Help!! I'm Being Attacked

I have just started to notice the appearance of hair algae in my tank. I have 4 turbos snails in there and they are doing there part, but it is still getting worse. I think it is from my blue LED lights, I have blue and white LEDs running at night. Do you think it is just one of the colors or both? Or do I just need more snails? I have a ric frag in there. I started turning off the blue at night because I think that was what was causing the hair, but I need to keep them on because over those couple of nights my frag didn't open up to well.

nitrite 0
nitrate 10
phos 0
ph 8.0
cal 350

 

PO4?
Si?
O2?

 

phos 0 no test of 02 or si

 

if your tank is mature enough sea hairs are one of the best hair algea eaters. many people try "lawnmower" blennies but most dont seem to go after it in captivity.

 

What is your opinion of the LEDs?

 

sorry but i dont know, ive never used any type of moonlight before so i really have no experiance with them. it couldnt hurt to turn them off.

 

Moonlights are usually 3/4 watt to 1 watt in power. There's no way they are contributing to the hair algae. I see your Ca is low as it should be over 400ppm. What is your alkalinity (dKH) and magnesium? You should have no less than 1300ppm Magnesium (I like mine between 1350 and 1400) and dKH of 10 minimum (I like mine between 10 and 12). I keep my Calcium around 450 (I like it between 440 and 500). Nuissance algae loves soft water, so raising the dKH and Calcium will help. The other problem is Nitrates. You are measuring 10ppm, but if you have Hair Algae present, it's much higher (trust me). It seems lower than it really is because the Hair Algae is using it up. In the past I had a bad bout of Green Hair Algae and my Nitrates were zero (not really as the GHA was using it up as fast as the tank was producing it). Decreasing the amount I fed my fish, from once a day to twice a week, really helped.

And lastly: Your tank is barely a month old. It's normal to have diatoms, then cyno and/or hair algae. That's part of the process of a tank maturing. That doesn't mean you should ignore it and hope it goes away. You just need to get ahead (and keep ahead) of it now, before it's a MAJOR problem. Start feeding less.

You say you have 4 Turbos. What else do you have for a cleanup crew? How many hermits (and what colors)? I have 15 blue-leg hermits in a 38 gallon, and that's probably a little light. Turbos are usually good for about 5-7 gallons of tank each, so you could stand to get a few more.

 

Hair Algae

I have the Current 14,000K Sunpod and trust me the moonlights are not causing you a problem. They really do not do much of anything besides give a little cool effect. You probably do not have any phosphates. Since your tank is still new that is most likely the reason for the little nitrates. Cut back on feeding and in time your nitrates will be 0. Add a few more snails if you like.
Adam

 

I am now getting my second, bigger green hair outbreak under control. Solution- another dozen little blue leg hermit crabs.

Also less light (time, not intensity), less food- I have almost certainly been overfeeding.

 

I had a hair outbreak and the cause was phosphates, while I was reading 0 in my tank, the hair was using it up faster than I could test it, some Phosbuster fixed it for me.