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Hair algae

S

saltwater4life

Alright for awhile I've had a bad case of hair algae and I've tried reducing the lighting, less feeding and more cleaner But nothing it just seems to be growing faster every time i try to stop it. I asked my uncle and he said his lfs sells this stuff to stop hair algae and slime algae but he couldn't remember what it was called so if anyone has any advice please let me know.
Thanks!
Nick
 
malulu

malulu

NJRC Member
i have the same problem before, once i start to do mass (40%)  water change freqently...   about twice a week, it will then gets better (within 2 to 3 weeks)...
;D

good luck...
;)
 
C

concept3

Guest
Nick-

Hair algae needs to be "starved" to keep it under control.  You have taken all the necessary precautions from what I read you did, but there is something else feeding your algae.  Have you tried testing for phosphates?  That is one of the culprits of hair algae blooms.  

Use of GFO's (rowaphos, phosban) helps reduce PO4, and even something as simple as dosing Kalkwasser helps too.  The Kalk precipitates something (I'm sorry, it's really late, I can't remember right now) that the algae needs to survive (I think it was phosphates)

Your first defense is always manual removal (by hand or by critters) followed by water changes, I really wouldn't recommend using chemicals for algae control, they usually make it worse since the algae dies and causes a nitrate spike which feeds more algae  :(

I've known a few people who have battled it out with algae and won-  patience is a virtue especially in this hobby.
 
S

saltwater4life

yea i knew i had to starve them but nothing seems to be working...
i dont know how to test that is there a test kit for it?
and yes it's a bloom... a few pieces of LR are 100% covered... if my crabs are molting it gets like 6 inch's long in some spots but it wont go away i dont wanna try keeping the lights off for along time with the corals and inverts...

Thank you very much for the info guys i hope i figure this problem out it stinks...
 
S

saltwater4life

wow just checked out that site that really looks like it would take care of my problem you used it with corals and fish? ;D
i might have to get that if i cant get rid of it soon... it said that HA needs nitrate of 12+ last time i checked it was less then 4
 
A

aeroblnde

I've used it on my 29 gallon and it did work. no problems with hard, soft corals or inverts. It does work best in a canister filer. If you don't have one just make sure it has strong flow through the poutch.
 
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