Removing green hair algae!

[bleedingthought]

If it's on the sand, syphon it out.

 

[herpencounter]

I do put it comes right back in 2 to 3 days.

 

[bleedingthought]

You haven't posted what your nitrates are.

Also, what kind of lights do you have, how old are the bulbs, how long are they on for daily?

A skimmer will help, but there might be something else wrong.


Also, somewhat unrelated, you shouldn't need to pull copper from your tank. And you shouldn't need prime to control ammonia or others. Therefore, there should be no need for you to use those chemicals. If you want to try some chemical filtration, consider rowaphos (or phosban), carbon, and purigen.

 

[mr_X]

i have some hair algae on my sand bed as well. in my tank, it's pretty slow growing, and i don't remove it because it's full of pods- they seem to love to hide in it. every once in a while i vaccuum it out and i see alot of creatures in the bucket.

meanwhile, i believe this is because i use treated tap water still, and i feed quite generously. that hair algae feeds on SOMETHING.

anyways...the point of my response is to tell you that nothing(that i know of) eats that stuff. not snails, not crabs, not lawnmower blennies, or tangs.
i don't care what color the legs of the hermits are...they don't like it.
as stated, you need to cut off whatever food source it's using, to remove it.

 

[herpencounter]

Should I trade out my carbon pack for a purigen pack?

What is a good phosphate & silicate test?

Also, what kind of lights do you have, how old are the bulbs, how long are they on for daily?

Satellite.
Bulbs 3 weeks.
11 1/2 hrs. But I don’t want to go any lower because if it goes away im going to raise it.

You haven't posted what your nitrates are.

Well I did not even know my test kit did not have it (lol just noticed on Friday so im going to get a better one). But for inverts it is 0.25ppm and no more then 5ppm (I had 2 astrea snails die flip over so not from nitrates).
I also use red sea that has no nitrates.

 

[herpencounter]

i don't care what color the legs of the hermits are...

LOL



The Mexican turbo snails eat this stuff and lots of it (best $3 I ever spent no joke).

 

[pcardone]

when I said your sand was suspect. I didn't mean it was dirty. Actually from the last picture. it looks quite clean. Something is working overtime creating nutrients. could be some bad Bacteria? try scooping some sand out and put it in a dark bucket for a couple days. lets see what starts growing. If you must add something to your tank, try a packet of starter bacteria or some cycle maybe it will give you a jump start?

 

[herpencounter]

lets see what starts growing.

What should i look for?

 

[herpencounter]

Here is some updates...

Sorry how green the last one is.

 

[herpencounter]

bump

 

[herpencounter]

The two main concerns about using carbon in a saltwater system is that carbon often leaches phosphate into the aquarium, and that it removes necessary trace elements needed by reef animals, particularly corals.


The Phosphate Leaching Issue
As far as phosphate goes, you want to remove this element from your tank, not add it.
A high phosphate accumulation in saltwater aquariums can lead to aggressive hair algae blooms that are difficult to get rid of, and since some brands of carbon may leach phosphate into an aquarium, you should test the carbon you are using, or going to use, for leaching. If you find any relevent traces, change to a different brand.

I Just put in new carbon .


Its a long story on why it did not have green hair before when I had carbon...

 

[herpencounter]

Well its starting to go away...

Sorry about the pictures my camera takes any and all light and puts it on anything light colored. Blah!

 

[bleedingthought]

Good!

 

[herpencounter]

Thanks to all who helped!