Hair Algae Problems

[gigmeyer]

Here's a topic that has been discussed ad nauseum, but I've been battling with hair algae for over a month now. At this point, I brush the algae with a toothbrush weekly as part of my regular water changes and continue losing ground. Here are some basics on the tank.

Tank: 24g Nano (18 g actual)
LR: 26 lb.
Water: RO/DI used (~10 ppm. Not perfect, but the best my unit can produce).
Salt Mix: IO - 16% water changed weekly.
Parameters: SG 1.025, Temp: 78, Alkalinity is low (need to diagnose), PH 8.4
Filtration: Combination ChemiPure Elite, Rowaphos, SeaChem SeaGel in 1st filter compartment
Skimmer: Tunze Nano
CUC: 4 Cerith, 6 Nerite, 1 Astro, 5 Nassarius, 5 Scarlet Hermits, Blue Hermit, Mithrax, Peppermint Shrimp, Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
Lighting: 150W MH, 7.5 hours/day - No direct sunlight gets to the tank!
Feeding: Every other day. Either flake, Frozen Brine, or Mysis.
Flow: Maxi-Jet 1200 (295 gph) in filter. Maxi-Jet 900 (230 gph) with Hydor-Flo director. ~29x volume for 18g. Minimal dead spots.

Other than losing an Astrea about 1-2 months ago and a Cerith to the blue hermit, all inhabitants are as healthy as can be. For this reason, I haven't been tweaking paramaters at all other than adding some buffer weekly as part of the water changes due to the low alkalinity.

Based on other threads, all I can think of is adding either a sea hare or a lawnmower blenny. Neither solution seems good as I'm wondering what a sea hare would do to my rock formation and don't want to mess with sponges on the powerhead. The blenny is technically too large for the tank and may be a problem for my yellow watchman.

Thoughts?

 

[littleme1969]

Dwarf Blue leg hermits, by the bucket load..lol
I have a large population of these in my tank and they eat every type of algae known to man. My rock is spotless and its obvious what a great job they do when I see what grows on my filter outlet where they cant reach. Hair algae and red and green slime algae and brown algae, they eat the lot in no time, plus they only add a small bio load to the tank and are really cheap too.

To stop them attacking snails etc you have to add lots of shells to your tank so they have something to upgrade into. Otherwise when they outgrow their shells they will find a new home by means of murder!

 

[gigmeyer]

Thanks. The one blue leg I have seems to prefer murder to moving into an unoccupied shell. I purchased the Cerith snails recently to stir up the sand and the crab ignored an empty nerite shell that came in the group and murdered one of the new additions instead. I'll start watching it to see if it likes the hair algae and consider more.

 

[littleme1969]

Did you actually see it kill the snail, as these guys tend to get a lot of bad press. Snails dies for another reason, hermit goes in for a quick snack, then you blame him in the morning when you see him eating the leftovers I have about 15 of these in a 15 gallon along with 2 scarlets and an assortment of snails. Ive never seen them attack and kill anything. The only time they get nasty is when one of the other hermits sheds. then they know he is nice and soft and will have a go at picking him out of shell. But thats blue hermits for you, real oppertunist little guys.
They will only eat the alage if there is competition for food and as you only have one then he'll eat left over food before he even touches the alage so will probably show no interest. Thats why you need loads of them They clean up tits bits and as they are still hungry the alage is next on the menu.

 

[Musho3210]

my lfs said that blue legged hermits like those pointy cerith snail shells, and i believe them since most of mine chose those out of my shell pile. Get them a variety of shells, round, pointy, oval, tall, everything.

 

[littleme1969]

If you see the variety of differeny shells that mine have upgraded into you would see its as much about size as anything. Mine are living in 5 o6 different shaped shells and are doing really well.
Your shop does not now everything

 

[gigmeyer]

To answer your original question, no I did not see it kill the snail. It kept turning the snail over and peeking inside even though there was an empty cerith shell right next to it free for the taking. I kept burying the live snail and the hermit would unearth it again. The snail may not have been healthy as I had only added these ceriths two days before the hermit took over. I never saw any sign of snail remains, but have enough of a CUC to take care of things pretty quickly I suppose. This was the first hermit I added to the tank after cycling to test that the tank was ready for a CUC and has become a token blue based on subsequent reading about their supposed aggressiveness.

Back to algae, conventional wisdom indicates a nutrient problem in the tank. Are there any plants suitable for a nano that can outcompete hair algae for these nutrients? Maybe the RO unit I have is injecting enough phosphates that it is perpetuating the problem. I'd hate to replace it since it is new, but my TDS meter indicates it is taking tap water from 150 ppm down to 10-15 ppm. Flushing it will bring the reading down to 6-7 range for a short period, but not the 0-1 range I've read about.

 

[SkiFletch]

Even at those TDS readings (with something getting past the membrane) its only the smallest of molecules that are allowed past, and phosphate is a pretty big one, so its unlikely that's what's doing it.

You didn't mention if you do or do not vaccum clean your substrate while water changing. If not, it's time to start.

Then, I can really only think of 4 things to suggest... Change food brands. Your feeding schedule sounds fine, but you might just have a brand that's full of nutrients. Change bulb brand/spectra. You mention you have a 150watt MH but not the bulb type. You could have one that's offering too much lower color temp light that is benefitting the algae. Consider somethin in the 14K range to out-compete. Add clumps of Chaeto or other macro algaes which with your high lighting might be able to out-compete the algae.

Or last but certainly not least is a new unique chemical method being tried by some hobbiests in my local club with great success... Raising the tank's magnesium to really high levels for a few days seems to kill off the hair algae and leave all other organisms alone. Normal Mg is ~1350ppm for seawater, proponents of this method suggest getting it up well over 1500 if not more like 1600ppm. When you do so, the algae bleaches and dies.

HTH

 

[gigmeyer]

Thanks Ski. That's excellent. As far as vacuuming, I've had a cyano problem in the past and vacuum/stir up the substrate every week. I use a siphon hose for a 10g tank without the attachment and literally pull of the top layer of arragonite if it has algae growth. The light is a Sunpod 20" with a 14K bulb. Not sure if all bulbs are the same. I have 5 different kinds of food now (flake, pellet, frozen) and rotate between 4 of them, so identifying a problem food may take a little time.

I'll look into a macro algae first and do more research on the magnesium. Can you reference any good articles on using magnesium?

 

[SkiFletch]

hummm, I'll try and see if I can find it in my local club's archives, may take me a bit Oh, and just to add, that's a good quality light so I wouldn't worry about that as your hair algae cause. I'd look more into changing your brand of foods.

 

[superman]

If it is indeed bryopsis, Magnesium sulfate (epsom salt) dosed to bring your magnesium levels up to around 1600 ppm will kill the hair algae.

 

[rhysiboy]

heres one suggested by the guys on rc, tried it and it works for cyano. Turn off your tanks lights for 2 - 3days. Do your normal feeding routine. The reason you can do this is because reefs can sometimes have days at a time of cloudy weather meaning hardly any light gets through. It does have some risks though if you have macro algaes because they can go 'sexual' However most people tend to see that their tank be rid of the algae (sometimes may only be partially gone) and have a really clear tank. Maybe worth a shot before you start adding animals that may be at risk in your tank. Also if you take my advice then its your decision and I cannot be held responsible. Maybe its worth having a look on Reef central - so shoot me i said the name- under general or something like that