Help with hair algae

[tarponjim]

I have a 180 gallon reef aquarium which has been esablished for over 1 year. I am now experiencing a hair algae problem that seems to be getting worse. It came in on a coral and is spreading. I had culerpa growing and it did a big die-off. I figure that enabled the hair algae to eat what the culerpa was. Only I can't figure out what the culerpa was exporting. I want to starve out the hair but can't figure out what to elimainate. Can it be the silacates? That's the only paramater out of whack.
Water parameters are very good except silicates,which are around almost 1.o. This rose because I "bought" r/o water for a while. It is my understanding that hair algae doesn't benifit from silcates - only diatom. ???????
Phosphates are <.01, Nitrates are 0, etc. I test for just about everything that Salifert can test. I use D/I for top-offs, have fairly new bulbs - Mh's and VHO 03's. I think I am doing most everything right but can't figure out the food source for the hair algae.
Corals and fish are fine, but snails are experiencing a die-off. Must be some connection??????
Any help appreaciated
Jim.

 

[Anonymous]

keep in mind that test levels do not necessarily measure production of things like phosphate, only the accumulation of the material that does not get utilized.

in other words, you could have a 2.0ppm production of PO4, an uptake by algae of 2.0ppm PO4, amd show a zero level in the tank!(while the algae continues to thrive).

try using a PO4 removal product(phosguard is decent) to arrive at a 'negative' PO4 production rate, remove as much algae manually as possible, as often as possible.(algae can also act as a 'reserve' bank for PO4, to release it back into your system) and be patient.you may also want to cut back on actinic lighting by a few hours a day, if you're using it now at a long period.

HTH

 

[Anonymous]

I had a bad hair algea experience when my tank as about 14-16 months old. It came in on a small coral I bought. But I unknowinly overstocked the tank (15-16 fish in a 75G), overfed the fish (I stayed in denial over this for a few months), had cut back on WC's because everyting was going so well, and had my photperiod to long (12 hours/day).

I cut my fish load back to 9, cut feeding way back (only what they can eat in a couple of minutes), reduced the photoperiod all the way back to 3 hours per day until I got control, and started doing 25% bi-weekly WC's.

Now several months latter, the photoperiod is back to 7 hours, the fish load is still at 9, 25% WC's done every 2 ot 3 weeks, and I make sure I'm not overfeeding. I also started dosing kalkwater during this time.

Now the GHA is almost completely eliminated. I added the photoperiod back in 1/2 hour weekluy intervals. I plan to try to increase it back to maybe 10 hours per day (if I can get away with it). I plan to decrease the WC's back to monthly (or less if I can get away with it).

With algea, you must find the right combination of fish load, feeding and lighting. All of these things help algea grow. You also need GOOD skimming, and regular WC's, especially if you tank is overstocked.

 

[Carpentersreef]

Check the FAQ's at the top of the page. Also get some phosphate remover going asap. The fact that you've got hair algae growing and can STILL get a phosphate reading tells me that you have a lot more algae on the way.
For the snails dying, check your calcium, Mg and ALK.

Mitch