Hair algea drive me nuts.

xtlosx said:
you got that right. Our pink pincushion is like a **** bulldozer. He eats algae, coraline, and whatever he can get... not to mention he has been carrying around shells and a patch of green star polyps for 3 weeks now. He is lucky that my wife adores him.
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Haha yeah I named mine Uni (sushi version of urchin) and if he tramples and kills my Xenia one more time, he is gonna be sushi!
 
What about brown algea. I know they are normal when starting a tank but my 100 gallon has been keeping the brown algea for about 4 weeks. Suggestions?
 
engstromc said:
What about brown algea. I know they are normal when starting a tank but my 100 gallon has been keeping the brown algea for about 4 weeks. Suggestions?
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Thats normal.

That isn't actually algae you are seeing, but diatoms. They are caused by excess silicates in the water column. Best way to resolve them is to just let them run their course. As the silicates are consumed, they will go away. Its really ugly and frustrating at first, but my tank had a rough diatom infestation for about 6 weeks before they slowly regressed and disappeared.

Wish I had a better alternative for you, but that really is about all you can do. Wait.
 
I battled hair algae for a year and found my issue in my RO/DI water. I would check you RO/DI water with a phosphate meter. When I checked my it was at .2ppm so all the extra water changes I was doing was just adding to the phosphate problem. I now change my filters out much more frequently and batch make my DI water and check for phosphates before I add it to the tank. Since then my issue has mainly gone away.

I also dose Vodka which has also helped out

Good luck
 
I battled HA for a year and finally won a week after I starting running GFO. Everyone else is right, unless you're using an electronic tester, chances are you'll never be able to get a good read on very small amounts. Beside, all the HA will suck up the phosphates so you'll probably test zero or low anyway. The GFO will suck them out faster than the HA will, so they starve. In my case, it was not "truly" hair algae, it was that rough green turf algae. Nothing ate it, not tangs, not turbos...nothing.
 
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