Green hair algae

Eileen · 10-17-2007, 04:40 PM

I've read what's posted about green hair algae and have an additional question. I've added the phosphate remover to my filter, reduced my lights to 6 hours and removed by hand all the algae I could...should I take some of the live rock out and scrub it with a toothbrush? The tank just cycled, and I don't want to mess something up by being impatient. There are 9 snails and 3 hermit crabs in the tank. The only fish in the tank are 3 damsels. The tank is a 55 gallon.

Thanks in advance.

ziggy222 · 10-17-2007, 04:49 PM

you can take a perfectly bare rock,put it in a nutrient rich environment and give it the right light ,and grow hair algae on it.don't bother scrubbing the rock.remove the large clumps of algae and work on whats causing it to grow.

lunatik_69 · 10-17-2007, 04:51 PM

Is your tank getting any direct or strong indirect sun light? If your water param's are all good, tangs will take care of that algae.

ziggy222 · 10-17-2007, 04:58 PM

yeah,if all tests turn out good,just get something to eat the algae.blue leg hermits do well and turbo snails eat the small stuff,or tangs like lunatik said.a sea hair will mow it down but will go hungry in too small of a tank.

bawest · 10-17-2007, 06:31 PM

Everytime someone talks about hair algae, they say that you have to get rid of the phosphates and silicates. Where do these come from? How do they get into the tank? What causes them to be there if we aren't adding it?

Otty · 10-17-2007, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bawest

Everytime someone talks about hair algae, they say that you have to get rid of the phosphates and silicates. Where do these come from? How do they get into the tank? What causes them to be there if we aren't adding it?

Frozen foods and make up water!

bawest · 10-17-2007, 08:05 PM

most people use purified or RO water for make up, so, where do the phosphates come from? uneaten food?

I always used flake food for my fish, Is that phosphate free?

I got hair algae some of the live rock with my corals last week. It's not there now, so what happened to it?

If phosphates ae in the hair algae and the animals eat it, does it come back out the other end? If so, wouldn't we always have phosphates in the tank?

bawest · 10-17-2007, 08:07 PM

and another question. If a hair algae breakout happens will the test for phospates read 0 since ithe phospate is being consumed by the algae?

(on a side note..... does Ogle use frozen foods? My rock he put in the tank had never been exposed to frozen foods. I had no fish that ate them.)

bulltrader · 10-17-2007, 08:26 PM

Green hair algae is caused by Nitrates, Phophates and light. Unless you are using good RO/DI water DO NOT do a water change as it will just introduce more phophates. If Nitrate is high use a nitrate sponge. Stop feeding your fish for a day or two (make sure you are not overfeeding them). Cut back on the lights or leave them dim for a day. Just a few suggestions.

ziggy222 · 10-17-2007, 11:25 PM

you seem to really be looking for in depth info.so here is something about tank maturity i've posted before but you may find interesting.

Here's a question regarding tank stability, and the answer by Eric Borneman. The reason you should wait before adding livestock.

quote:Hi Eric, I was hoping you could help me to understand better what it means for a system to "mature" or "become established". Hobbyists (me included) are always saying not to keep that sps or this anenome for a least a year until your system has matured. What exactly are the differences between a tank which finished cycling a month ago and one that finished cycling 11 months ago? Does it have to do with water parameters being more stable? Does it have to do with natural food availability? Does "tank maturity" pertain more to those who utilize a DSB, because it takes 6 months for a DSB to become functional ?<<

Tank maturity seems to be even more of an issue without the sand bed. The sand bed just takes some time to get enough nutrients in it to sustain populations and stratify into somewhat stable communities and become functional. So, here's the tank reason, and then I'll blow into some ecology for you. When you get a tank, you start with no populations of anything. You get live rock to form the basis of the biodiversity - and remember that virtually everything is moderated by bacteria and photosynthesis in our tanks. So liverock is the substrate for all these processes, and also has a lot of life on it. How much depends on a lot of things.