Found a miracle cure for hair alge?

[Paulg]

I am the one that was on the verge of giving up because of my hair alge problem. I stopped using the Calligan water from walmart and have seen a very slight slowing in growth. I just found out there is a product called Marine SAT from TLC that is supposed to "drop" the hair alge from the rock within an hour of application. The claim also said it won't hurt any other alge, inverts, or fish. I'm very sceptical about the stuff. Any one heard of it? Let me know.

 

[DaisyPolyp]

never heard of it, but I would give the water change time to take effect. Once the hair algae has depleted its nutrient base, it will decline rapidly.

 

[Jolieve]

Don't buy into these quick fix chemicals that you can put into your tank. Especially if they don't list the ingredients.

Nine times out of ten, these things do not work and just pollute your system water, hence... making things worse.

There is no quick fix for hair algae. The answer is patience, regular water changes with RO water and good skimming.

Good luck,
J.

 

[krullulon]

ditto that! reef tanks keep 1000 variables in delicate balance, and tweaking any of them out of context can cause a tank crash. it's like the butterfly flapping its wings in the rain forest that causes a tornado 3 months later on a different continent.

much better than chemicals is making sure you're using the correct water for changes and topoffs, removing what you can by hand, and having a good posse of snails to help-out. i had a huge hair algae bloom after my tank cycled and grabbed the IPSF snail assortment, and 3 weeks later i have only a tiny patch left. i *heart* my cowrie -- hopefully he won't go rambo on my corals.

i'm a newbie myself and still trying to figure out how i want to approach things from all the conflicting opinions out there, but the one thing i'll never mess with is fad miracle-cure chemicals -- avoiding them seems to be the one thing that all of the veterans can agree on. 8)

 

[Paulg]

I've been doing saltwater for about 13 years now and was told from the very begining not to put chemicals into the water. I've stuck to this pholosiphy and has worked till now. This hair alge problem has kicked my butt! I'm not sure about this product I was told about but it comes from a relieable source from someone who takes care of the Tennessee Aquarium. He's also a marine biologist. Don't know his name but he recomended it by name. Has anyone heard of it or can tell me where I can find out more?

 

[Jolieve]

I can appreciate your frustration with hair algae.

I lived with the stuff in my tank for 9 months, watched my ocellaris host in that nasty stuff. I didn't add corals, and I waited and waited. And all because I filled my tank with water from the tap, instead of using water that was filtered.

I bought an RO unit, started doing water changes with RO water. That wasn't enough. My skimmer wasn't big enough for my tank either. I haven't seen hair algae in my system for three months, and very much doubt that it's coming back.

Rather than using a chemical to kill hair algae, and then watching it come back, I would really heartily suggest that you solve the nutrient problem in your system that is feeding the stuff. No food source, no hair algae.

My .02 cents,
J.

 

[krullulon]

there's a topic on this product at 3reef: http://www.3reef.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Product;action=display;num=1078768944

from what folks are relating annecdotally, it has a significant impact on pod populations and refugium life. it's a bacterial product, which means that you're introducing live, reproducing critters into your system... again, the butterfly effect (you have no idea how this bacteria will impact the dependencies in your ecosystem, what it competes with for food, or how it might disrupt natural processes).

if it was me, i'd steer-clear. let the algae kick your butt for a while as you troubleshoot where the nutrients are coming from and eliminate them from your system. it might be ugly for a few months, but when you come-out on the other side you'll have a much healthier system.

 

[dwall174]

I tried the Marine S.A.T. a little while ago & It did help. But no way like they claimed! I removed all the LR and scrubbed it with a stiff brush, Then I did a 50% water change before adding the S.A.T. I then left the lights off for two days.

 

[Anonymous]

If you add this chemical, aren't you treating the symptom instead of the problem?
~wings~

 

[melev]

Take a look at this article and see if it proves useful for you:

http://www.melevsreef.com/gha.html

 

[Anonymous]

Good link, Marc.
~wings~

 

[krullulon]

the only caveat i'd add to the above article is that picking snails off the glass or rocks and moving them isn't a great idea -- it can damage the snail's foot. the snails will find the algae on their own eventually -- it might take a bit longer, but they'll get there.

 

[DaisyPolyp]

...good point, I agree.

 

[melev]

Hmm. That has never happened to me. I guess when you have enough algae, the surface is so slippery they come right off!

 

[mark78]

Companies can make any claim they want about thier product, sad really.

 

[Baianotang]

"my ocellaris host in that nasty stuff."... LOL

 

[cflanagan]

I did the MArine SAT every seven days for 1 month, first I cleaned all the green crap I could. Now am trying the once a month schedule. It seems to be working, the green junk is not going nuts like it was. Also am doing regular water changes, but I was doing that before.

 

[hillbilly]

The only sure cure for hair algae is super clean water. Without a food supply, it cannot grow. Sand beds sometimes leach phosphate into the water and is used as food for the algae, as can live rock. High powered skimming helps too. It can be hard to get rid of, but as krullulon said, you are better off troubleshooting the cause, rather than looking for a quick fix bandaid for the problem.