Extreme algae problem... Help please, my reef tank looks like crap because of this!

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Plec123

Plec123

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jun 26, 2009
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:nilly:
Ive had this algae problem for some time, and my reef has been set up for about a year and a half.
just about 90% of my live rock is covered in this algae (click link to see what im talking about)
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=490+659&pcatid=659

this is fairly expensive stuff on liveaquaria, and i cant get rid of it... just my luck.
apparently it contains poisonous substances so algae eating animals wont help.
I have well water, which is apparently rich in phosphates. It seems as though my only option is to get a phos-ban reactor. Should i go ahead and get one once i have enough money? or is there another option for me to try?

please help, im sick and tired of this slgae choking my corals and making my tank look hideous!
:help2:
 
+1 to what mr reef said hair algae. Manual removal couldn't hurt and you most likely have high nutrient levels either nitrate or phosphates. How often are you doing water changes and how much are you changing?
 
mr.reef24;3449365; said:
what you have is hair algae similar looking to maiden's hair but not the same. A sea hare like this will devour it like nothing;

http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+524+726&pcatid=726

also what is your flow and feeding like? what is your lighting cycle and phosphate level?

mr.reef24
Click to expand...

so, if i just go get a sea hare it will eat all the algae? Then what would happen once the algae is gone? What if it dies and releases poison and kills my fish and corals?

This tank is at my moms house and i only go here every other weekend so it would be difficult for me to respond quickly if it died or got stressed and released poison into the water.
I feed dried krill once a day.
Eater flow is generally weak because tufts of algae are breaking off of rocks constantly and getting stuck in the powerhead intake.
Nitrates are 0 so im assuming phosphates are the problem, though i dont have a phosphate test kit.
For lighting i hav 2 39w T5 HO bulbs (tank is a 30gal and all the corals are either zoas or shrooms and all the corals are in the upper half of the tank).

My big problem with the sea hare is that if it dies no one at my moms house will notice untill my fish start dying, because i am only there every other weekend.
So, i could give it a try, but are there any other options that i could try first?
 
I never had a problem with a sea hare dying after it eat's the hair algae as long as there are other algae's present for him to eat on or if you put some nori for him no issue's or concern needed. Fox face may or may not eat the hair algae it's 50/50 with them but what ever make's you more comfortable with do. I just hope for the best results for you.

mr.reef24
 
i feel your pain ive bin battling this hair algae issue for a while now i minimized it to not look so bad i did a 25% water change every other day bought a r.o unit..if you cant afford one right now go to walmart or local shopping store and u can buy it by the gallon its like 70 cents a gal...when i do the water changes i put the syphon on the rock and bang it a couple times and alot of it comes off also if its really bad like in your case i would take the rock out and put it in the water u took out and scrub it with a toothbrush or manually pick it off with ur hand also if you have some floating immediatly scoop it out with a net..buy some snails so after u get the hairyness off the rock you have some green theyll suck it right off hope this helps
 
also if the store runs out of r.o water u can used distilled water...i just started running phosban as well because my phosphates were very high so if you can get your hands on that..that would help as well
 
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