an idea of what kind of snail count a system your size can take. Even if you did half the size recommended it sounds like that is much more than what you have. You should also consider a lawnmower Blenny. That is one of the main workhorse in my 110g display tank.

 

[TX_REEF]

How old is that ATS? Does it only produce slime? Mine produces turf algae. I agree that from the several threads that I've read that influenced me to purchase an ATS, they keep hair algae away. I've had one for a couple of months on a tank cycled in Nov and I don't have any hair algae.

The amount of algae you see there is what it produces every 2 weeks, which is how often I harvest it. As a result, little to no visible algae in my display:

 

[fish farmer]

Is it actually GHA and not something else like bryopsis. I say this since I got rid of my GHA for awhile but the bryopsis still hung on.

 

[vetteguy53081]

looks more like wired mat algae than GHA and a good candidate for snails such as :
Astrea
cerith
turbo grazer
trochus
Ninja star

A Pencil urchin
8-10 Caribbean blue leg hermits

Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet ?
What is your phosphate level?
Is tank at or near a window?

 

[ScubaSkeets]

pics below sorry

Not that I can add much to whats already been said, but when I was dealing with algae, in addition to long hair algae, I had also had what looks like what you have, which to me, is not the same...It is more of a dense, mossy algae as opposed to long hair furry animal algae. I didn't have much...only a few tufts of it but it certainly seemed different to me.

 

[ScubaSkeets]

like trying to get an American to eat Eel and Octopus noodles when chicken and beef is what they are used to when there is nothing wrong with eel and octopus and some do like it after years of not trying it.

So true! My wife is Japanese but also spent alot of time in France so she has a Japanese and French palate. I have been able to aquire some of her tastes, but not all of them....but I will try. And some of the things that I like, she does not.

 

[VintageReefer]

Waterbox 180.
Reefmat, Algea Scrubber, 40 watt uv, Reef Octo 200int. I have plenty of nutrient export. Like I mentioned I was zeroing out after the first treatment of flux. Any sign of phosphates and nitrates and the algea comes back.
3 urchins 3 turbo snails, a plethera of hermit crabs and various other snails.
Foxface, Naso Tang, Hippo Tang, Tomini Tang, Coris Wrasse, 6 Line Wrasse, 2 clownfish, Purple Tang, coral beauty, 2 lyretail anthias, Starry Blenny.

What algae scrubber do you have ?

How many hours a day are you lighting it?

Can you post a pic of the algae it grows and how often you harvest / dispose of the algae from the scrubber ?

 

[ratzy82]

It looks like you have all the core equipment as a lot of herbivore fish. You probably should get more snails if all you have is a few turbos. I have no idea how large a Waterbox 180 but you can take a look at the CUC packages on ReefCleaners to have an idea of what kind of snail count a system your size can take. Even if you did half the size recommended it sounds like that is much more than what you have. You should also consider a lawnmower Blenny. That is one of the main workhorse in my 110g display tank.

I have a starry blenny which is very similar. The dt is 130ish. I suppose I could add some more snails maybe a hare

 

[ratzy82]

How old is that ATS? Does it only produce slime? Mine produces turf algae. I agree that from the several threads that I've read that influenced me to purchase an ATS, they keep hair algae away. I've had one for a couple of months on a tank cycled in Nov and I don't have any hair algae.

It's a clear water 200. I don't know how old it is. I would say 3-4 years. I run it 24/7 and it produces a decent amount of hair algea in about a week.

 

[ratzy82]

What algae scrubber do you have ?

How many hours a day are you lighting it?

Can you post a pic of the algae it grows and how often you harvest / dispose of the algae from the scrubber ?

I just cleaned it out today. Its a clearwater 200. It grows stringy algea(hair?). Some spots are white, assuming where it possibly died. I run it 24/7 normally. I can try and get some pics tomorrow.

 

[ratzy82]

Is it actually GHA and not something else like bryopsis. I say this since I got rid of my GHA for awhile but the bryopsis still hung on.

I'm assuming the only way to know what it is, is if I get a microscope?

 

[ratzy82]

looks more like wired mat algae than GHA and a good candidate for snails such as :
Astrea
cerith
turbo grazer
trochus
Ninja star

A Pencil urchin
8-10 Caribbean blue leg hermits

Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet ?
What is your phosphate level?
Is tank at or near a window?

I have all the snails listed above. The quanity, not entirely sure. I know I have at least 3 turbo's. I have 2 tuxedo Urchins and another type. RODI with 0 tds. Phosphate level is .03, but that is a false reading. No windows. I did add 2 extra lights recently to bump my par. I'm guessing that could have led to it, but it was already starting to grow back in, so I'm assuming I just sped it up.

 

[VintageReefer]

I just cleaned it out today. Its a clearwater 200. It grows stringy algea(hair?). Some spots are white, assuming where it possibly died. I run it 24/7 normally. I can try and get some pics tomorrow.

24/7 is the absolute maximum you possibly could run it in a day. The white spots are where the algae was exposed to too much light and burned off.

A scrubber is like other devices, it needs to be tuned to your systems needs. In this case you are burning your algae, and burned algae is not providing any benefit.

My initial suggestion, without seeing pictures would be:
1) Set a schedule for harvesting. If you harvest every 7 days, reduce one day. And harvest every 6 days

2) reduce photo period to 20 Hours a day

3) check algae color and growth at day 6, let us know results and provide pictures

May need further fine tuning but we need to do this in stages, make small adjustments. And adapt based on outcome

 

[Rjukan]

I'm going to offer an unpopular opinion... I think it looks cool. It's not taking over the tank, it looks great against your coraline covered rocks, and it's a natural part of the reef.
How's your corals doing? Your livestock? Is anything suffering because of it?

Edit: After thinking about it, these patches are in the crevices... do you hit your rocks with a turkey blaster when doing maintenance? Is it possible they have a foothold due to accumulated detritus in those areas?

 

[ratzy82]

I'm going to offer an unpopular opinion... I think it looks cool. It's not taking over the tank, it looks great against your coraline covered rocks, and it's a natural part of the reef.
How's your corals doing? Your livestock? Is anything suffering because of it?

Edit: After thinking about it, these patches are in the crevices... do you hit your rocks with a turkey blaster when doing maintenance? Is it possible they have a foothold due to accumulated detritus in those areas?

I usually do not turkey baste, but it is growing in spots where my mp40 is blasting it, so I doubt it’s that. I don’t mind it except that it’s getting close to some expensive sps. And some of my corals are starting to be bothered by it. I don’t mind some but I’ve been here before…it’s a catch 22 if I starve the tank my coral will suffer. I’m thinking the only option is the nuclear….flux it and stay on top of my scrubber

 

[VintageReefer]

Once the scrubber is tuned in properly you only need to make adjustments if you make large changes to bio load.

For me I need to run mine 18 hours a day. This has kept my parameters .02-.05 phosphates and nitrates 2-5. I have gone 3, 4 months at a time without testing, for same numbers.

I accidentally poured in too much reef roids and phosphate went from .02 to .34. I made no changes, no water change, nothing and in 6 days it was back to .02 naturally

 

[Rjukan]

I usually do not turkey baste, but it is growing in spots where my mp40 is blasting it, so I doubt it’s that. I don’t mind it except that it’s getting close to some expensive sps. And some of my corals are starting to be bothered by it. I don’t mind some but I’ve been here before…it’s a catch 22 if I starve the tank my coral will suffer. I’m thinking the only option is the nuclear….flux it and stay on top of my scrubber

Before the harsh options, try a little manual removal followed by turkey blasting those collection spots. Maybe pick one rock to do it on so you can see if it helps in the long run.
You'd be surprised with what comes out when you focus a blast into a crevice, even if it's in the stream of a MP40. I know from experience.

 

[ratzy82]

Before the harsh options, try a little manual removal followed by turkey blasting those collection spots. Maybe pick one rock to do it on so you can see if it helps in the long run.
You'd be surprised with what comes out when you focus a blast into a crevice, even if it's in the stream of a MP40. I know from experience.

I’ve been trying to remove it manually. I’m not getting much but will keep at it

 

[ratzy82]

Once the scrubber is tuned in properly you only need to make adjustments if you make large changes to bio load.

For me I need to run mine 18 hours a day. This has kept my parameters .02-.05 phosphates and nitrates 2-5. I have gone 3, 4 months at a time without testing, for same numbers.

I accidentally poured in too much reef roids and phosphate went from .02 to .34. I made no changes, no water change, nothing and in 6 days it was back to .02 naturally

So you think tuning it in will reduce the algae in the tank? I also don’t want to starve my coral. It’s a tough situation.

 

[VintageReefer]

If you follow my advice we are going to grow healthier algae, but we are also going to reduce the photo period which should cause levels to increase a little. We are not starving your coral, we are doing the opposite.

The algae is growing from phosphate bound rock. This is the result of months and months of a situation where phosphate in the water column became attached to the rock. When you test your water, the reading is not quite accurate. It tells you the phosphate one the water, but not the rock.

Scrubbers can fix this if they are sized and run correctly. It takes time though. As they absorb phosphate from the water, the phosphate will release from the rock and the numbers will quickly return to what they started at. It’s also common for more algae to grow as a phase. But, eventually, the rocks will be “clean” and you will start to notice progress. The whole process can be a few weeks or a few months