Red Hair Algae

Will a yellow tang devour red hair algae or could they care less about it?

Thanks,

Jim

 

They might .... maybe we should discuss the cause of the hair algae? what are your parameters and do you know why you have this issue? are you sure its hair and nor cyano bacteria

 

How can you tell the difference between cyano and red hair algae? I thought I had coralline growing everywhere, but in a lot of spots there are little 5mm red wisps wafting off of the sand and rock.

 

Can you take a picture? it sounds more like Red Brush Algae to me. please post a full spectrum for your water -- all you test for, including temp and salinity.

 

Look here to see if you can ID it yourself: trial page, algae ID

My point here is that I ( and all others here, trust me) would like to help you resolve the cause rather than a temporary bandaid. Think of it this way, would you rather trim weeds in a flower garden or kill the roots so they don't come back? same thing here....

 

I appreciate the help, I couldn't really tell from the pictures. I am going to try to take an identifiable one and upload it in a few minutes.

Parameters:
Ammonia= 0
Nitrite= 0
Nitrate= 20, I am working on it
Calcium= 450
Kh= 12
Ph= 8.2
Salinity= 1.024
Phosphates = 0.5-1.0

 

I was anticipating nitrates and phophates and possible silicates if you had the test kit.

Suggestions here are rather standard, you have a new tank so old bulbs are not your issue. Begin with a 20% water change and stick to 15% weekly after this. Manually remove all the algae you can – you will (may) see a spike in your test results as the algae will not be present to consume the excess nutrients.

Its imperative that you use RO/DI and use a skimmer if you do not already – dissolved organic compounds are a huge contributor.

Pick up a phosphate and nitrate sponge and continue with the above and you should be ok in no time at all.

feed the tank as little as possible (only what is consumed in a few minutes - and just twice a week). use a turkey baster to clean up and detritus laying about -- and ensure you have a good clean up crew in the tank.

 

k+ get rid of your nitrates and phos. And you will see a huge improvment. Maybe some small "bandaid" inverts to help get rid of the current algae while you work on getting your levels right.

 

Thanks guys. Here are some pictures, I don't know how helpful they will be, it is very difficult to see the little hairlike projections, but at least you will get some idea.

 

hows the flow in the tank? maybe try blowing a powerhead at the rocks to loosen anything that has settled on the rocks so it can get filtered out. i do this maybe once a week to 2 weeks and it helps pull some stuff out. that may help with your nitrates also