*@#!&^%^#$ green hair! at end of my rope!

Just venting...I know all of the advice: low nitrates, low phosphates, control lighting, use a soft toothbrush, good water circulation with no dead areas, it will go away on it's own, protein skimmer, etc. etc, etc.

Done all of that... Nitrites - 0, nitrates - 0, Phosphates - 0, use RO/DI water only, light on 7 hrs/day, 6.5 watts/gallon, algae scrubbed every 2 weeks, rotating powerhead plus two power filters with total capacity of around 250 gph, water changes + protein skimming, no direct or indirect sunlight, tank up for 10 months, careful not to overfeed...cannot have any kind of blennie (10 gal tank with my good friend Lil' B (Little B*st*rd, my yellowtail damsel, who would not allow a blennie to invade his tank). I added my modified Skilter 250 a month ago (see my post under Protein Skimmers) and it is removing tons of stuff...

ARGHHHH!!!!! Cant get rid of the crappy green hair algae!!!! The &@#*^@$ stuff grows like a weed (which it is). It's terribly frustrating and makes me want to take everything out and chuck it!

Sorry for the rant...again, I know all of the advice, and am following all of it. I don't expect a magic solution to be suggested here... just venting. I wish I could use the real words instead of using the stars, ampersands and other symbols, but you might guess what words they stand for (not nice)!

$#^&$@*&^$#*&^**$!!!!!!

 

Have no fear....you'll get there. Many of us have been through this before.

Are you removing the rock and scrubbing in a bucket of old water from a waterchange or are you scrubbing it while it is in the tank?

Then before putting the rock back into the tank, rinse off with CLEAN saltwater to remove fragments.

All algaes have defenses against predation to ensure that the plant lives. Most macroalgaes put out toxins that are not palatable to most fish. Hair algae and Bryopsis do something called fragmentation. Once a fish starts eating it, it will fragment and the fragments will float in the current to start a new plant. That's why you shouldn't pull hair algae when the rock is in the tank unless a siphon is running near where you are pulling.

 

In-tank...have corals on most of the rocks...I guess I need to set up a separate tank with same parameters so I can scrub there and not harm my corals... Also would not want to remove my large main rock, as it is the "home" of my damsel...

 

I had a similar problem but it was growing in my fuge.... I just kept ripping it out like everyday... then I noticed there was some black slime growing under it, so I added a slime killer called chemi-clean. After just a few days I noticed all the slime and hair algae started to died off.

 

Whoops...i thought the poll said what should you do with the algae lol...well lets see, instead of brushing it off, try pulling it off in but glumps, that what i did for my 12 gal

 

Have used Chemi-Clean. Great for red cyano bacteria (the slimy stuff), but does not do anything for the green hair!

Clump removal is in use...before brushing.

Cursing the algae more might work... how about if we all get synchronized and at 10:35 PM EST on April 19th we all chant "*%$@#$ green hair algae, go to hell!" over and over for five minutes... It might work as well as the other cures!

 

For what it's worth. I have 2 tanks. One FOWLR and the other is my coral tank. The Coral tank has 250 MH and Actinc Blue and White PCs. The FOWLR has only PCs. Green hair and more algea in the FOWLR only beutiful Purple in the Coral. Only do the glass in the coral tank about every other day. FOWLER everyday. I feed reccommended amount of DTs Phytoplankton every day to the coral tank and none to the FOWLER. I think that the DTs work on the algea. I also added a very nice Yellow Tang to the FOWLER the other day and I'm already noticing less algea in the FOWLER.

Good Luck. Karma for the Frustration!

 

Some one could back me up on this but I think that is Bryopsis. If that is the case I would get a lettuce nudibrach.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=724
I voted for "patiently wait and continue all the control measures" too.

 

You know, a voracious Tang will help out A LOT. If it wasn't for my lawnmower and my Purple Tang, my reef would not be as pretty as it is now. They keep it really under control.

You are in the right path, keep at the "common" procedures and maybe add some extra help like a Tang. Of course, make sure you have plenty of room for the Tang. Any herbivorous fish would do a lot of help, that is if they dont mind eating hair.

 

Rickzter the Tang police are going to be all over you. His tank is a 10G.