The One and Only Thread for Hair algae control

[Dad2Wyatt]

I should start by saying, I do not have all the answers, in fact, I hardly have any.

After combing the forums daily for weeks, I realized that there are hundreds(thousands?) of threads concerning GHA. Unfortunately many of these threads have either gone unanswered, or the answers varied greatly between threads with little to no discussion regarding effectiveness. Furthermore, in almost all of these threads, the OP never followed up with what, if anything worked.

One thing I can say for certain, is that a rip clean would almost certainly fix not only GHA, but pretty much any algae problem. Unfortunately this is not always practical, and for others the initiative to do the task is not there.

I would like for this thread to be the go to thread on fighting GHA for those who may not want to commit to a rip clean just yet. That’s where I would like for you, the Reef2Reef community, to chime in.

Please share your solutions in detail and feel free to generate a discussion if you really like (or dislike) a particular idea. Try to be specific, rather than saying “lower your phosphate and nitrates” expand on how you personally would go about doing this.

as we all know, each tank is different, so while you may not agree with another’s idea, it may have worked for them. Let’s remain respectful and hopefully help out a lot of our fellow hobbyist!!

My 55 gallon set up is currently fighting a losing battle with GHA. As I near closer to a rip clean, I’m curious to see if there is anything I have yet to try! Below is a photo of my tank today, after about 15-20 minutes of manually removing GHA.

 

[ATXreefer]

I had a 30 gallon with 40 lbs of rock that was completely covered in gha, but not quite this bad. 3 trochus snails and 10 hermit crabs (half were some type of blue leg and the other were red leg) didn't seem to make any sort of dent in it. Came home with 2 mexican turbo snails and they crushed through everything in a week. As long as I kept the glass clean, they continued to focus on the rocks. Beware, they poop like crazy so get that siphon ready!

 

[SeaworthyAquatics]

I always preferred the natural routes if possible. A tough clean up crew and as large refugium/algae scrubber as I can fit on the tank has always done it for me. And got to say, love my tang gang. Not much beats a hungry tang. A oversized skimmer has also done wonders for me, but I also keep eels in all my tanks and have a heavy bio load.

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Turbos and Hermits made quick work of my problem, event with some higher levels of nutrients.

 

[czoolander]

I did have success with NOPOX removed in 2 weeks nothing like in the picture above which I think might need more help . My GHA went away since September from just dosing NOPOX no other changes .

I have a darker hair algea now that is growing in the cracks and holes of my rocks not the rock surface which is what I had before.

So I think my problem is two fold. One I used dry rock in my tank and its been leaching nitrates and phosphate back in the water. Second I think tanks just go through natural cycles where algea comes and goes.

 

[Dad2Wyatt]

I had a 30 gallon with 40 lbs of rock that was completely covered in gha, but not quite this bad. 3 trochus snails and 10 hermit crabs (half were some type of blue leg and the other were red leg) didn't seem to make any sort of dent in it. Came home with 2 mexican turbo snails and they crushed through everything in a week. As long as I kept the glass clean, they continued to focus on the rocks. Beware, they poop like crazy so get that siphon ready!

Turbo snails have been amazing, as well as my urchin. It’s just so widespread that even with them, it grows back so fast. Nutrients are almost certainly my problem

 

[Dad2Wyatt]

I always preferred the natural routes if possible. A tough clean up crew and as large refugium/algae scrubber as I can fit on the tank has always done it for me. And got to say, love my tang gang. Not much beats a hungry tang. A oversized skimmer has also done wonders for me, but I also keep eels in all my tanks and have a heavy bio load.

Havent tried a skimmer yet actually! That would definitely help with my nutrient problem right?

I considered a couple tangs but I would grow too attached to rehome when they outgrew my tank and my fiancé might kill me if I upgraded tanks while planning a wedding lol

 

[PR_nano]

Turbo are a beast.
My Scarlett tried to camouflage when I had an algae bloom. Looked like a troll

 

[shakacuz]

a diverse CUC is always key. increase the amount of hermit crabs. throw in a female emerald crab or two in there. add different snails (trochus, cerith, astrea, turbo), lower feeding, and stop dosing iron or chaetogro(if you even are doing this)

 

[Dad2Wyatt]

I did have success with NOPOX removed in 2 weeks nothing like in the picture above which I think might need more help . My GHA went away since September from just dosing NOPOX no other changes .

I have a darker hair algea now that is growing in the cracks and holes of my rocks not the rock surface which is what I had before.

So I think my problem is two fold. One I used dry rock in my tank and its been leaching nitrates and phosphate back in the water. Second I think tanks just go through natural cycles where algea comes and goes.

Ive been considering NOPOX. Haven’t added any sort of chemical yet as I prefer as natural as possible. I have ran carbon and chemipure blue only. But NOPOX has been tempting! That a skimmer and some more manual labor, and maybe a few more CUC might help me out!

i gol used dry rock and hadnt considered leeching. But it does make sense as i noticed elevated nitrates during cycling even before the appearance of any nitrite. And I have struggled with phosphates even with frequent water changes, chemipure etc.

and yes my GHA is extreme. It is partially because of me being lax at the beginning and partially my trying only one possible solution at a time. However this mostly got this bad almost over night.

 

[SeaworthyAquatics]

Havent tried a skimmer yet actually! That would definitely help with my nutrient problem right?

I considered a couple tangs but I would grow too attached to rehome when they outgrew my tank and my fiancé might kill me if I upgraded tanks while planning a wedding lol

Yes! Should pull a ton out. I ran a 55g with a canister filter and a little Coralife hang on back skimmer for a few years. Not the strongest skimmer but it never broke and never had many algae issues.

 

[shwareefer]

I've had good luck with a money cowrie. It out-eats the rest of my cuc put together. You will never see it though, just big bald spots. Very elusive and nocturnal.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

A rip clean is in your future. Scrub the rocks with a stiff bristle brush and rinse well. Clean the living crap out of the sand. Make sure your RO/DI is working properly. Once you do the rip clean, up the cleanup crew a bit.

 

[Ghost25]

I'm sold on fluconazole. Scrub rocks before, dose fluconazole, scrub rocks again after a couple weeks once the algae is turning gray.

Never had CUC that could put a real dent in a real algae bloom. Never lost corals or inverts when dosing fluconazole.

 

[Dad2Wyatt]

A rip clean is in your future. Scrub the rocks with a stiff bristle brush and rinse well. Clean the living crap out of the sand. Make sure your RO/DI is working properly. Once you do the rip clean, up the cleanup crew a bit.

That’s what I’m thinking as well. Just have to find the time at this point. Had I known It would get this bad I would have done a rip clean immediately

 

[ATXreefer]

Have you tried turning the whites/reds in your lights down? That helped my tank as well, plus it’s something that doesn’t take much time to do.

 

[czoolander]

Ive been considering NOPOX. Haven’t added any sort of chemical yet as I prefer as natural as possible. I have ran carbon and chemipure blue only. But NOPOX has been tempting! That a skimmer and some more manual labor, and maybe a few more CUC might help me out!

i gol used dry rock and hadnt considered leeching. But it does make sense as i noticed elevated nitrates during cycling even before the appearance of any nitrite. And I have struggled with phosphates even with frequent water changes, chemipure etc.

and yes my GHA is extreme. It is partially because of me being lax at the beginning and partially my trying only one possible solution at a time. However this mostly got this bad almost over night.

Well sometimes it is darkest right before the light of day . So don't worry it will get better.

Just limit the food going in your tank . Manually remove and even scrub your rocks outside one at a timeinto a bucket with a toothbrush will help too .

NOPOX is good at starving your GHA however its a fine line because if you are not careful it can zero out your nutrients and then you will be battling dinos which is worse .

 

[HawkeyeDJ]

I've had success controlling nitrates in my 24g AIO with water changes 20% weekly, phosphates with GFO. Trying to find the right balance of GFO, as it bottoms out my phosphates if I'm not careful.

I directly attack GHA by taking out individual rocks and "painting" them with 3% hydrogen peroxide. Kills GHA like a charm. I avoid getting peroxide on corals.

 

[JumboShrimp]

What worked for me? Peroxide at night, bottled bacteria in the day. Plan on this regimen for about 2 weeks.

Honorable mention: a hungry Sea Hare or two.

 

[Dad2Wyatt]

Have you tried turning the whites/reds in your lights down? That helped my tank as well, plus it’s something that doesn’t take much time to do.

Yes actually. I just went a week with only blue spectrum and tbh it has made it worse. Caught a stomach bug yesterday so I didn’t even look at the tank, looked just now after work and it is even worse than that photos here…. I think it’ll be rip clean time the next opportunity I have…starting to lose coral due to the Hair algae