Having a new hair algae breakout in our 180. Have never had this before and I am told turbo snails will help.
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Having a new hair algae breakout in our 180. Have never had this before and I am told turbo snails will help.
Hi, sorry to hear you’re having issues with algae. Can be pretty frustrating. Curious, have you recently checked yours phosphate and nitrate levels? While you’re looking for these snails, It could be beneficial to see where your parameters stand in helping figure the root cause of the increase algae growth. Also, perhaps adding additional competition for assumed nutrients such as macro algae if you have a refugium. Good luck, hopefully this resolves soon.
Thanks for your response. We've had the tank up and running for a couple years now but battled an ich outbreak and xenia took over everything last year so we stopped for a while. We let it sit running for 6 months with no lights and only inverts and during that time the phosphate and nitrates did spike. When the lights got turned back on we added about 10 frags (a few had the hair algae). We've had tanks for 15 years and have been lucky to never have hair algae so I had no idea how bad it was. It has for sure spread and I want to tackle it before it does what the xenia did.Quote:
Originally Posted by [G]h0s']['
When we first turned the lights back on several weeks ago the phosphates were off the hanna scale. We have gotten it down to .08 (yesterday) but again today its .10. Im super stumped as we are running GFO and replace it every 4-5 days. I've tested our RODI and its .02 so I'm swapping the media out on that next. We don't have a refugium but have a sump... I really need to figure out how to get the macros!! :/
To be honest, the way to fix this issue is to physically remove the algae...every day until it’s gone. Also, there’s no point in testing for nitrates and especially phosphates right now as hair algae absorbs and releases it so quickly you’ll never get accurate readings, just a low one. Realistically, you have to get in there with forceps and grab as much as you can. Whatever you can’t grab, use an old toothbrush on. Try to do a 10% water change in the process using a siphon to suck that crud out. Do this for a week or two straight and you won’t have hair algae.
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Thanks! I have been removing it and doing water changes every 6-7 days but ill step it up. I've been a little hesitant to get in there and stress out our new fish too much since we were plagued with ich last year im so paranoid. Thanks again for the information. Helps alot.Quote:
Originally Posted by crustaceon