One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is that Kalkwasser will help pull phosphates out as well and will add calc / alk to your system. I have a lawnmower blenny and he's great but mine wont eat hair algae.
Peaceful Hair Algae Eater
- Thread starter WitheredMantis
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I'm currently battling the same issue. My Phosphate lvl reads 0.. however I think thats because the hair is consuming it all. I've had a tuxedo urchin for a couple of months, but he seems to have developed a taste for the coralline and leaves the hair algae alone. (He looks fun running around with corals on his head he keeps grabbing, but knocks over anything not glued down.) Right now all I have is cleaner crew in there as all of my fish are in hospital for another 10 days since a Brooklynella outbreak, so the tank is fallow for six weeks and the hair has exploded. I bought a Phosphate reactor.. if you have a JBJ 45 the MiniMax medium fits very nicely in the rear sump. I think I'll try some of the liquids mentioned here.. and up the cleanup crew. My turbos all die winding upside down and food for my crabs. However they did leave me with a present, about 50 baby snails roaming around, so maybe you'll get lucky. Thanks to everyone for the input, just putting in my two cents. If you have a Brooklynella outbreak I can walk you through that.
chefjpaul
2500 Club Member
Physical maintenance routine is key.
Don't add critters for an outbreak, add them to maintain the tanks stable algae growth conditions.
They will starve after the solution is found.
There are solutions, h2o2, gfo, carbon dosing etc....once you find the cause, be it dirty rocks, nutrient addition vs. Lack of Removal, etc...
Like Jeremy said, most likely water chemistry issue needing resolved.
Don't add critters for an outbreak, add them to maintain the tanks stable algae growth conditions.
They will starve after the solution is found.
There are solutions, h2o2, gfo, carbon dosing etc....once you find the cause, be it dirty rocks, nutrient addition vs. Lack of Removal, etc...
Like Jeremy said, most likely water chemistry issue needing resolved.
I am also fighting HA. Dosing NO3PO4 by red sea since March 24. It knocked my Nitrates down to 0-2 within days, phosphates have been reading 0 for a very, very long time, but the HA is still hanging on, even with several 75% wc, 1-2 wc a week of 35%, and 4 day periods of lights out! And 3 tangs. A Kole, a hippo and a purple, and none of them even look at the HA. So my advice is don't count on fish to take care of a HA problem. Turbos work great, but mine always die relatively quickly and really, really mess up a tank when they die. And I even tried a lawnmower, never made it out of qt as it wouldn't eat ANYTHING for 3 months and withered away and finally died. Very sad. Good luck to you my friend, i hope you have more success getting rid of it than I have. Oh, Also, have 2 emerald crabs, they too, do not touch the stuff. And have been using high capicity GFO in a reactor for years in this tank. Lol, i think that covers just about everything you have touched on so far.
Purpletank
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My bi-colored Blenny keeps the GHA off the rocks and grazes on the hair in the sand gobbling up copious amounts keeping it short and under control. I keep my eye on it daily. If it gets to be too much, I vacuum it out of the sand. Marguarita snails absolutely keep it off the grass. I put Cheatomorpha (macro algae) in the sump to help with the nutrients. My tank is new so it will take some time to figure out how to keep the balance that I want. Which is N 5,
Pho .25, KH 8. I'm not a proponent of sterile tanks. But then again I only have a Birds Nest sps. I have and will use a GFO reactor if necessary. But as long as The GHA is under control, I don't mind having a little in the sand for Blenny to graze on.
Just another perspective.
Pho .25, KH 8. I'm not a proponent of sterile tanks. But then again I only have a Birds Nest sps. I have and will use a GFO reactor if necessary. But as long as The GHA is under control, I don't mind having a little in the sand for Blenny to graze on.
Just another perspective.
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New tank shows some Phos in water and a source for algae.
Twin spot blenny, lawnmower blenny will do well for algae when you stock and dont forget snails !! ( Turbo, astrea, trochus and nassarius)
Twin spot blenny, lawnmower blenny will do well for algae when you stock and dont forget snails !! ( Turbo, astrea, trochus and nassarius)
Cannons Fish
Active Member
I have a Kole Tang and a Sea Hair in my 46 gallon tank. The Kole Tang takes care of all of it on the rocks and the Sea Hair does a pretty good job with the substrate. I would also recommend a fighting conch, It does an amazing job on the substrate.
FreeEnergyReefer
Active Member
Just throw a bag of purigen in ur sump or hang-on filter and watch your phosphates drop to zero in a day or so. Since your tanks a 45 get a tailspot blenny or pair or court jester goby or pair. Both are excellent hair algae eaters and have ton of personalitygood luck
Cdime712
Active Member
How a question about sea hare. How can you tell if they are dead. I have one in I don't know if it's dead. Here go the pictures. I did a water change just now and he seem to just laid their.
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KarlsReef
Active Member
Don't aim for zero phosphates, way too low. 0.03 -0.1 is where you wanna be really, zero can cause huge issues plus if your trying to chase numbers that low or a set figure you'll drive yourself insane. Water changes, rowaphos and manual removal all along with your clean up crew - troccus, Mexican turbos, tuxedo urchin, kole tang (tank size permitting), lawnmower blenny all good
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