green hair help

[FishingFool]

Careful doing too much at once also...like removing media that is housing good bacteria, like bio-balls, b/c this can make you go through mini cycles and cause another load of issues you dont want.

Where are you getting your water from? Is it RO/DI? Have you tested the TDS? What is it? This is very important.

Do you have a phosphate test kit yet? What are the readings? Get one....you will always need to test this.

I am sure you have it but just to make sure.....you have a light on the chaeto in your return....right?

How old are your bulbs? What are they?

[MattyJatz]

I get water from a couple of our LFS. I have not tested TDS and that's something I'm going to research since I know NOTHING about TDS. Hopefully that's the issue! I do have a phosphate test kit, API to be specific. Believe it or not, since I've had the test kit (about 3 months), I have always had a "0" reading. I have the Aquaclear filter mod'd as a fuge with a light. Bulb may have an affect on the algae as well, it's a Reeflux 20K, 150W bulb I bought used from one of our sponsors. Not 100% sure on the age of the bulb, maybe 5 months old?

Only other issues I'm having is a low pH, about 7.8 and Nitrates are at 20. I'm reducing the feeding a ton and re-positioned the direction of my powerheads to mix up the flow...hopefully that helps as well.

[aln]

Careful doing too much at once also...like removing media that is housing good bacteria, like bio-balls, b/c this can make you go through mini cycles and cause another load of issues you dont want.

So I should put all that back in?

Where are you getting your water from? Is it RO/DI?

Water comes from lfs that maintains the tank at work for the last two years.

Have you tested the TDS? What is it? This is very important.

Don't have a meter yet.

Do you have a phosphate test kit yet? What are the readings? Get one....you will always need to test this.

Need to get one of these too.

I am sure you have it but just to make sure.....you have a light on the chaeto in your return....right?

Forgot to mention, started this thread when I had the 20 and had the chaeto stuffed in the back of the display. Have since moved almost everything except some rock and the chaeto into the 75 I picked up couple months ago.

How old are your bulbs? What are they?

Bulbs are 54w T-5s . I just replaced two and will be replacing the other two which are over a year old soon.

[FishingFool]

In my opinion,

Do not put items back in...they are already out and the bacteria that was on the items you took out are dead now so putting them back in will just make the chances of a mini cycle worse. When removing media from a tank, most think it should be done slowly...like a few bio-balls per day....others do it all at once. It really depends on how much surface area to house bacteria you have in the tank and if there is enough to offset the removal of what you take out.

Get a TDS meter. You are responsible for your tank and what you put in it. If the membrane goes bad at the LFS and they don't catch it....they aren't going to replace the items that die in your tank because the water they sold you had high TDS. They are cheap...like $15. I would invest in one before adding anything else to the tank. Corals have a hard time filtering the water column for food when there are high TDS.

[FishingFool]

Bulb may have an affect on the algae as well, it's a Reeflux 20K, 150W bulb I bought used from one of our sponsors. Not 100% sure on the age of the bulb, maybe 5 months old?

Only other issues I'm having is a low pH, about 7.8 and Nitrates are at 20. I'm reducing the feeding a ton and re-positioned the direction of my powerheads to mix up the flow...hopefully that helps as well.

Our sponsors sold you a used bulb? If the spectrum of the bulb has changed enough to where it is out of the range corals need and more into the range where algae thrives, then yes this could be an issue. It is hard to say if it is the bulb or other issues...or a combination of all.

High Nitrates are not good either...20 isnt too bad but enough to help feed the hair algae. Try to find the reason for the nitrates....and get rid of them. De-nitrator possibly if you cant.

[Reef Diver]

When I had some hair algae my dwarf blue legs handled the rocks while my peppermint shrimp pulled the layer growing on the wall. I removed the longer patches by hand.

Hope you find some kind of combo solution that works for you.

[BEEKER]

I had a battle with a bad hair algae bloom about 2 years ago. I started with changing to my own RO/DI water with 0 tds. Adding a fuge with chaeto to absorb the nitrates to minimize what hair algae could absorb. Then changed all my light bulbs. Finally manual removal, I took a hard bristle brush and a tube with a mesh bag in the sump. Started a siphon with the tube and began brushing rocks in the tank and sucking hair algae through a tube. After manual removal I added 75 blue legs and let them maintain. Haven't had an issue since.

[MattyJatz]

I think I might try the hard bristle brush idea next...shit is pissing me off!