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For those with problems of hair algae (1 Viewer)

Timmy77

Timmy77

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OK I have had problems with this stuff on and off in my old tank and now more recent in my 7 month old 90. The major contributor to my problem was to much photo period and to much light in general as none was growing in my sump. Started by reducing my photo period and skimming wet. Then added a reactor with HC GFO and premium carbon. Also added an auto top off with kalk/vinegar to keep my calk and alk in check. After allot of pruning and small water changes the stuff was dying but still kind of hanging on. So 2 weeks ago I added a rabbit fish and all I can say is WOW this things eats hair. Not much left now and every day I get home from work he seems to put a big dent in whats left. I would say another week and it will be completely gone.
:beerchug:
 
Forgot to mention that I also started dosing Tech M mag about 3 weeks ago. My understanding is that Tech M is the only magnesium to buy.
 
Timmy77 said:
Forgot to mention that I also started dosing Tech M mag about 3 weeks ago. My understanding as that Tech M is the only magnesium to buy.
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Who told you that? The people who sell Tech M?

How did the GFO do for you? I've got this sickly green stuff growing that I would like to stop in its tracks rather than wait for it to die off on its own.
 
hypertech said:
Who told you that? The people who sell Tech M?

How did the GFO do for you? I've got this sickly green stuff growing that I would like to stop in its tracks rather than wait for it to die off on its own.
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Jim E from New Ulm and I believe David G told him. Not sure on the GFO just decided to start gunning it all the time. The reactor is kind of a pain in that it needs adjusting about every day. I got the dual reactor from bulk reef and run there HC GFO and ROX carbon. From what I understand Magnesium is an important element in fighting hair but that it needs to be tech M to work. There may be other brands with the same chemical makeup.
I would about guarantee that a rabbit will take care of your problem.
 
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+1 with tech M. i have heard from other tcmas memeber that it does work. mag at 1500-1600 should kill the algea.
 
Make no mistake, unless your aquarium is new, hair algae is caused by a poor nutrient removal capacity, your photo period and your lighting is not going to be the root cause. What kind of skimmer are you running on what volume of system?

Also note, while your rabbit fish may be eating the hair algae, much of the nutrients are added back to the system via poop, creating a cyclical problem with systems and hair algae.
 
mattb said:
Make no mistake, unless your aquarium is new, hair algae is caused by a poor nutrient removal capacity
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I think this holds true for new tanks too. I have had mine up about a month now maybe and had SCORES of hair algea. My tank was starting to look like my lawn in June.

Did a water change and whamo, most of it died off. There is still some left, but that was the only thing I did and about 80% of it died away. I will do another water change soon and see if that gets the rest of it.(at least for now)

My tank, other than the skimmer has no means of nutrient export (no macro algea to speak of)
 
Timmy77 said:
So 2 weeks ago I added a rabbit fish and all I can say is WOW this things eats hair. .
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What kind of rabbitfish do you have? I have the foxface and it ignores hair algae completely. I'm sure the taste for it varies from fish to fish....
 
Well, new tanks are different, there's always many cycles happening, one of them concerns algae. You want these cycles, but after 4 months, you shouldn't have any hair algae issues, its just excess nutrient related.
 
mattb said:
Well, new tanks are different, there's always many cycles happening, one of them concerns algae. You want these cycles, but after 4 months, you shouldn't have any hair algae issues, its just excess nutrient related.
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From what I have seen detritus naturally gets trapped in hair algae and byropsis. I would think that the detritus would then be a natural source of nutrition for the algae. I would think this means that once you have your nutrient problem under control you could still have algae issues just because of the natural trapping of detritus within the patches of the algae. So if this is true you could have a relatively nutrient free tank, but still have algae issues. I'm not saying this is fact but I have always wondered about it.
 
Timmy77 said:
Jim E from New Ulm and I believe David G told him.
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For Hair algae Tech M does nothing. Only if you have byropsis. There are lots of theories out that as to why only Tech M ( 1600+ppm ) works, the leading candidate is not the magnesium itself but some other impurity or additive. Kent won't tell us exactly what may be in it.

If you don't have a byropsis issue, Magnesium levels Tech M is an expensive way to go just to maintain your levels. Best to use the Bulkreefsupply Mag chloride + epsom salt for maintaining levels.
 
mattb said:
Make no mistake, unless your aquarium is new, hair algae is caused by a poor nutrient removal capacity, your photo period and your lighting is not going to be the root cause. What kind of skimmer are you running on what volume of system?

Also note, while your rabbit fish may be eating the hair algae, much of the nutrients are added back to the system via poop, creating a cyclical problem with systems and hair algae.
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Well I had no hair growing on the rock in my sump or anywhere in my sump so nutrients would be just as high there you would think. As soon as I reduced the lighting the hair stopped growing. I'm using a large Euro Reef skimmer don't remember the model #. All I'm saying is whats working for my tank but not necessarily what will work for everyone's. People always ask for hair advice and they always get the same answers so I thought I would share my success story.:biggrin:
 
wolmutt said:
David, what do you think about my theory?
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That's pretty much what I like to do.

I'm not a deep sandbed kinda of guy. Either barebottom or larger sized substrate. I regularly blow of the detritus from the rock and siphon all the gunk from the substrate. So that's part of my regular maintenance. Sometimes as part of a water change. Most times I siphon it into a filter sock located in the sump. This way I can take as long as I need to siphon the gunk and not just until the bucket if full.

I try to export as much stuff as possible during maintenance. Not just change some water.
 
Do you use a regular python-like syphon? I've had trouble in the past creating enough suction to pull out bigger pieces of gunk.
 
pmnovak1 said:
Do you use a regular python-like syphon? I've had trouble in the past creating enough suction to pull out bigger pieces of gunk.
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Yep, same here. I gave up and just started using the hose, trying to pick up as little sand as possible and doing it as part of the water change.
 
Timmy77 said:
Well I had no hair growing on the rock in my sump or anywhere in my sump so nutrients would be just as high there you would think. As soon as I reduced the lighting the hair stopped growing. I'm using a large Euro Reef skimmer don't remember the model #. All I'm saying is whats working for my tank but not necessarily what will work for everyone's. People always ask for hair advice and they always get the same answers so I thought I would share my success story.:biggrin:
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But algae can not grow without light, so of course it wouldn't grow in your sump. The root cause is nutrients, of course lighting is helping the situation.....
 
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