Reef Aquarium Fact #282 Green hair algae is not actually the devil. So it can in fact be killed and

[PaulKreider]

I had a horrible outbreak once, it covered whole tank in a matter of two weeks, I cut feeding, light time, and did more water changes. (This is right after my first yellow tang had passed due to an ich outbreak) None of those things got rid of the algae, went on to try algae fix marine, that didnt do a single thing, but seemed to **** my anemony and zoas off.

Finnally i found the cure was to get in there with a stiff bristled tooth brush, get 99.9% of it off by hand(took nearly 3 hours of nonstop scrubbing) and then I put in a lawnmower bleeny and another yellow tang, havnt seen a hair since!

 

[Mr. D]

I had a small outbreak when first getting my 20 long up and running. I took some rocks out and scrubbed, but in the end I attribute the eradication to a skimmer and tailspot blenny. Chemipure Elite didn't even help.

Along with weekly water changes of course.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Swordfish215]

For me in the past the secret was fight it everyday, not once a week....Pull it out,scrub it, beat the he$% out of it, till it gave up.....:mad2:

 

[kentofms]

A while back I had a heater get my tank up to 90 for a few days when I was on vacation. Since then I've fixed all the problems, but I had a huge bloom of hair algae after all the biological die off. I've been carrying out regular water changes along with changing filter floss daily. I'm also running a pura pad and removing large clumps of algae with tongs. I haven't fed my fox face in a while because he is eating the algae. Essentially, I've been trying to beef up my nutrient export. I've noticed a decline in its formation and much less of it growing on the sand, but getting rid of it has been such a slow process. My acros, anemones are the only things unhappy at the moment. All Lps, montis, and nest are doing great. Water parameters have been good but pH and alkalinity are a little low. Any suggestions on how to make my acros happy again and get rid of this darn algae?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Have you tried a phosphate binder or organic carbon dosing?

 

[kentofms]

Have you tried a phosphate binder or organic carbon dosing?

I currently have a pura pad in my sump right after the filter floss. It has carbon gfo and silicate. What should I do in terms of carbon dosing and how would that help?

 

[saltyphish]

do u use straight peroxide or do u dilute it, if so how mutch?

If I buy a frag of zoas that have gha on it I put the frag in a bowl of water and add peroxide to it drop by drop until the frag starts to fizz then let it sit for 10 min. Next day no more GHA. I have heard of people dosing peroxide but not for me.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I currently have a pura pad in my sump right after the filter floss. It has carbon gfo and silicate. What should I do in terms of carbon dosing and how would that help?

When did you last replace it?

Do you have a skimmer? Carbon dosing brings down nutrients before algae gets them, but without a skimmer it isn't necessarily the best option.

 

[kentofms]

When did you last replace it?

Do you have a skimmer? Carbon dosing brings down nutrients before algae gets them, but without a skimmer it isn't necessarily the best option.

The pad is a week old. I don't have a skimmer. I'm using chaeto for nutrient export.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I would not dose organic carbon if you do not have a skimmer.

Maybe replace the pad once a week.

 

[Bowen]

I haven't been doing this too long, but the one burst of gha I have had lasted less than a week with my tribal blenny. I doubt it's a consistent thing with them, but at least mine didn't try to get back at me for driving him through the mountains (first fish I've come across to get car sick) by cultivating it! This was also an individual that had been kept with corals at the lfs for several months without incident, since I've heard that a lot of them have a taste for corals.

 

[Neptune1707]

I fought GHA for 6 months, lots of rock scrubbing, lots of water changes, shorter photo period, used algae fix marine, cut back on feeding, used snails, tangs and vodka dosing cured this for me. I have heard that you will never 100% get rid of it, but I dont have a single hair of this stuff now(knock on the biggest piece of wood in my reach). Since then I have not vodka dosed for a couple months and it has not come back. It drove me mad to the point of quitting it all, stay focused and give it time and you will over come this pest.

your situation was identical to mine....tried everything. Tried Vodka dosing, and ended up causing more problems. Finally just went to scrubbing the crap out of the rocks once a week, rinse well and put back in 24g nano tank. No corals except for a couple random mushrooms, 1 clown, 1 basselet, 1 green chromis and 1 blue damsel...so small bio load. I found it interesting from a lighting standpoint 2 things changed. This 24g nano tank is at my office. I recently was moved to a west side office in our building, lots of afternoon sun. See pic attached. So I don't know if it was the extra sun, or my upgrade to Marineland LED lights x 2 that was feeding the GHA. I shortened light period, closed blinds in afternoon and still scrub rock and within past month started using Algaefix. It seems to be knocking it...But I have been at it most of this year trying to control the GHA before I add any coral. Don't want precious corals getting exposed to Algaefix or consumed by GHA. I'm giving it till end of this year, then adding new corals in January. The last time I had this I introduced Starburst polyps to the tank...slower process, but the polyps simply grew over the top of the GHA, eventually took over the entire rock work in my nano tank about 2 years ago. Since then sold off those rocks to friends and LFS, started with new rocks last year. Hope your tank comes around!

 

[mmoner]

What about fighting "Cladophoropsis" ? Any clues?

 

[a49panhead]

one part peroxide three parts tank water for 3 min then a dip in just tank water then back in tank

 

[a49panhead]

one part peroxide three parts tank water for 3 min then a dip in just tank water then back in tank

 

[justchillinuno]

I fought mine off with Pods... Lots and Lots of pods... Tisbe, Tigger, and Poseidons feast pods...... I dosed a fresh batch in every 2 weeks ( rotated the 3) and within a month i saw dramatic improvement and in 2 months im algae free!! This happened as a byproduct of trying to feed my pod eating fish more..... but i have shared it with others and it seems to work...

 

[lionfish5740]

Had an outbreak before in a newish tank from overfeeding by trying to get a new picky eater to eat something. Reduced lighting, increased nutrient export (carbon and GFO) and incorporated desirable algae to the sump. All gone in no time.

I've done peroxide before and it kills it but the problem doesn't go away if you don't have something to absorb all the nutrients leaching from the dead algae before living algae can soak it up.

If you can make one agent (i.e. N) limiting that the algae requires then it's going to disappear.

IMO, the problem most people have with carbon dosing or GFO is from going about it too rapidly where the tank can't adjust that quickly. I've intermittently done both for years and it works beautifully every time although I can hypothesize why it could possibly be an issue for some tanks.

 

[lionfish5740]

I fought mine off with Pods... Lots and Lots of pods... Tisbe, Tigger, and Poseidons feast pods...... I dosed a fresh batch in every 2 weeks ( rotated the 3) and within a month i saw dramatic improvement and in 2 months im algae free!! This happened as a byproduct of trying to feed my pod eating fish more..... but i have shared it with others and it seems to work...

Your location made me do a double take :heh:

 

[justchillinuno]

Your location made me do a double take <img src="https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/images/smilies/smileR2R/heh.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Heh" smilieid="514" class="inlineimg">

<br><br>Yeah that happens some times&nbsp;<img src="https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/images/smilies/cutemoticons/cutemoticons/angel.png" border="0" alt="" title="Angel" smilieid="376" class="inlineimg">