hair algae

[HUNGER]

whats the best way to get rid of it i tested it the water is fine i tested the ro water its fine  i keep pullen it out  but it keeps coming back what should i do to get it to stop and go away  plus im getting the algae bubbles on some of my rock   

[jd]

Are you testing for phosphates? Running GFO? What do you feed and how often?

[Reefd Up]

What do you mean by, "fine"?  What are your parameters?  How old is the tank?  What size tank/skimmer?  How often do you do water changes?  Are you using a phosphate remover?  How old are your bulbs?  Do you grow macro-algae or have a deep sand bed?  Yada yada yada

[HUNGER]

tank is a 150 with a 75 refigem  aqac 240  bulbs are about 3 months  water change about 1 a week about 50 gallon  yes test pos both at tank and at ro they both r about .01 all most .02   ph 8.4 nitrite .3 nitrate less than 10 and ammonia 0

[HUNGER]

what is gfo???   tank is about 4 years old  feed fish about 3 times a week  dont feed the corals  yes sand bed is about 3 to 4 inchs and have some micro algea but it hasnt been gooing good the more the hair algea grows the more the rest dies and i have but it wont go down any the lostest i can get it is about .01.02

[jd]

GFO is granulated ferric oxide. It removes phosphate from your water. I am a surprised you have nitrite of any detectable level in a tank that old. Has anything stirred your sandbed recently? Rembember that even if your test kits say .01 PO4, your hair algae is using the phosphates and thus lowering your reading. I assume your mean macro algae not mirco. What kind its it, where is it and how is it lit?

[HUNGER]

yes i did thanx so am i the only stirring the sand would be the watchmen gobby   i dont know one kind of algae is but the other is chatto its in the 75 gallon refigeum  by vho's

[jd]

What color temperature are the VHO's?

[jeremyt]

you shouldnt have po4 out of the ro....how old are filters?   and what kind of test kits?

[Aquatic Specialists]

i would change the ro membrane and filters. Then i would add something that eats it such as a seahare if you don't have any aggressive creatures in the tank. If you have tangs they should be eating it, if they are not i would say you are over feeding them. A seahare will eat it gone, but if you only have one in a tank that size it should provide food for it, probably for its life. A little bit of hair algae is ok, it is a natural food source. I would also consider some other critters to help stir that sand.

[jd]

Justin, what do you think of this .3 nitrite reading? I've never heard of that in a cycled tank unless something big kicked the bucket.

[lazylivin]

The nitrite may be a false reading or as JD said running a mini cycle.

Could you take a picture of the algae. It is quite possible that it may look like hair algae but be bryopsis or turf algae which would explain growing in the low nutrient environment. When you come over this week bring me a sample of you water and I will check phosphates on my Hanna Photo Meter

[Amstar]

is the algae on your rocks or just on your glass?

[Aquatic Specialists]

Justin, what do you think of this .3 nitrite reading? I've never heard of that in a cycled tank unless something big kicked the bucket.

The nitrite could be a false reading a lazylivin says. It could very well be going through another cycle as jd says. Couple of other questions, have you added anything or taken anything out recently? What kind and how many creatures do you have in the tank? Are you rinsing any filter media out when you do your water changes? If so, are you using ro water to do this?
I would also say you have a lack of nitrospira, this is the bacteria that breaks nitrites down into nitrates. You may be killing it by being "too clean".  Unless you have a huge bioload, 50 gal. out of a 150 every week may be just a little too much. I would do more like 30 or 35. Also getting some creatures to help stir that sand bed and keep that bacteria thriving would be to your advantage. I would also recommend adding a supplemental bacteria to the tank weekly for awhile, until everything is corrected.

[HUNGER]

the total water is 300 gallon worken on the pics   i only have 5 fish 1 tang 1 watchmen and 1 pj carnel  and 2 clowns      the test have been the same for like 2 years  been useing are aquarium systems and salifert