Green Hair Algae Problem!

[Rizano01]

Hi Everyone,
Let me start by saying sorry for the information overload. I have a 120 gallon tank and a 50 gallon sump. The tank contains 160 pounds of live rock and a DSB. About 3 weeks ago, green hair algae started and has been getting slowly but progressively worse on the sand and the rocks. Also started with branch algae which I was able to physically remove 1 week ago and has not returned yet. I'm not overly concerned yet, but the green hair algae is spreading. I'm having trouble identifying the imbalance in my tank. Would like your thoughts please. Tank is 5 months old. Contains 1 Yellow Tang, 10 Scarlet Hermit crabs, 2 Cleaner Shrimp, 10 Nassarius Snails, 10 Trochus Snails, 1 Trumpet LPS coral, 1 small rock with Fire and Ice Polyps. I use the Salifert test kits. Here is some additional info:
-Lights: 2x150watt metal halides(10k) on 4 hours a day, 2x96watt acintics on 6 hours a day (2 hours by themselves, 4 hours with the metal halides), moon lights
-Water Changes: every 4 weeks 30% change
-Water Source: RO/DI (output tested to show 0 TDS, 0 Nitrates, 0 Phosphates)
-Water Temperature: 76-77 (I have a chiller)
-Water Flow: Very good with double returns on each end of the tank and an additional power head.
-Salt Mix: Tropic Marin Pro Reef
-Filter Socks: Changed once a week with clean socks
-Salinity: 1.024
-Phosphates: 0
-Nitrates: 0
-Iodine: 0 (don't see how this can be correct)
-Nitrites: 0
-Calcium: 490 ( I added my first corals 2 weeks ago so I expect this number to start coming down)
-Dkh: 15
-Ammonia: 0
-Magnesium: 1275
-PH: 8.2

I added a phosphate reactor (with PhosBan) and an activated carbon reactor (with HydroCarbon 2) 7 days ago even though tests show I do not need them. I feed the tank every other day a small amount of Brine Shrimp. All is consumed within 5 minutes. I add a small strip of seaweed for the Tang once a week (consumed in a few hours). UV Sterilizer has been in use for 4 months now. I have an excellent protein skimmer also in use for about 4 months.

I started dosing a small amount of Iodine about 3 weeks ago once a week but stopped doing that once the algae problem started (I'm suspicious this could be the cause). I never dosed with anything else. Should I be doing anything else? Thank You.

 

[PeterD]

well i'm sort of confused with what may be wrong and its weird that your tang isn't eating the algae. Anyways you can try and use a turkey baster to take all the algae out. If you have a large amount of algae you may be doing a water change so you should have extra saltwater ready.

 

[ZANYMASTER]

No one has zero po4's and mostly the Hair algae is eating up all the po4's.What did you use to measure it?

 

[Rizano01]

I use the Salifert Po4 test kit. Results are consistently 0. I have not tried other test kits. I suspect the test shows 0 because the green algae is consuming po4 as it becomes available. I started testing for Po4 after the algae problem started.

 

[THEDLO]

WOW let me start by saying; this is the best tank background info ive ever read......ever.

i would adjust ur feeding style. for there to be 5 min of food for just a tang and some inverts. i would switch to every day and cut the meal size in to two 1/4 sizes, and then feed that twice a day. also u need to be providing a grater variety for them (brine shrimp to fish is like cookie is to human) so its not that good for them, unless its soaked in vitamins but even still. id get 2 types of flake, and some mysis shrimps. and create a cycle giving them one type of flake and then one type of brine, and then the opposite the next day. also whats the size of the cut of the nori paper? my tank is pick with nori, if its free floating it wont touch it. but it sure is weird that its growing so much based on ur parameters.

Hi Everyone,
Let me start by saying sorry for the information overload. I have a 120 gallon tank and a 50 gallon sump. The tank contains 160 pounds of live rock and a DSB. About 3 weeks ago, green hair algae started and has been getting slowly but progressively worse on the sand and the rocks. Also started with branch algae which I was able to physically remove 1 week ago and has not returned yet. I'm not overly concerned yet, but the green hair algae is spreading. I'm having trouble identifying the imbalance in my tank. Would like your thoughts please. Tank is 5 months old. Contains 1 Yellow Tang, 10 Scarlet Hermit crabs, 2 Cleaner Shrimp, 10 Nassarius Snails, 10 Trochus Snails, 1 Trumpet LPS coral, 1 small rock with Fire and Ice Polyps. I use the Salifert test kits. Here is some additional info:
-Lights: 2x150watt metal halides(10k) on 4 hours a day, 2x96watt acintics on 6 hours a day (2 hours by themselves, 4 hours with the metal halides), moon lights
-Water Changes: every 4 weeks 30% change
-Water Source: RO/DI (output tested to show 0 TDS, 0 Nitrates, 0 Phosphates)
-Water Temperature: 76-77 (I have a chiller)
-Water Flow: Very good with double returns on each end of the tank and an additional power head.
-Salt Mix: Tropic Marin Pro Reef
-Filter Socks: Changed once a week with clean socks
-Salinity: 1.024
-Phosphates: 0
-Nitrates: 0
-Iodine: 0 (don't see how this can be correct)
-Nitrites: 0
-Calcium: 490 ( I added my first corals 2 weeks ago so I expect this number to start coming down)
-Dkh: 15
-Ammonia: 0
-Magnesium: 1275
-PH: 8.2

I added a phosphate reactor (with PhosBan) and an activated carbon reactor (with HydroCarbon 2) 7 days ago even though tests show I do not need them. I feed the tank every other day a small amount of Brine Shrimp. All is consumed within 5 minutes. I add a small strip of seaweed for the Tang once a week (consumed in a few hours). UV Sterilizer has been in use for 4 months now. I have an excellent protein skimmer also in use for about 4 months.

I started dosing a small amount of Iodine about 3 weeks ago once a week but stopped doing that once the algae problem started (I'm suspicious this could be the cause). I never dosed with anything else. Should I be doing anything else? Thank You.

 

[Rizano01]

Thanks for the feedback. I will follow your suggestions regarding the food. Sounds like a better program. The Nori I add is 1 inch wide by 4 inches long. I use a veggie clip. When I first added the Tang about 2 months ago he was afraid of the veggie clip but now that he recognizes it he goes right over to it and starts eating. I have to thank the Cleaner Shrimp for that. They showed the Tang how it's done.

If a small amount of phosphate is being released from somewhere in my tank, and the algae is consuming that, hopefully the phosphate reactor can break that cycle. I thought my husbandry practices were pretty good but now with the algae I'm not so sure.

 

[THEDLO]

hey; live and learn. ill be learning till i die. i fold the nori over a couple times till its more like a one by one square. it will hold better since its shorter, making it easier to pick small pieces off. i agree with ZANYMASTER ur hair algae is going to work thats y its keeping ur phos and nits low cause its soaking it up once it spiks.

 

[bigdog1428]

i am still learning ,,but wouldnt a sea slug help ur problem by eating the hair algae???

 

[THEDLO]

i am still learning ,,but wouldnt a sea slug help ur problem by eating the hair algae???

that will defiantly help clean up the tank, but its not addressing the real issue. i would get one, once i figured out where im getting the excess nutrients.

 

[Rizano01]

If that's the case, in addition to the phosphate reactor I just added I will increase the frequency of my water changes to see if I can break this cycle. Instead of 30% monthly I'll do 30% every 2 weeks for a while. Trying to identify the source of phosphates is going to be tough. I'm already using RO/DI and my Salt Mix does not contain phosphates.

 

[THEDLO]

just change the food schedule for now (im almost positive its that) and in the next couple of days do the WC, but after this is cured i would break that up too, to 10% (15 gal) every 2 weeks.

 

[Rizano01]

Okay, will do. Thanks!

 

[Paul B]

I really hate to confuse you but I would totally stop changing water.
You are just adding nutrients. The hair algae is the best remover of hair algae nutrients. Almost all of the nutrients are already in the algae. It doesn't take much at all to grow hair algae and it is extreamly common in a 5 month old tank. It is actually normal and nothing to be too concerned about. Of course being you already have corals in there it is a problem.
As was said, you are already feeding that tang too much and the wrong food.
Eventually, probably in a couple of weeks the hair algae will use up all the available nutrients and will start to die. You will see that it will be easy to blow off the rocks. As soon as that happens you need to power wash it off the rocks and get it out of the tank. You can use
a canister filter for that. As you remove it, you are removing exactly the nutrients it needs to survive. If it rots in the tank or is something eats it, those nutrients will go right back into solution and you will never be rid of it.
You can't use animals to clear hair algae, not going to happen.
If you believe changing water will eliminate hair algae, look up all the people that do that and see if it ever works.
Hair algae is self limiting and will die as soon as it uses up the nutrients.
In the sea on all reefs there is hair algae. You don't see it because there are hoards of urchins, slugs, and tangs that keep it very short. If it were not for algae those animals could not live because that is all they eat.
But the sea is not like your tank. In the sea those nutrients that are recycled through tangs, snails urchins and slugs are mixed with a vast quantity of water, most of that water is too deep for algae to grow.
Your tank will level out soon and hair algae will only come around occasionally. It is not toxic waste and is normal. As a matter of fact, if you have no algae at all in your tank it is not as healthy as you believe.

 

[beerfish]

I really hate to confuse you but I would totally stop changing water. You are just adding nutrients.

I can't disagree more with this statement. A properly formulated salt mix should contain no PO4 or NO3 and therefore should not add any nutrients that would cause the algae to grow.

Paul, I have a great deal of respect for the fact that you have kept your setup running for as long as you have, but feel that telling a new reefer not to change water is just wrong. You have had a long time to develop your method of keeping a reef, and it works for you, but most people aren't going to power wash rocks, pull sponges off their boat, or periodically put mud from the ocean in their tanks. (Or put beer bottles in it for that matter :splitspin). The best method of nutrient export for most reefers is a good ole fashioned water change.

 

[Rizano01]

I would like to thank everyone for the feedback that I already received and any additional feedback I may receive. I actually don't feel confused. Everyone's comments are a great learning experience for me. When I posted my question I felt I was at a dead end. You guys are giving me some great new ideas to get on top of this. Much appreciated.

 

[Paul B]

but most people aren't going to power wash rocks, pull sponges off their boat, or periodically put mud from the ocean in their tanks. (Or put beer bottles in it for that matter :splitspin). The best method of nutrient export for most reefers is a good ole fashioned water change.

:tongue1: Beerfish you are correct about that I am sure.
The no water change thing I came up with a few years ago. I don't mean to never change water, we all have to change water. But to eliminate a temporary hair algae problem, it works.
Hair algae itself will remove every hair algae nutrient it needs to grow.
It is true that RO/DI should not have any hair algae nutrients but it does contain iron and iron is a hair algae nutrient. When the algae sucks up all the iron, along with nitrogen and phosphorous, it can no longer grow. New ASW adds iron along with some other chemicals that may be incorporated in algae.
After the algae is gone, he should change water. And keep changing water.
I have had cycles of hair algae every few years for almost 40 years and I have studied it about as long as anyone in the hobby. That is until I installed an algae trough.
So many people keep changing water with an algae outbreak and it does not work.
Just because no one uses this method does not mean that it does not work. No one uses a reverse UG filter either but it works.
I did not come up with this on a whim. I do my own research and have a bit of experience on the matter.
Buy, yes I am not the God of hair algae.

Here is my tank maybe 15 or 20 years ago, completely covered in hair algae.
I did not change water but in a week the stuff died, I diatomed it out and every bit of algae was gone for a year or so. The tank was over crowded and over fed but very healthy.
But Beerfish I think you are correct, I will keep away from Noobs. My methods seem too odd to to many people. :smokin:

 

[SaltyFlip]

Hey Paul (sorry OP don't mean to hijack), did you have any inverts/corals that ended up dead while not doing the water change. I'm having the same problem and I actually did that method; it worked last year when I had an algae bloom but had an empty tank xcept for some zoas, but now I have alot of livestock and I'm afraid of risking it.

 

[reefnhard]

get an algae blenny or also known as lawn mower blenny

 

[Paul B]

did you have any inverts/corals that ended up dead while not doing the water change.

No I didn't. Hair algae does not mean the water is unhealthy, as I said it grows on all healthy reefs, I have been diving on them for many years on many reefs in many locations. But you are going to get Beerfish mad at me so Noobs, don't read this.
I don't change that much water anyway but what I was saying about hair algae does not imply to never change water. This will take a couple of weeks. Maybe three or four but the algae will die.
If your corals die from not changing the water in a few weeks or months, you have much more severe problems than algae.
And of course if you like, get a lawnmower bleeny, sea hair, urchin or grenade, The only thing that will eliminate the hair algae is the grenade but what do I know.
Have a great day and good luck whatever you do,

 

[SaltyFlip]

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.