Hair Algae

So i bought a firefish a week or so ago. My spotted hawkfish had a major personality conflict with it. I was hoping they would get along after a day or two, but unfortunately sometime during day two, the firefish disappeared in my tank. Sooo now i'm dealing with a nasty algea outbreak. I've done water changes and have my readable levels of nitrate back to right around 0. However, the algae is still everywhere. I've scrubbed it off the rocks and sand before water changes and tried to suck it up with the siphon, and it either drifts behind rocks or down into the sump before i can get at it. So, what i am trying now is i stripped all the old media out of a Fluval 201 that i had set up on a freshwater set up. I filled all the media baskets up with filter fiber. My plan is to keep that running in the display and scrub the crap out of the rocks and stir up the sand to get the algae loose and then let the filter suck it up. I know that the filter will turn into a nitrate factory if i dont clean it out, i'm just wondering how long i will have before it starts to break down in there. Do you think i could go two days in between cleaning it out or should i get at it every day? I just hate throwing away a ton of money on water changes when my only problem is the algae. Any insight???

 

I would try dosing carbon or adding phosban.

if you sand is more then 2 inches deep I wouldn't stir it up it will only cause more problems.

 

Removing it by hand, if it's really hair algae, should be easy. Grip and rip. Then either use a refugium (preferred) with macro algae and Red Mangroves as that will remove both Phosphate and Nitrate, or a phosban reactor which will remove Phosphate. Either would work as a long-term solution.

 

Yea i've got macros running in my fuge and haven't had a problem with nuisance algae since the tank was new. That firefish that died is why i'm having this problem. Im thinking its brown hair but i know cyano looks similar, but none the less i understand you treat them the same way. I haven't been stirring up the sand i've just been letting it accumulate into a film that covers the sand bed, then i use my net to pick it up. It peels off in sheets, then i put it in a bucket and rise it out until i'm left with a nasty smelling bucket full of brown water. Dump that out rinse the sand again and return it. I always run carbon in the HOB filter running in my fuge, and i just replaced the phosban in my DIY reactor yesterday. I've got a good handle on it i think its just there is a ton of the stuff in and amongst my rocks that i can't get to and when i try and remove it it blows around in the tank and settles right back in and slowly starts to grow again. That is why im trying to use the canister to physically remove this sequestrated nitrate/phosphate. I am just not sure how long it will sit in the canister before it starts to break down and leach back into my tank. I'm gonna try every other day while scrubbing the build up until the problem is gone or until i hear otherwise.

 

If anyone has any idea how long it will take that stuff to start breaking down in there that would be great to know though!

 

Bump

 

it's different for every tank and treatment route.