Brown hair algae, mature(ish) tank

[BradUK]

Hi guys,

I'm having a brown hair algae issue that I can't seem to get on top of!

The tank is a RS 425XL
Deltec 1200i skimmer
Red Sea reefmat 1200
2 x reefwave 45's
Plenty of live rock in the display
2 x reefled 90's running 20% blue and 15% white for 8 hours
M1 return pump
I have rock and chaeto growing in the sump under a kessil h80

It's fairly heavily stocked with fish and I think my husbandry is fairly good, I do a good clean every Sunday along with a 50ltr waterchange

Parameters are;
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Mag 1300
Calcium 430
Kh 8
Phos 0.07
Nitrate 1.5

I'm using Sunny's MB7 reef snow flocculant and 2ml of Nopox daily to keep the numbers stable.

I have a selection of Acros, Montis and Lps which all seem to be getting in fine, just these bloody tufts of brown popping up in places!

I feed frozen mysis, pellet and nori.

I'm starting to chase my tail a bit on what to do for the best, I don't see a reduction if i run my big three higher or lower. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Brad

 

[JaaxReef]

Doesn’t look like too much to handle. Have you tried manual removal with water changes? Looks kind of like some type of turf algae which after manual removal of the long threads sometimes urchins, a fox face, or certain tangs (probably zebrasoma) will clean the rest off.

 

[BradUK]

Doesn’t look like too much to handle. Have you tried manual removal with water changes? Looks kind of like some type of turf algae which after manual removal of the long threads sometimes urchins, a fox face, or certain tangs (probably zebrasoma) will clean the rest off.

My next purchase is a tuxedo urchin, I'm just waiting on the LFS to get one in.

It does come away with a hard bristle brush, I'm using one of the baby bottle brushes from Amazon at the minute

The hippo and yellow aren't interested in it as it stands, they'd rather be fed from their clip which is obviously my fault the little piggies!

 

[BradUK]

Apologies, my lights are running 100% blue and 15% white. The tank has been running for two years or so

 

[JaaxReef]

My next purchase is a tuxedo urchin, I'm just waiting on the LFS to get one in.

It does come away with a hard bristle brush, I'm using one of the baby bottle brushes from Amazon at the minute

The hippo and yellow aren't interested in it as it stands, they'd rather be fed from their clip which is obviously my fault the little piggies!

Every tang is different, some just don’t really love certain types of algae.

Are there any areas in your scape that get low flow or build up of gunk in the rocks? You could think about reprogramming your pumps to run different flow types or cycles as that can help prevent build up. If you have been running the same flow program for 2 years it can get stagnant in some areas.

I would also recommend Brightwell Razor if it continues to be stubborn. I used it on my tank a while back before I had really mixed up my flow patterns throughout the day and developed some hair algae in some crevices. No I’ll effects on any corals. I just started with half the dose they recommended. It really cleaned up the rocks and helped loosen the gunk to get it removed by the skimmer or filter socks.

 

[BradUK]

Every tang is different, some just don’t really love certain types of algae.

Are there any areas in your scape that get low flow or build up of gunk in the rocks? You could think about reprogramming your pumps to run different flow types or cycles as that can help prevent build up. If you have been running the same flow program for 2 years it can get stagnant in some areas.

I would also recommend Brightwell Razor if it continues to be stubborn. I used it on my tank a while back before I had really mixed up my flow patterns throughout the day and developed some hair algae in some crevices. No I’ll effects on any corals. I just started with half the dose they recommended. It really cleaned up the rocks and helped loosen the gunk to get it removed by the skimmer or filter socks.

I've just switched a Nero 5 put for another reefwave 45 some.im.hoping that will help. It does tend to grow on the side of the pillars that don't get much flow.

Thanks for your help buddy