# Hair algae is taking over!!!



## flynngriff (Jan 19, 2005)

I have a friend with a small saltwater tank, and she's been asking me about ways to control hair algae.  The tank is only 10 gallons, and she has two gobies, some live rock, one piece of coral, and a few feather dusters.  She has to take out as much of the hair algae as she can about once a week, otherwise, she can't even see her fish. I don't personally know anything about salt water fish, so I thought I'd ask here.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

Well first off is she useing tap water??? D/I or R/O water is best for saltwater tanks. Also how much and how often does she feed? Accessive algae is usually a syptom of how much phosphate, nitrate is in the water. How often does she do partial water changes? Does she have a skimmer? What is her lighting like? Is it hit by sun light every day? How long does her lights stay on? All these questions should lead us in the right direction.


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

Also, what kind of substrate she using?

And more important, is your friend hot?





























LOL 
J/k


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

Hey fishfirst, u part of the WCF club?


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

no... but I second that question about her being hot hahahah


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

lol uh huh.


here fishfirst, for local fishkeepers:

www.wiscichlidforum.com


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

awesome


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## flynngriff (Jan 19, 2005)

Why yes, she is hot, so it's very important that I can fix this for her! 

She gets her water directly from a good saltwater fish store, she doesn't mix it herself. She does roughly 30% water changes about once a month.

She feeds once a day, and I've seen her do it. I do not believe she is over feeding, it's just a very small pinch. I'm not sure what kind of food it is, though... All I know is that they are flakes.

She does not have a skimmer.

Her light is a Coralife, and by the bulbs, it says "50/50 96 watt". There are 2 blue and 2 white bulbs.

It is by a window, but it's a north facing window, so the sunlight is not direct.

The substrate looks to be standard crushed coral.

Her lights are on for probably 8-9 hours per day.

What's the WCF club???

Thanks!


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

holy lighting... 96X4??? lol that might be her problem... but more importantly is probably her substraight. The crushed coral keeps nitrates in her tank... get her water tested... what is the nitrates and phosphates. (also check the phosphate content of the food)


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## flynngriff (Jan 19, 2005)

Ok, I took another look at her tank, and it might not be crushed coral...  It looks like a mix of sand and very small shells.  She's at lunch right now, so I can't ask her.  She honestly probably doesn't know, either.  This is a tank her ex set up for her as a birthday present...

I dug around and found her food, too.  It's TetraMarineColor Marine Flakes.

Min Crude Protein: 44%
Min Crude Fat: 8%
Min Crude Fiber: 2%
Max Moisture: 6%
Min Brine Shrimps: 2%
Min Phosphorus: 1.2%
Min Ascorbic Acid: 96 mg/kg

It will probably be a while before I can get her to test her water, but I'll do what I can...

If it _is _a Nitrate issue, just doing more water changes will help, right? I know that would be the case for freshwater...

What about just removing one of the pairs of lightbulbs? Would this cause any problems?

Thanks!


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

depending on the coral it may not be a problem to remove one pair of lights... also I would look for a food with less phosphorus if other changes don't help. Extra water changes should help if it is a nitrate issue... although most of the nitrate could be soaked up in the algae right now so you may get a VERY low value for nitrates even though its a problem.


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

question, i have personally never seen 96w bulbs that can fit the length of a 10g tank? r u sure it's 10g's?

WCF is a local forum for us WI peeps. I forgot we in SW, so i shoulda have asked FishFirst, if your part of MARS and WRS?

Also, what kind of water is she using? i might have missed it, but tap water would be very bad and could be the cause of this whole situation. including me pondering how in the heck she can put 4x96w on a 10g tank, that i have never seen.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

me either personally... WRS??? whats that


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

here is our two local state southern parts, i believe thier is a western wi club but haven't heard much about it, don't think it's very active, who knows. These two are pretty active and group meetings:
www.madisonreef.com

and can't think of website offhand it's on home computer, but their reefcentral club is this one:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=68


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## flynngriff (Jan 19, 2005)

She doesn't use tap water, she gets her water from a good saltwater fish store.

The light is has adjustable legs on it that support it about 2 inches above the top of the tank. The light strip is 20 inches long. I'm sure it's a 10 gallon tank, but she told me the light can also be used on a standard 29 gallon, since the legs are adjustable. Here's a link, I'm 99% sure this is the light she has.

http://www.hellolights.com/201xcoaqpcho.html

I also confirmed with her that her substrate is not crushed coral, it's sand. Sorry about that.

She does not know what kind of coral it is, but it looks like a variety of finger coral, with brownish orange coloration. Do you think halving the amount of light would be a problem for it?

Thanks again!


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

oo it's a quad style light, yea can't remove bulbs. Well she's prolly using RO water, and well it's almost 10w per gallon but guess it' good for corals. Next thing i would worry about is silicates feeding it and phosphates. I would look into a phosphate kit, test it, and if thats high, i would get a phosban reactor runs around $40.


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## madman3000 (Mar 29, 2006)

I have the same problem and am wondering if a tang eats red algae and hair algae because I am going to upgrade to a 20gal by slowing adding water to my 10 gal and using the same filter and a new protien skimmer. So will a tang hel because it is almost the same price as two algae treaments such as chemi-clean or Red Slime etc. plus I would rather add another fish than spend money on a tedious algae removal process with chemicals. Any other natural way to get rid of the stuff cause I cannot even see my dime plant any more!


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

No a tang is definately not an answer to your problems, more of a culprit in that size of tank. I would instead use your 10 gallon as a fuge/sump to soak up nutrients before the hair algae can basically starving it to death. Lettuce Nudi's, cerith snails, and dwarf hermit crabs might also be a help but a tang is a definate NO NO in a 20 gallon tank.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

While the lighting is obviously too intense, I have to ask about this water. This store that sells the premixed water-- is it NEW water or USED water?


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## madman3000 (Mar 29, 2006)

I was definatly buying a new pair of hermits and a protien skimmer this week but may I ask why not a juvi tang in a 20gal?


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

because, even juvi tangs need a lot more space than a 20 gallon can provid in my opinion. My pacific blue tang was sooo stressed out always hanging under the filter out of my sight in my 20 gallon qt tank, when I threw her in my 125 gallon, she raced back and forth through the rock structures and stuff... it was a total transformation. BTW the little tang was about the size of a nickel.


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