Hair algae is getting worse and I can’t stop it.

[Spare time]

What other clean up crew do you recommend?
I might go ahead and order flux rx. Is it reef safe?

Yes flux rx is safe. It can kill macroalgae though.

As for clean up crew, emeralds, cerith, giant turbo, trochus, and hermits are what I like in a tank. Emeralds and giant turbos will be the most likely to eat the hair algae thought the turbos only when its short from my experience.

 

[Roadkillstewie]

Acclimation box, put in some form of caulerpa... racemosa or the like... something to try to compete with the hair algae. Manually remove what you can.

 

[Magic031707]

How much of the hydrogen peroxide do you dose and what is mb7?

I dosed 1ml/10 gals at night after lights out and dosed mb7 (brightwell mircobacter7) at the same dosage during the day with lights on. I also added filter floss and changed daily. I did not feed any coral food, only fed mysis shrimp. As it starts to die off keep eyes on your nitrates and phosphates for possible increase. I also cut off my whites lights for a few days. It will take some work but it can be done. Don't give up. I added 5 more turbo snails and few bumblebee snails and a few others that was included. Now I dose the same dosage above once weekly.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yeah I can’t take the rocks out. Most are glued together.

Maybe a total of 35 snail/ hermits combined in a 90 gallon. 1 tuxedo urchin.

The lights come on at 9:30 and go off at 7:30. Maybe light intensity is too high? I have 2 Red Sea 90 led. 70% blue and 10% white

Please post a pic of the tank under white lighting

 

[Spare time]

I'd stay away from adding stuff like this for now. It can have other effects as the tank is maturing. The best thing I ever did for my first tank was to stop fiddling with the it and adding this and that as a reaction. It will almost always cause another reaction that you must now resolve. Make sure to test at least twice a week, do you water changes and adjust feeding as needed. Use something like GFO, Phosguard or Phosphate RX to bring down po4 if it is high. Try to maintain a no3 of 10-20 and po4 from .05-.10 a little above either range is ok too.

I'd go down to 8 hours for your lights.
How old is the tank?

What maturing effects would fluconazole interfere with ? I have to disagree as it should only impact algae to wipe it back enough to be controlled and I've never heard fungus (as it's an antifungal) as being important to a reef tank

 

[aSaltyKlown]

What maturing effects would fluconazole interfere with ? I have to disagree as it should only impact algae to wipe it back enough to be controlled and I've never heard fungus (as it's an antifungal) as being important to a reef tank

Thanks, I've edited. I was thinking of Vibrant that has algaecides that can cause other issues as it is non-discriminate on the algae it kills. This could lead to other organisms to take over.

 

[Reef Devils]

How much are you feeding per day? Tank inhabitant list?

I feed once a day. Yellow tang, hippo blue, 2 clowns, 3 damsels - 90 gallon

 

[Reef Devils]

Is coraline growing?

Yes it is growing great

 

[Reef Devils]

Acclimation box, put in some form of caulerpa... racemosa or the like... something to try to compete with the hair algae. Manually remove what you can.

That’s a good idea I have an acclimation box. What works the best?

 

[Roadkillstewie]

That’s a good idea I have an acclimation box. What works the best?

I can't say what works best... in my limited experience, Racemosa seems to have the fastest growth. Hence the acclimation box, keeps it from getting roots on/into rocks.

Prolifera grows pretty quick for me too, but I've noticed 'leaves' coming loose and floating to other locations, and it'll sprout from those.

 

[Reef Devils]

Please post a pic of the tank under white lighting

 

[officialreefbros]

I had a huge battle with hair algae as well. I tried tons of manual removal scrubbing my rock with a toothbrush but just couldn't beat it. What worked for me in the end was bluelife Flux RX. I used reef Flux prior and that did nothing but after about 3 weeks fluxrx took out most of mine

 

[kevgib67]

Dosing hydrogen peroxide, manual removal and cuc worked for me. Remember, hair algae is like a right of passage, you’ll get through it like the rest of us. Keep your head up and keep moving forward until you’re on the other side!

 

[Lavey29]

As others have stated GHA is a normal part of a tanks evolution. Can take multiple months before it subsides. If you do your part the tank will do its part. If you have no patience then this hobby is not for you. Harsh chemicals will destroy your biome. Daily manual removal, diverse cleaner crew, water changes, focus on stability. Once GHA goes away it is commonly replaced with coralline.

 

[vancouverredsea350]

I’ve used a sea hare successfully and they clean every last spec of gha in my tank then I return it to the lfs when it’s gone. I’ve done this three times. My tank was in the front of my house that got a lot of natural light. I didn’t do any manual removal and some of it was very long. It took about 4-6 weeks for it to munch through it all.

 

[vetteguy53081]

heavy mass of GHA. Scrubbing work but you must also identify the source and eliminate it.
Seeing no coral on this rock, I would place it in a container of tank water and pull off as much as you can by hand and scrub the rest with a firm toothbrush and some 3% hydrogen peroxide.
Return to tank, reduce white light intensity and number of hours of white lighting and add some snails such as :
Astrea
cerith
turbo grazer
trochus

A Pencil urchin

8-10 Caribbean blue leg hermits

Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet ?
What is your phosphate level?
Is tank at or near a window?

 

[Seansea]

ATS and dont look back. Only solution

 

[PopBot16]

What is your NO3 and PO4? And what test kits?

 

[Brucemull]

I’ve used a sea hare successfully and they clean every last spec of gha in my tank then I return it to the lfs when it’s gone. I’ve done this three times. My tank was in the front of my house that got a lot of natural light. I didn’t do any manual removal and some of it was very long. It took about 4-6 weeks for it to munch through it all.

Sea Hares the way to fly I've had them in several tanks already. Super lawnmowers! No chemicals needed!

 

[Brucemull]

Hey,

I’ve been dealing with hair algae for the past month and a half or so. I can’t seem to stop it from growing like crazy. I know my nutrients aren’t high because I have tested them and I think the hair algae is consuming a lot of the nutrients. All of my corals still seem super happy, but some are starting to get covered by hair algae.

I ordered a tuxedo urchin and a bunch of snail but they haven’t done much. I think they haven’t done much because the hair is so long. I go in there and do a lot of manual removal, but it keeps coming back. what am I doing wrong here? Is there something that I could dose to kill his hair algae?

Thank you

Sea hares! The lawnmower snail is amazing with gha