How to get rid of green hair algae
Reef tank 9 years ago 230,735 views
A bowl of water, some hungry snails, a helpful product and time will get this problem under control. Hope you like the funny bits, those were intentional. Getting rid of Green Hair Algae: http://www.melevsreef.com/articles/getting-rid-of-green-hair-algae Phosphate Rx: http://www.melevsreef.com/product/phosphate-rx Phosphate Rx video: https://youtu.be/7x8bmqx9NOM Thanks to Frank's Tanks for letting me film there: http://franks-tanks.com/
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suddenly treat the water and remove the algae but do nothing about the large amount phosphate & ammonia that you must be adding to your system (because algae contains lots of nitrogen and it prefers to feed on ammonia) ==> perfect environment for massive tank crash!
10. comment for How to get rid of green hair algae
Tiny hermit crabs, various snails, a tuxedo urchin... all help with algae control. You can read my CUC article on melevsreef.com and decide what to buy. If you lose a few to a pistol shrimp, consider them love food. Any inverted snails need to be righted so they can stay working and not become food or pollution in your tank. It’s just a part of proper husbandry.
20. comment for How to get rid of green hair algae
Greeting from indonesia.
I have pico tank, 40liters.
Wavemaker 3000L/hr.
Waterpump 1000L/hr
Back sump with skimmer + seachem product + baby mangrove 25pcs.
Nh4 : < 0.2 | no2 : 0 | no3 : 0 | po4 : < 0.03
Ca : 450 | mg : 1380 | kh : 10.2 | alk : 3.65
Salinity 1.025
PH : 8.1
Temperatur : 26 - 27 celcius
Lamp : 72watt
2 fish, feed 1x times each day. Always make sure the fish consume all food.
But my tank always have brown algae in glass.
How to prevent or solved it??
Did you have email?
So i can send my test result (picture) to you.
Because i still didnt understand my po4 already so low, but i still got algae in my Main Tank.
Oh okay. Thanks.
So i need to reduce my phospate again, because probably my testkit give wrong result
I mean, i use product for anti algae/ algae removal, it is safe for coral or not? Im afraid it will impact on my coral.
So algae removal is 100% safe for coral?
Thank you for response.
I use 2 product of test kit, salifert & sera. Both of it have same result.
I dont have other mechanical tools filtration, only skimmer.
Can i use seachem product for reduce this algae?
Or if i use algae removal product, its 100%safe for any coral?
30. comment for How to get rid of green hair algae
50. comment for How to get rid of green hair algae
I have six tangs that have been through it for years. Spock has been with me since 2004, so lots of Phosphate Rx has passed over that fish. ;)
It is lanthanum chloride, mixed correctly for easy dosing. I never have to warn people about Phosphate Rx. People that do say "oh, be careful" are always those that used their own powder and made their own solution. I've never even considered trying that way when this is so simple to use.
And because it comes up so often, I'll end up doing a video showing how easy it is. :)
Years ago, I had an autofeeder dump a month's worth of food in my tank over the weekend while I was out of town. Phosphate was 3.0 when I got home. I used Phosphate Rx every other day for two weeks until it was down to 0 and stayed there. My corals and fish were unaffected.
The two may get back together again. Have you considered an autofeeder? I use Eheim autofeeders on all my tanks, you can set how much comes out per session, and you can do it once or several times a day, or pick the days you want it to drop in food.
ps it is still alive and fine anemone
At the end of 6 months, sometime in January, if I my tank is not free of GHA I'm going to consider getting out of the hobby. This is not what I signed up for.
In my case, I thought that root cause was rocks saturated with nutrients. I always thought this sounded silly, and maybe it’s not impossible, but I’m now convinced that wasn’t the issue with my tank. The Rx had helped. The GHA problem was finally under control but not 100% eliminated. I couldn’t figure out why. I kept up treatments, and instead of completely irradiating the GHA it just wrecked some of my stony coral. (perhaps 6 drops was too rapid a drop in po4’s). I figured the rock, if it was unleashing nutrients, maybe it hit a plateau with the Rx. I’m no chemist or geologist, but I just wasn’t satisfied with the rock absorption idea. What I did notice was, now that the GHA was under control, my sand bed began in earnest and just wouldn’t stop blooming with cyano, especially in the lower flow areas as you might image. I wasn't keen on adding yet another chemical, like RedCyanoRx. And any new GHA was generally near the sand too (earlier it was all over). So, I decided to see what was up with the sand bed. I vacuumed a few small, controlled spots and found it was utterly saturated with poisonous, gray, silty death. I mean really, really saturated. A cubic inch or two of sand had enough silt to turn 2 gallons of siphoned water completely opaque. So what’s the stupidest thing I could think of to do next? Make extra water, put the rocks and animals in a bucket, and vacuum the entire sand bed. Within two weeks fresh GHA was growing in earnest and Rx wasn’t helping much more than further irritating some of my stoney corals. I realized what had happened. The Rx helped me to deplete the poison at the top of the sanded. My vacuuming only managed to raise stuff at the bottom to the top, with probably even more vile poison. At least I had evidence that the root cause wasn’t the rocks, or not only the rocks. Though the tank didn’t crash, the GHA was getting worse and my blastos and acans began to recede. I knew what I had to do. This past weekend, I took all of my water out of the tank and into a big container with all rocks and animals. I threw out all the sand and scrubbed the tank. Then I put everything back in with a 25% water change. After two weeks looking sickly, within a day of dumping the sand my blastos and acans were much happier. I’m not a bare bottom aficionado, and it’s only been a few days, but this has to be an improvement, even from just knowing what was in the sand bed. My nessarius are not happy though :) The good news is that everything in my tank has survived, though a few corals hang in the balance. If I get sand again, I think I’ll get something other than inverts as primary sand churners,, maybe a diamond goby.
PhosphateRx is handy for a quick fix, the containable mistake, like the fish food fiasco from your video. It’s just not meant for a systemic problem. Now that I’ve got the root cause out of the way (pretty sure), I might do a week more of Rx doses and one more black out, and then give the tank a month to recover. Then we'll see if GHA comes back. I might even not be afraid to feed my fish once in a while.
OK, I'll try moving from 3 drops to 6 over the next few days and see how it goes. I'd love to see something take a serious bite out of the existing GHA growth other than blackouts.
Have you added any clean up crew critters? A tuxedo urchin, some red legged hermits and some astrea snails should work that stuff right out of the system. I'd put in about 15 critters if I were you. www.melevsreef.com/cuc is my article on that topic. Might as well have a decent population so you don't have to feel like you have to work so hard.
I see no reason to use this at half-power. If you have a 10g tank, I'd use 6 drops per session. 5 if you want to be cautious. :)
I'd like to see your tank looking better in 30 days, not in six months.
I'm not concerned about making the tank cloudy. I figure it just makes the skimmer's job that much easier. FYI, I was also running a homemade in-tank reactor with 2 tbsp of phosban. I just replaced that with a dumped bag of chemipure elite in a phospban 150. My tank is ~10g in the display, with about ~2g in a CPR Aquafuge2 which essentially operates like a sump. I have a Tunze9002 and a wad of chaeto in the fuge. The reactor hangs off the side of the fuge, pulling form the bottom. I run my Kessil 150w for no more than 6 hrs/day. The tank churns with an old MP10 and the output from fuge. A ton of coral, a few inverts and two smallish clowns. It's a nice setup where nothing should've gone wrong, more than capable of handling the bio-load. Except that I got lazy.
I'm not sure I understand your logic of dosing Rx at 100% every ~3 days instead of my 50% every day. The latter would seem to be less invasive with a greater concentration over all, no? Fwiw, I put two drops in the sump surround the skimmer and one drop right into the mouth (where the scum bubbles out). My main point in my reply was to say that PhosphateRx is not this phosphate panacea that magically cures your tank. The cure is way more a matter of consistent, hard work than anything else. I didn't feel your video was conveying that and was more giving the impression that you drop this stuff in and voila! no more algae. Maybe that's just what I wanted to hear :)
As for a the powerhead to clear detritus, my turkey baster works wonders. I use it all the time. I think using a powerhead in my tiny tank would exacerbate the problem by kicking up sand and releasing who-knows-what into the water column. Also I think the pulsing nature of the baster is more effective.
My tank is so small, I'm not really concerned about all of those parameters. Right now I'm doing water changes every other day on average, about 15%. When things were fine I did that once a week... well, I was suppose to and that's where the laziness got me into trouble with po4-saturated rocks and substrate. Otherwise, for such a small tank that's a fine schedule for replacing desired minerals and removing the unwanted ones. Don't you think?
Thanks for your help.
However, back in 2013, my Eheim autofeeder dumped in a month's worth of food into the tank while I was speaking out of town one weekend. When I came home, I noticed over the next few days I had a significant amount of algae growing on the glass to the point I assumed phosphate was up. When I got up on my stepladder, I saw the Eheim spinning around and around and around, completely empty. That explained why I was seeing algae. So I grabbed my kit, and it measured 3.0ppm which is VERY high. When PO4 hits that point, it saturates the rock and sand. To remove it, I'd have to dose the system repeatedly. I dosed the correct amount for my water volume every other day for about two weeks. Each time it pulled some out, but the number rose again because it was leaching out of the rockwork. However, after two weeks, it was down to 0 and stayed there.
I think you may be in a similar predicament, and just have to treat back to back until it has been exported. If you are concerned about making your tank cloudy, I sell a 10 micron filter sock that will trap it extremely well -- to the point that sock will likely overflow within 2 hours of being installed nice and clean. But your tank won't be cloudy for hours. http://melevsreef.com/catalog/4-filter-sock-10-micron
You did say you were dosing it at 1/2 strength. I'd dose at the proper amount, and do so every two or three days until you get the numbers you're desiring. There's no reason to throw in the towel yet, it's just a challenge you've got to tackle for the time being.
One more thing you should do. Grab a powerhead like a Maxijet 1200, and plug it into a 6' extension cord. Go through your tank with that powerhead and blast the rockwork and the algae. Get all the detritus in suspension, so a sock and/or your skimmer can remove it. Do this weekly for a month. That will also help get things back on track. I'd suggest regular monthly water changes (25% or more), and stay on top of water parameters (alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, salinity, temperature primarily; phosphate and nitrate secondarily; ammonia & pH if you're curious).
Let me know if you have any other questions.
just put Quoyi Parrot fish in your tank ,after few days allt the hair algae is gone
I dose based on tank PO4 level. When it is low, I ignore it. When it begins to rise, I watch. When it reads .25ppm, I'll dose.
carbon. Will it really do nothing to help prevent or eliminate algae?
There is something mounted to the wall with a blue logo. Is that a fish feeder and if so, which one?
Thanks.
Also I only have turbos. 10-15 of them but don't touch hair algae at all. Also starting to learn to have a mixed variety of snails, what would you say is the best mix?
100. comment for How to get rid of green hair algae
I just want to hear your input on this issue... I've done it, most people do it, but I usually fill up a small container with tank water and shake the snails vigorously through my display water discarding the LFS water, then putting them into the display.... Just to eliminate any traces of LFS water that remain... Sure an ich cyst could still be on the shell, but that is a risk I am taking... Not bashing you in any way, I'm just curious to hear your response.
Have a good one,
-Luke
This frag tank is part of the main system, and I've used this same method as long as I've been in the hobby.
well the oysters hve been in the 150 now for about 2 months and are doing very well, hopefully that stays the same
i've been trying your method for green hair algae for three weeks now I have had zero phosphates testing with salifert phosphate tester, but the green hair keeps growing, i ve reduced feeding the fish to try and help but nothing is working the turbo snails don't touch it? Any ideas?
I want to use a Cole-Parmer Masterflex continuous duty peristaltic pump. thanks again. And Love your VIDS they SO DIRECT AND i feel like im there. I just hate reading. Im more of a hands on.I like seeing what im doing . I learn better that way. Jan
I'd also recommend doing three 50% water changes over a one week period to get the nitrate down. It'll be closer to 5ppm after the third change if you follow my advice.
1. If i doze coral rx but dont manually remove the gha, will they dissappear on their own?
2. I have a 75 and 25 gallon sump, does this mean ill be droping at least 42 drops? Aint that alot?
Thank u so much Mark and happy holidays ,
If you consider the inner dimensions of your tank and subtract the displacement of sand and water, then add the water volume of the sump, you'd be treating 75g worth of liquid volume. 40-45 drops is all you need per dosing session.
Happy holidays to you too!