Algae Problems

Ive had my 30 gal reef tank for a year now and cant seem to get this hair algae under control need help of any kind please

 

No one likes to give info LOL. Well, here try this anyways, if this doesn't work it's probably bryopsis.

Green Hair Algae can be conquered!

cheers,
m

 

thanks alot new to the forum and wasnt sure what to do

 

Oh yes, I see that. Welcome!

More info is always better

Really though, what you've tried in the past.
What kind of tank, CUC, filtration etc.. it can all help. Really though GHA shouldn't bee to difficult if you follow Marks page I posted. If it is, then it is likely a form of bryopsis, or other atypical GHA like algae. If that turns out to be the case, people can help with that too. Pics could also help to identify the algae, although not always...

 

+1.... a picture speaks a thousand words!

 

i have about 30 hermit crabs blue and red legged, 15 snails astrea, and turbos. I also have a canister filter rated for 110 gals, 110 seaclone protein skimmer. I bought a sea hair and that did the job but when i took him back to LPS the algae flared up again water parameters are perfect but im goin to follow marks page guidelines

 

A picture might be good here just in case it isn't typical GHA. Based on what you've mentioned, it seems you should be able to keep it under control. Especially if you follow Marks write-up. If not, likely it isn't actually typical GHA, or for some reason there is a lot of die-off on the rocks, which is feeding it. Or, possibly, you have a lot of nutrients and are feeding it faster than the CUC can remove it. Are you running GFO? What about detritus? Do you have a lot of flow? Do you feed a little bit often? or more, less frequently. What do you have for fish?

 

No GFO, lot of water flow bout 10 to 15 times i maybe feeding too much and i noticed alot of detritus inside the live rock in the small holes i have a flame angel, pistol shrimp and goby pair, 2 picasso clowns, six-line wrasse, cleaner shrimp, and a jawfish. No pictures yet havent had the time and out of the country right now got friend watching the tank

 

Well, you have a lot of fish. I don't like to encourage underfeeding and honestly it can be counterproductive as it can lead to die-off, which can lead to more GHA LOL. What I would say is it sounds like your feeding too much at once. So, if possible, try breaking up your feeding, feed the same amount, but over more feeding per day. I do 5-7 myself using an Ehiem feeder, plus some manual feedings at night for example, but this is probably extreme for most people. I do so largely for my anthias.

The detritus in the rocks, suggests food is going uneaten and/or it isn't being filtered. 10-15x flow really isn't much by todays standards. Typically for a soft-coral, LPS, or mixed reef people are running around 35x turnover and for an SPS reef 50x+. The extra flow helps keep the food in suspension, where it can be filtered out (and provides other benefits, these are getting off topic, but include gas exchange to eliminate radicals due to photosynthesis and also, flow reduces the thickness of the corals boundary layer which can help with nutrient acquisition. The trade off being too much can make feeding difficult or physically harm the coral, but these depend on the specific coral).

GFO is also critical for GHA. I have seen GHA, within days, turn brown and die with the addition of GFO alone. So, this is also something worth considering.

 

i used to have alot of GHA the thing that helped me get rid of it was getting rid of my canister filter and buying a protein skimmer. you dont need both so i suggest getting rid of the filter they turn into nitrate factories unless there cleaned once a week which is to much work IMO