Scared of the Dark

[Matt Smothers]

I have what I think to be a brown hair algae outbreak, and most of the advice I'm getting is to turn off the lights for a few days. This scares the crap outta me!

 

[DEWreefing]

Looks more like green algae what are your nitrates and phosphates at? Also how big is the tank and how much rock do you have.

 

[tupes]

How long has the tank been setup for?

 

[DEWreefing]

I would say around 6 month if that your tank will take time to mature.

 

[Matt Smothers]

Yes about 6 months and everybody keeps saying to give it time to mature, but does that mean to just let it keep spreading?

 

[Matt Smothers]

Looks more like green algae what are your nitrates and phosphates at? Also how big is the tank and how much rock do you have.

It's a 40 gallon long here's a pic of the whole tank

 

[Smite]

No you need to keep manually removing the hair algae while trying to get your nutrients under control. Hair algae is great at trapping detritus, which ends up elevating nutrients, feeding it more
- figure out your nitrate and phosphate levels
-Make sure you are using 0 TDS water to top off the tank and make your new salt
- 8-10 hour light cycle
- stick to regular water changes vacuuming the sandbed
- avoid feeding foods that are high in phophates. Most flake and pellets create a lot of phosphates. Feed a quality frozen food in small amounts.

A blackout/turning lights off wont help you any with hair algae.

 

[RJinPV]

My experience in exactly as Smite states it. Blackouts don't work and good housekeeping and physical removal are needed. He has a good list. If you search R2R for Green Hair Algae GHA you will gets a ton of threads where people are dealing with this problem. Most snails and other CUC members won't eat long strands of algae but seem to eat it if you have done some physical removal. I'll add two things:

-You need a good clean up crew of snails and hermit, maybe some algae eating fish like tangs, angels or bennies. Every LFS will tell you this or that critter will take care of it but there is no magical creature that works for everyone in every tank
-A good way to combat GHA trapping detritus is to use a turkey baster or a power head to blow the detritus out of the GHA to get it captured and removed in your filter media.
-Physical removal means getting out of the tank and try to not generate a lot of strands to float around and spread to other areas of the tank. I use a toothbrush on the end of a small siphon going into my filter sock and it works for me. You have it on your sand so I would just siphon that sand out of the tank​

 

[Matt Smothers]

Thanks for the info. I was told to not disturb the sand bed, but I am gonna take your advice and keep working on getting it under control

 

[Matt Smothers]

My experience in exactly as Smite states it. Blackouts don't work and good housekeeping and physical removal are needed. He has a good list. If you search R2R for Green Hair Algae GHA you will gets a ton of threads where people are dealing with this problem. Most snails and other CUC members won't eat long strands of algae but seem to eat it if you have done some physical removal. I'll add two things:

-You need a good clean up crew of snails and hermit, maybe some algae eating fish like tangs, angels or bennies. Every LFS will tell you this or that critter will take care of it but there is no magical creature that works for everyone in every tank
-A good way to combat GHA trapping detritus is to use a turkey baster or a power head to blow the detritus out of the GHA to get it captured and removed in your filter media.
-Physical removal means getting out of the tank and try to not generate a lot of strands to float around and spread to other areas of the tank. I use a toothbrush on the end of a small siphon going into my filter sock and it works for me. You have it on your sand so I would just siphon that sand out of the tank​

Yeah the sand comes right with it, will I lose too much of the sand

 

[virtual reality]

No, you should be fine.

 

[Smite]

It's a 40 gallon long here's a pic of the whole tank

Looks like you are running a canister filter. That can be tough on a reef tank as they tend to build up nutrients. Im sure it could work but you'll need to be breaking that down to clean it weekly with your water changes. What media are you running in there?

 

[Matt Smothers]

Looks like you are running a canister filter. That can be tough on a reef tank as they tend to build up nutrients. Im sure it could work but you'll need to be breaking that down to clean it weekly with your water changes. What media are you running in there?

It is a fluval canister filter and I have the sponge filters and the media that came with the filter, no carbon

 

[Smite]

If

It is a fluval canister filter and I have the sponge filters and the media that came with the filter, no carbon

Right on. Just keep in mind your sand and rock are doing the job of the ceramic rings in the filter. Consider removing those rings and using that filter for water clarity like a sock in a sump.
Id suggest setting up the stages
Sponge
Carbon
Filter floss (to keep small particle carbon from entering the tank)

It would make cleaning the filter very easy. Squeeze out sponges in old tank water, replace filter floss and rinse carbon and place it back in the filter.

Just a sugggestion. Ive ran canisters on FW discus tanks and the ceramice rings trap a long of gunk.

 

[Smite]

If

It is a fluval canister filter and I have the sponge filters and the media that came with the filter, no carbon

Right on. Just keep in mind your sand and rock are doing the job of the ceramic rings in the filter. Consider removing those rings and using that filter for water clarity like a sock in a sump.
Id suggest setting up the stages
Sponge
Carbon
Filter floss (to keep small particle carbon from entering the tank)

It would make cleaning the filter very easy. Squeeze out sponges in old tank water, replace filter floss and rinse carbon and place it back in the filter.

Just a sugggestion. Ive ran canisters on FW discus tanks and the ceramice rings trap a long of gunk.

 

[Matt Smothers]

If

Right on. Just keep in mind your sand and rock are doing the job of the ceramic rings in the filter. Consider removing those rings and using that filter for water clarity like a sock in a sump.
Id suggest setting up the stages
Sponge
Carbon
Filter floss (to keep small particle carbon from entering the tank)

It would make cleaning the filter very easy. Squeeze out sponges in old tank water, replace filter floss and rinse carbon and place it back in the filter.

Just a sugggestion. Ive ran canisters on FW discus tanks and the ceramice rings trap a long of gunk.

I was told that cabon was a no no

 

[Paul Sands]

I was told that cabon was a no no

Clean your sand bed.

Run carbon.

Clean your filter weekly. Most people don’t use canister filters on reef tanks because they have to be cleaned so often. It’s kind of a pain. A good HOB filter would be a better choice IMO.

 

[Smite]

Thats not true. Carbon helps clarify the water and helps eliminate chemical warfare between coral.

I was told that cabon was a no no

 

[virtual reality]

Smite is right. I would be running carbon.:)

 

[Matt Smothers]

Thats not true. Carbon helps clarify the water and helps eliminate chemical warfare between coral.

Kool. I will put it back in with my water change today