Green Hair Algae Problem!

[nanchil]

Thanks Paul! I do agree that algae is almost everywhere (the only time there is abundance is if a natural predator is absent, i.e. my system) and nOObs: either don't read it or read it but keep that information tucked away till later. I was thinking of getting a lettuce nudi but I've heard mixed experiences on them and sea hare's are not easy on the eyes; I might just get 2 turbos and do another water change till I try your suggestion.

btw, here's a week old pic of my algae populated system.

I had HA worse than this 6 months back. All I did was got 20 Mexican turbo and it took care of HA in 3 days. Mine is 75G tank.

 

[SaltyFlip]

...got 20 Mexican turbo and it took care of HA in 3 days...

Mexican Turbos it is

 

[Paul B]

Salty, forget lettuce slugs, I raised over 100 of them, they do not eat hair algae. I wrote an article about them.
http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/11846

Nanchil says his hair algae was eaten by turbo snails. It may have been, but it would have disappeared anyway.
It always does.
I am sure if you read you will find that people will find that urchins, tangs, rabbitfish and sea hares ate all of the algae.
I didn't have any of those animals in my reef but the algae always disappeared almost overnight.
When it runs out of nutriends, it dies almost instantly.
But if you like snails, add a bunch of them.

 

[SaltyFlip]

Yea, I need some snails in my tank anyway because all I have are 2 lethargic margarita's, cerith and a bunch of nassarius. I was thinking of urchins but I've had a bad experience with them when I was a kid (stepped on one on the beach and had someone pee on my foot), but maybe it's worth a gander at again.

 

[Paul B]

Actually I was thinking about what Nanchil said and another way to eliminate the algae is to get an animal to eat it then keep changing the water before it turns back into algae.
I would assume that would also eliminate the nutrients. But if you allow the snails to poop back in the tank without changing the water, the algae will just kep growing.
There are a few ways to eliminate the nutrients, either way they are locked up in the algae and you need to get them out of the tank.
You would also need to provide a lot of animals to do this and change a lot of water.
Either way as soon as the nutrients are too low for the algae to grow, it will die.