Any solutions to hair algae that won't go away?

[Midasblen]

Is there anything you did or dosed the first 2 years that you stopped afterwards?

no only started dosing chemicals after the algae

 

[Midasblen]

I have had similar issues with my tank. Tried almost all the the things you listed with no luck either.
A few months ago, during a water change, I removed several of my rocks (that had the worse long hair algae and the ones that did not have corals or anenomes attached to it. I then sprayed them down with hydrogen peroxide, waited a few seconds and then pressure washed the rocks. After that, I soaked them in dirty tank water for a while, shook the excess water off and returned them to my tank.
However, I have done that several times before, so that in and of itself did not work long term and it was only a matter of time that the long hair algae came back.

This time, I decided to build a DIY "algae reducer", using a spare HOB filter, a refugium light, and some hard plastic knitting mesh. Placed the HOB filter in the sump, laid the knitting mesh just below the surface of the water in the HOB filter, and the refugium light shines onto that.

Since then, my long hair algae from the rocks that I did not manually remove has gone away and none of it has reappeared, although I'm sure someone will surely chime in and attempt to discredit my claim by saying something like all of my alage is not gone from my tank, or that my DIY "algae reducer" doesn't work as well as I think. Whatever.
Or they'll give you countless other suggestions (of which it seems you have already tried)

i tried a refugium a while back but I had a problem with algae growing on top of the cheato bc there was not tumble, if its worth trying again I probably would have to do a hob or scrubber or something

 

[Midasblen]

You probably have higher nitrate and phosphates than what you test. Rock is known to suck up phosphates and release them.

What worked for me was a combination of what you have done more CUC, routine WC...with siphoning out algae and detritus, reduced feeding and a chaeto refuge.

ok I will have to try a new refugium and what is your cuc bc mexican turbos from my lfs haven't work, but they may be crappy

 

[BobTheBlenney]

i tried a refugium a while back but I had a problem with algae growing on top of the cheato bc there was not tumble, if its worth trying again I probably would have to do a hob or scrubber or something

Algae growing on the cheato is not necessarily a bad thing. If the algae is in the refugium it will still take nutrients out of the display.

 

[Midasblen]

Phosphate bound rock just now releasing after 3 years? I'm 14 years in and always said one only needs a skimmer. I have now bought into the whole algae scrubber idea. I got an external skimmer to make way for a Santa Monica Surf and my rocks are in such bad shape that I will probably get a second one and transfer it to my second tank when the rocks are no longer leaching. The proof is irrefutable with an ATS.

if my rocks are releasing phosphate should I replace/ do something? or wait it out by using other nutrient-reduction methods. Also I tried gfo for 2 days and it reduced my phos to near 0 so not sure if i should use it again

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have had hair algae for a while now, maybe 6-8 months, and I can't seem to get rid of it or find what is causing it. I have tried many things like NoPox, microbacter 7, flux rx (3x dose), Mexican turbos (at one point I had 15), emerald crabs, sea hare, lower light length and intensity, complete deep clean of all rocks, and a week-long black out, along with regular water changes. So far I have had not even a little success, besides the deep clean but the algae is back now. I have heard that it could be from nitrates and phosphates but for the past 4 months or so my nitrates have been stable at 10-20 and phos at .03-.15. My tank is about 3-4 years old and I did go through a phase of no problems for 2 years then started to experience some hair algae. Not really sure what else to do, any ideas?

Are you by chance overfeeding?
Also, is your tank at or near a window?

 

[Midasblen]

Algae growing on the cheato is not necessarily a bad thing. If the algae is in the refugium it will still take nutrients out of the display.

The algae was super think and would starve the cheato under it

 

[Midasblen]

Are you by chance overfeeding?
Also, is your tank at or near a window?

i don't think I am over feeding (not sure), but the room the tank is in does usually have a lot of natural but not direct light.

 

[BobTheBlenney]

A foxface and a stary blenny took care of my GHA in less than a week. Haven't seen a blade since. Plus, they're both very interesting and hardy fish. I now feed them with nori and Seaweed Extreme in addition to mysis and they're both happy and healthy.

 

[BobTheBlenney]

The algae was super think and would starve the cheato under it

I read a post a while back where the person said that algae choked out the cheato in his refugium, but then the refugium worked better after that.

 

[Midasblen]

I read a post a while back where the person said that algae choked out the cheato in his refugium, but then the refugium worked better after that.

wouldn't the dead cheato cause a nutrient spike? or would the algae just absorb it

 

[Mikeltee]

I read a post a while back where the person said that algae choked out the cheato in his refugium, but then the refugium worked better after that.

The strongest always wins the battle. That's why I chose an algae scrubber. It melts cheato and I don't have to worry about importing pests. With no exposed light, the sump stays clean as well.

 

[Mikeltee]

if my rocks are releasing phosphate should I replace/ do something? or wait it out by using other nutrient-reduction methods. Also I tried gfo for 2 days and it reduced my phos to near 0 so not sure if i should use it again

Don't replace your rock. How long have your been testing? Your Phosphates don't stay dormant for years. Rock that is in bad shape should be normalized within 6 months with no external means of export. If they were phospate bound you would have had lots of algae a couple months after turning your lights on and that algae would have sucked the nutrients right out of the rock.

 

[BobTheBlenney]

wouldn't the dead cheato cause a nutrient spike? or would the algae just absorb it

Probably, I imagine it would be best to remove it. I think the point of the guy's post was that algae worked better than cheato for nutrient removal. I have both growing in my fuge right now. The cheato is still green and healthy but I figure the algae is also helping with the nutrients. With all that said, it was the foxface and the blenny that took care of the initial problem.

 

[AquaLogic]

What are your TDS on your ro water? Have you tried a refugium with chaeto?

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

My go-to move with nuisance hair algae is to physically remove it from the tank.

Don’t just brush it off the rocks…take it out of the tank and brush it off into a bucket of your tank water, then rinse it off in a bucket of clean water. Then make sure you have some CUC animals that eat GHA, like turbos and urchins. You might have to do this a few times over a month or so, but you will get rid of it.

You have to get all of the P and N sequestered by the algae out of the tank. Brushing it off in the tank and siphoning it out is better than doing nothing, but not significantly better.

Want macro-algae to go toe-to-toe with an established GHA population and win? Get comfortable…it’s gonna be a while. But knocking the bulk of the population (along with its nutrients) out of tank makes it easier to tip the scales in the MA’s favor and allow it to gain a foothold and outcompete the GHA.

 

[Garf]

wouldn't the dead cheato cause a nutrient spike? or would the algae just absorb it

You got a pic of the tank in white light? I can only find old photos you’ve posted previously.
What clean up crew (herbivores) do you have now?

 

[ScubaSkeets]

Are you by chance overfeeding?
Also, is your tank at or near a window?

Not to hijack, but my tank is in my basement that has no windows. Only light is aquarium lights and occasionally the fluorescent room light. I still battled long hair algae.
Enter my DIY "algae reducer" and I do not have long hair algae.

Overfeeding:
Here is a pic of feeding time:

Obviously, "overfeeding" may be subjective and has a lot of variables, but to me, that looks like overfeeding. Yet, no long hair algae and my N is @ 2.5, and P is @ 0.05ish

 

[Dburr1014]

I battled for a year + and did this to have it be done and over with.

Thread 'Fluconazole dose and why so much?' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fluconazole-dose-and-why-so-much.983825/

 

[Rocktron1]

Can you get a tang?