hair algae

[crash]

hi all... my 1 ft tank is having a severe outbreak of hair algae... from sandbed to live rock... full of it.. was tinking of gettin a sea hare to clear things up...

so i would like to ask how big is a sea hare?? can if be kept in a 1ft cube? how much does it cost??

or is there any alternative cleaning up crew to help, such as hermit or snail? do they help?? thks..

[Solo77]

bro, how is the chaetos. Go buy one small yellow tang....think am got one small one. If not, get a dwarf angel. Hermit and snail, to my experience doesnt really eat up the hair algae. ...All the best, bro. : )

[crash]

bro, how is the chaetos. Go buy one small yellow tang....think am got one small one. If not, get a dwarf angel. Hermit and snail, to my experience doesnt really eat up the hair algae. ...All the best, bro. : )

haha.. thks bro for the chaeto... its doing fine at the back of my nc now...

but i guess i need to get a small powerhead to provide more flow to it... hopefully it wont die off again..

yellow tang.. i'll try to look ard for a small one... but im afraid it would be a problem with my other fishes.. too small to house them.. thks..

[Solo77]

Go find one juvenile one. Should be fine for your tank. U better drop by AM to see whether they got small yellow tang as i saw one yesterday. If too big, i got seen smaller one but u will need to search high and low. Hehehe. : )

haha.. thks bro for the chaeto... its doing fine at the back of my nc now...

but i guess i need to get a small powerhead to provide more flow to it... hopefully it wont die off again..

yellow tang.. i'll try to look ard for a small one... but im afraid it would be a problem with my other fishes.. too small to house them.. thks..

[Thexder]

Saw a lot of sea hares at AM Jln Kayu last week. But my own experience with sea hares is that they don't eat the hair algae fast enough and if its too long, they'll ignore it. Have to manually scrub or pull it out. Whatever remnants let the sea hare take care.

[kthc]

Saw a lot of sea hares at AM Jln Kayu last week. But my own experience with sea hares is that they don't eat the hair algae fast enough and if its too long, they'll ignore it. Have to manually scrub or pull it out. Whatever remnants let the sea hare take care.

Orange shoulder tang worked for me before, cheap and good. Now looking for small fellow to manage my tank.

[MbmC]

Saw a lot of sea hares at AM Jln Kayu last week. But my own experience with sea hares is that they don't eat the hair algae fast enough and if its too long, they'll ignore it. Have to manually scrub or pull it out. Whatever remnants let the sea hare take care.

Bro, my seahare is the best algae tool i've ever had. Short, long, all over my tank also it took. Tank has no algae now. And believe me, before i introduced it, my algae was 2 inch long.

Grows to about 4 inches long. Might be too big for a.1ft cube.

[fishtalk1517]

can get a abalone to tackle the algae problems too. I.M.O YT for a 1 ft tank might be too small an area for him. alternatively take the rocks out to scrubs those nuisance hair algae. PO4 might be also on the high level. do some water change too

[crash]

thks all for the advice...

looks like i have v limited options for my 1 ft... but i hav gotten an algae blenny when i pass by pasir ris juz now.. hopefully it can help to solve or at least reduce the amt of algae...

my NO3 is always abt 20ppm.. PO4 i dunno... already changing water every wk.. each time abt 40 or 50%... the algae prob came only when i change my lights from 11W to 18W PL...

[ReDDeviLs]

algae blenny dun take hair algae man.

[dachkie]

test ur po4, that could be the root of the problem

[crash]

test ur po4, that could be the root of the problem

hi... sorry i dun hav a PO4 testkit.. But is tested my NO3... its almost nil... the chaeto is doing well.. the problem has improved but still not fully solved.. i hav done 2 water changes so far... my lighting hrs is also cut by 2 hrs (now its 6 hrs a day)...

and ya.. the algae blenny dun really eat hair algae... anyone wants to buy? 2 dollars... lol

will probably look for sea hare again.. wat is the usual size of a sea hare? is it expensive? is it reef safe? thks for all the advice..

[dachkie]

hi... sorry i dun hav a PO4 testkit.. But is tested my NO3... its almost nil... the chaeto is doing well.. the problem has improved but still not fully solved.. i hav done 2 water changes so far... my lighting hrs is also cut by 2 hrs (now its 6 hrs a day)...

and ya.. the algae blenny dun really eat hair algae... anyone wants to buy? 2 dollars... lol

will probably look for sea hare again.. wat is the usual size of a sea hare? is it expensive? is it reef safe? thks for all the advice..

then go and buy 1, po4 is 1 of the main problem for reefers, u should always know what ur tank's po4 levels are at

[femunu]

Brother reefers from Singapore, let me share you with my experience.

Recently when I was abroad my wife gave "little" extra calcium to my tank and there was a calcium shock which killed some of my corals,

all the fish and critters. After that came the aglae problem.

It started growing like wild fire. To make the matters worse, my wife kept feeding the tank (additives) and kept on feeding whts left. (most of the corals survive though)

When I returned home (after three months), most of my base rocks and sand and some of my corals were taken over by hair algae.

First thing I did was to brush the algae inside the aquarium (MY BIGGEST MISTAKE). Without knowing I introduce more algae!!!

The SOLUTION.

1. I introduced lots of hermit crabs, about 50 of them. (all of them were totally free for me as Im from Maldives)

2. Introduced a very common blenny.(Lawnmower Blenny - Salarias fasciatus)

3. Reduced the tempreture to 25 degrees Celsius

4. Stop feeding additives and food

5. Reduced lightings and light hours for 5hrs

6. Did LOTS of water changes.

7. WAITED for the nature to control.

As soon as I introduced the hermit crabs, they started their work and they controlled pretty much algae. But I noticed the long hair algae were not touched.

HERE COMES the BEST PART and I bet none of you guys would believe this. But it worked for me.

I introduced 4 Saron shrimps. YESS Saron Shrimps.

I haven't read any thing positive about this fellow.

But it really worked. The Saron Shrimps started eating the long hair algae. Trust me, though some reefers talk bad about this shrimp, its not what its labelled as. These fellows come out at night and nip off the hair algae and eat em pretty fast. And now Im totally free of algae. Now I respect these creatures more every day as they are my saviours.

Patience is all you need.

[Solo77]

Thanks for sharing. Heard this shrimp will also eat coral....anyone can confirm?

[RevellClownfish]

Y not..after we put saron shrimp in n let him fix da prob..after all algae finish..we take out the shrimp..n to show appreciation to the shrimp by putting it inside a cookin pant..n cook it with sambal..YUM@.

[Solo77]

ungrateful act....lol

[angelfishlover]

Brother reefers from Singapore, let me share you with my experience.

Recently when I was abroad my wife gave "little" extra calcium to my tank and there was a calcium shock which killed some of my corals,

all the fish and critters. After that came the aglae problem.

It started growing like wild fire. To make the matters worse, my wife kept feeding the tank (additives) and kept on feeding whts left. (most of the corals survive though)

When I returned home (after three months), most of my base rocks and sand and some of my corals were taken over by hair algae.

First thing I did was to brush the algae inside the aquarium (MY BIGGEST MISTAKE). Without knowing I introduce more algae!!!

The SOLUTION.

1. I introduced lots of hermit crabs, about 50 of them. (all of them were totally free for me as Im from Maldives)

2. Introduced a very common blenny.(Lawnmower Blenny - Salarias fasciatus)

3. Reduced the tempreture to 25 degrees Celsius

4. Stop feeding additives and food

5. Reduced lightings and light hours for 5hrs

6. Did LOTS of water changes.

7. WAITED for the nature to control.

As soon as I introduced the hermit crabs, they started their work and they controlled pretty much algae. But I noticed the long hair algae were not touched.

HERE COMES the BEST PART and I bet none of you guys would believe this. But it worked for me.

I introduced 4 Saron shrimps. YESS Saron Shrimps.

I haven't read any thing positive about this fellow.

But it really worked. The Saron Shrimps started eating the long hair algae. Trust me, though some reefers talk bad about this shrimp, its not what its labelled as. These fellows come out at night and nip off the hair algae and eat em pretty fast. And now Im totally free of algae. Now I respect these creatures more every day as they are my saviours.

Patience is all you need.

Wow same scenario as me as i overdosed calcium and algae grow like nuts even though PO4 is way below 0.03.Then i intro sea hare and ate greedily and my corals from shrinking bloom even more after i changed around 60% of the water(very high already so need to reduce).Then until now my sea hare is working but it just love to squirt out sediments if there are sediments in them.Slow but useful.

You guys might try the sea hare.The sea hare from small now grow fat already.

[crash]

Wow same scenario as me as i overdosed calcium and algae grow like nuts even though PO4 is way below 0.03.Then i intro sea hare and ate greedily and my corals from shrinking bloom even more after i changed around 60% of the water(very high already so need to reduce).Then until now my sea hare is working but it just love to squirt out sediments if there are sediments in them.Slow but useful.

You guys might try the sea hare.The sea hare from small now grow fat already.

hi... actually i would like to try using a sea hare... how big is it? and how much is it?... my algae blenny failed to eat hair algae... it died of hunger after abt 2 wks in my tank.. but the sarron shrimp seems dangerous if it eats coral... i wouldnt try tt yet...

thks all for the input...

[femunu]

hi... actually i would like to try using a sea hare... how big is it? and how much is it?... my algae blenny failed to eat hair algae... it died of hunger after abt 2 wks in my tank.. but the sarron shrimp seems dangerous if it eats coral... i wouldnt try tt yet...

thks all for the input...

i haven't notice any of my corals being eaten by saron shrimp. i WILL not remove SARON SHRIMP from my aquarium anymore.

[angelfishlover]

hi... actually i would like to try using a sea hare... how big is it? and how much is it?... my algae blenny failed to eat hair algae... it died of hunger after abt 2 wks in my tank.. but the sarron shrimp seems dangerous if it eats coral... i wouldnt try tt yet...

thks all for the input...

Oh it costs around 5-12 bucks usually.Hmm you may try ML or AM cause only these 2 shops are knows to bring in sea hares.But it will grow quite big uhmm around 3-5 inch.I had mine is quite small but after eating away slime algae,it became fat.Uhh but it knows wether it hits a coral or not cause of the stings i guess.

But they hit my SPS frag last time like pebbles and all topple.Oh well at least now left LPS and zoas.It also sometimes clear your debris on sand bed but it prefers algae.But it's a slow guy and expect to see results within one to one and a half week to see results.