losing the algea battle

ok my tank is a year old this month!
just did testing and is as follows
PH- 8.4
Amon- 0
nitrite- 0
nitrate- 0
phos- 0
calc- 400
kh- 4dkh or 71.6
salinity- 1.024
lightin is a coralife 150w x 2 MH HQI / with 2 acintic 96w blue compacts
timed for acintics one hour before MH and one hour after, MH are on for 2 hours only due to hair algea growth. lights are only 4 months old purchased new in box from LFS.
cleaner crew consists of 20 blue leg hermits
10 dwarf scarlet crabs
10 nasarius snails
12 - 15 asst. snails
5 mexican turbos
1 royal tuxedo urchin
LM Bleeny
see signature for rest of tank in habitants

only problem i have had is HAIR ALGEA IS EVERYWERE NOW!!!!
even in fuge/sump growing all over my cheeto

 

You forgot Mag and your dkh is way low, should be at least 8-12, I think thats your problem. Are you over feeding, tank next to a window?

 

Well you test readings may sow 0 for Nitrates and P04 due to the Algae consuming them. Seems to be a lot of fish for a 75 reef tank. Couple questions.

1) Are you ising a RO\DI Filter?
2) How much do you feed?
3)What do you feed?
4) DKH are on the low side also.

 

Great points. need answers on RO/DI and feeding

I would also say too many fish in a 75G
Also what skimmer are you using?

J

 

yes i use ro water as for feeding i use mysis shrimp every other day but i change to flake food sometimes as well as krill and also a frozen cube i buy from the LFS i never feed more then once aday and all fish seem very happy as well as corals doing great also

as for mag testing i am waiting to go to lfs to get one as the last one is all gone (got from a friend)

as for the skimmer it is a coralife skimmer rated for my tank, cant remember for sure though

the dkh i know is low and i am raising that as we speak, just doing it slowely thats all.

thanks for all the help everyone

Matt

 

Keep raising the alk slowly to about 10 dkh, and put some PhosGuard in a nylon mesh bag in your sump where the water will flow through it. Good luck.

 

tank is near a window but blinds always closed as it looks right into the neighbors bathroom LOL

 

after reading more posts on here i think i might have part of the problem
my temp stays right around 80-81f
dont know really how to get it lowere then that
my lights sit on legs attached to the tank
roughly about 6 inches of the surface
should i try a fan to blow across between lights and surface?

 

I'd get a fan and get those levels up. Also you mentioned you never feed more than once per day. It's not an issue to only feed your tank every 2 - 3 days. You might try that to reduce the amount of uneaten food in the system as well as reduce the amount of fishy do do.

I agree with your readings saying zero becasue of how fast the algae can consume the excess nutrients. I've just been through this same battle and finally nuked the tank.

 

can you post a good tight picture of this algae ? It may be a horse of a totally different color ? It very well could be Bryopsis pennata that you are doing battle with .. And if you used L/Rock or sand its just raises the odds against you not having this pest. Or just use the name and do a search you'll find a ton of info and pictures .

I have been fighting with this for how ever long I have been in Ct.. and I can't make a dent in it. Amcarrig had a 90 to be over ran with it from some live rock 8 yrs ago or so. I had some to get into our new 180 on a coral and now Its been a up hill battle with it. I sent a sample off to be sure what I had ): I took some to work and matched it perfectly to some slides the Boss had and then as I said to be sure I sent some to a buddy in Va. Who works for the State at the Chesapeake Bay foundation Program .. He confirmed it and its a killer and a Beautch to kill off ..Know your enemy