My boss's 55g has a terrible hair algae problem...

[expatgoalie]

I honestly haven't seen it that bad. He has no detectable nitrates in the tank, and has not tested phosphates. 0ammonia/trites, 80 degrees, 1.025, 430cal, did not test alkalinity.

I've advised him to do water changes as much as possible for now, but how can one get rid of the hair that's in the DT already? Hermits? Turbo snails? He is low on CUC at the moment (3 emerald crabs, 6 snails, maybe 2 hermits, a pep shrimp, brittle star), but I didn't think the tank could get this bad.

Anyone have any additional suggestions? He doesn't have room for a proper sump, but he is using a hob skimmer and canister filter (cleans weekly)... Lights are also on a 4 hour cycle daily right now, so it's not overlighting IMHO...

 

[JayM]

the simple fact is, the nitrates are fertilizer, and they are trapped in the hair algae. Physical removal is a good idea. Turbo snails also do wonders, but the underlying lack of adequate nutrient export through either a refugium with macro algae, more aggressive/efficient skimming, and frequent water changes are the only things that are going to 'fix' the problem.

 

[JayM]

some more thoughts: bulb age may contribute to algae growth, and the canister filter is probably acting as a nitrate factory for the HA

 

[Mr.Rodrigo502]

Yea u should def make a sump sump at least......better than canister.....convert canister into a carbon reactor......at least do a 20 gal sump if not much room......less time in running lights till algae is gone and get a tang....they love algae will eat it all day! Just my opinion....................gl

 

[expatgoalie]

A sump is really impossible for him at the moment due to logistics. I will print the thread out for him later today to consider all options. Thanks for the help.

 

[frank180reef]

can he take the rocks out and scrub them in a seperate bucket, thus releasing some of the stored up nutrients

 

[RadReefer]

Yea, just set up two buckets, one for scrubbing and then one for rinsing the rock off before it is placed back in the tank.

 

[expatgoalie]

What about the other live critters on the rocks? They'll be okay?

 

[frank180reef]

some snails and crabs may drop off the rock, if so place them back into the tanks

 

[jt628]

Nitrates will always show up as zero when you have hair algae,

3 most common causes of hair algae are:

1)Old bulbs or too much lighting
2)overfeeding
3)adding too many "essential elements"

one of those 3 are usually the culprate... If you have any/ all of those issues even cleaing the rocks will not help, It woll just come back!!!

If the light is too intense, The tank will get used to it, otherwise the other issues are an easy fix.

Just speaking from my experience