Please Help: Battling Nuisance Green Hair Algae Problem

dbean23 · Aug 4, 2019

Hi Reefers:

I have been battle green hair algae for about 3 months now. I think it may have killed off 2 of my corals - a blue star polyp and a black torch coral. I think it started growing at their base and then just annoyed them too death. Now I still have 4 corals left - toadstool - duncan - and two others that I'm not sure what they are. My parameters are good. I run the tank at 74 degrees Fahrenheit at 1.026 salinity. I also tested the water and have 0 nitrates, .25 phosphates, 0 nitrites and 0 ammonia. I have been using Phosphate RX daily using 6 drops a day but the algae is still strong. I can't pull it off the rock. I keep my windows closed so no light sees the tank. I do water changes weekly at 2 gallons which is 20% of my nano tank. I run a 200 micron filter sock with a 50 micron filter floss piece and 2 Boyd Enterprises Chemi-Pure Nano Packs a month. I also have a syncra silent .5 pump and a hydor koralia 425 gph powerhead. I feed the fish very little like 6 pellets of coral food a day. The only fish I have is 1 clownfish. CUC is 3 red legged hermits, 1 turbo snail, 1 nassarius snail. Do you know what else I can try?

Best,

Bhor217 · Aug 12, 2019

Arcticfirefighter · Aug 13, 2019

I had a huge algae problem as well, nothing I tried worked for months. Then I was told to use Flux RX, it's a fluconazole treatment that takes about 2 weeks.

vetteguy53081 · Aug 13, 2019

Flux is good . I had great results with liquid Vibrant. Hair and bubble algae GONE

DesertReefT4r · Aug 13, 2019

Let me guess you are using the API test kit, could be wrong here. If so the po4 test is totally useless for reefing, .25 ppm as the lowest reading is junk. Not to mention what lookw like .25 is really 0. I have tested 0 tds rodi water and got .25 with API tests. So if you are using this yest kit please buy a somehing better, Red Sea and Salifert make great tests and are priced well. I would stop all chemical and media dosing until you test with quality lower range kits. You are using a lot of chemical filteration and its not needed. 6 drops of po4rx every day is a lot for a small tank. I be you have almost no po4. 4drops in my 75g will lower po4 .02ppm. Remove all that chemipure ect and just use the filter sock. Remove the rock and scrub it in a bucket of water from the tank, rinse clean in another bucket of tank water before placing back in the tank. In a small tank this is easy to do and can be an effect way of removeal. Small water changes and not way over feeding should be all that is needed in a tank under 25 gallons. I had a 6g that all I did was change 50% of the water every 2 weeks and feed the 2 clown fish and it was an awesome little reef.

vetteguy53081 · Aug 13, 2019

DesertReefT4r said:
Let me guess you are using the API test kit, could be wrong here. If so the po4 test is totally useless for reefing, .25 ppm as the lowest reading is junk. Not to mention what lookw like .25 is really 0. I have tested 0 tds rodi water and got .25 with API tests. So if you are using this yest kit please buy a somehing better, Red Sea and Salifert make great tests and are priced well. I would stop all chemical and media dosing until you test with quality lower range kits. You are using a lot of chemical filteration and its not needed. 6 drops of po4rx every day is a lot for a small tank. I be you have almost no po4. 4drops in my 75g will lower po4 .02ppm. Remove all that chemipure ect and just use the filter sock. Remove the rock and scrub it in a bucket of water from the tank, rinse clean in another bucket of tank water before placing back in the tank. In a small tank this is easy to do and can be an effect way of removeal. Small water changes and not way over feeding should be all that is needed in a tank under 25 gallons. I had a 6g that all I did was change 50% of the water every 2 weeks and feed the 2 clown fish and it was an awesome little reef.

Sad but agree on API Test kits

dbean23 · Aug 13, 2019

Thanks for the suggestions. I used to feed with a pinch of frozen mysis shrimp. I read in a forum that that stuff causes green hair algae. Is that true?

RomoFL · Aug 13, 2019

Would blacking out the tank for a few days help?

blitzkragz · Aug 13, 2019

They don't call them "lawnmower" blennys for nothing

I have a similar starry blenny, and he would be destroying that algae for lunch in big chomps. After the algae is gone, they eat just about anything you would feed your clown, and have the best personality of any fish in the hobby imo.

doodledreads · Aug 13, 2019

Lets get to the basics. Ask yourself these.

Are you sure what your parameters are? What test kit did you test them with? I recommend red sea / salifert/ hanna testkits instead of API.

Are your parameters stable? Test them everyday for a couple weeks to notice if they are indeed stable.

Are you sure your RODI has not phosphates/nitrates?

Are you sure your rock isn't leaching any phosphates?

What lights are you using? Do you know the PAR and spectrum?

Are you sure it is GHA and not Bryopsis? Bryopsis can be removed using Fluconozole treatment. There is a really good thread on R2R. However, you will need to still work on your nutrients.