HELP WITH HAIR ALGAE

[palcaidinho]

Hello I have a 55 gallon tank with 2 powerheads, fluval canister filter, uv sterilizer and a skilter unit. I reciently upgraded my lighting to pcs. and since then i have noticed a big difference with algae growth. (brownish algae and hair algae) My question is could this be possible by just upgrading my lighting? is it harmful to my fish? whow do i stop this? do i remove my live rock from tank to clean? and how?

 

[pcmankey]

Yes, most definitely the lighting. I got rid of hair algae by reducing the lighting period, and the snails and Yellow Tang I have did their share as well. It will not harm the fish--you can just pull it off w/o taking the rock out.

 

[palcaidinho]

DUMB QUESTION! HOWLONG DO I KEEP MY LIGHTS ON FOR? I HAVE THEM ON FROM 8-8.

 

[pcmankey]

If you don't have any corals or light dependent life forms then you can cut it as much as you like. The fish will be fine--I would just cut back a few hours at a time and see what happens. It made an enormous difference in my tank. And it's obvious that light is the main factor with green algae--when I looked at my tank, everywhere there was shade from the rockscape there was no algae.

 

[danmhippo]

How long have your setup your tank? and what's in it now?

A typical stablized/matured tank can take up to 16 hours of photoperiod (this is an example of extreme). However, if applying this much light to a new tank, it would be nothing but algae all over. For a newly setup tank, 4-8 hours of photoperiod is enough.

 

[Anonymous]

The change in lighting may increase the algae growth. But I think that problem algae is perpetuated by your fluval. Canister filters are detrius traps that increase nitrate in the tank. Plus,a skilter does not have a strong skimmer feature. The skilter may also become a nitrate factory without careful attention to cleaning. If you want the algae to go away you should add a refugium and/or a better skimmer. Do a search on skimmers on the BB.

Your UV will kill some free floating algae,but I am against their use because they also kill off good bacteria and plankton. I don't believe that it is contributing to your algae problem.

What do you use for makeup water?
RO
DI
RO/DI

These tap water will remove disolved nutrients from your tap water so they do not feed the algae in your tank and increase their growth.

 

[Anonymous]

What was your old lighting?

I'm going to guess that all the ingredients were there for hair algae before the light switch. All that was missing was enough light. You put the lights on there and the algae could take off.

12 hours of lighting is great.

The key to fighting your algae is getting your nutrients under control. Are you using RO or RODI water?
I battled HA by removing the rock, scrubbing it with a toothbrush, and doing a ton of water changes with RO water. Took a long time. My problem was phosphates in the tap water here.

 

[palcaidinho]

I have a 55 gallon tank with 3 bubble tips, many mushroom rocks, umbrella leather coral and lots of live rock. It has been up for approx. 2 years. i had the cheap lighting that came with the tank.

 

[HuBu]

if the change in lighting was significant, from a lower wattage to a higher wattage of PCs. algae growth will start, you can help stop by watch the lighting period. usually 12 hrs or less. the temp of the tank can also help promote algae growth. one more thing that might such, and i dont think anyone has mentioned it. the higher lighting intensity will bleach some of your coralline algae.