[PIZZA101]

Hello fellow RK's,
My tank is in the 3rd month and all water levels are leveling out (nitrates were a huge problem) Now I seem to have hair algae growing on four of my live rocks. I feel its hair algae w due to it looking like hair and how fast its spread.. Its green and red and im a matter of a week has covered some Zoes I have. Is this part of the cycle and does it just go away after the cycle? Or what can I do to speed up the process. I have a 60 gal tank with a 150 wt MH and a 96 watt antic they both burn for 12 hours a day on a timer.. then the moon lights kick in.. Please help me
Thanks,
Ronny

[PIZZA101]

Bump!!!!!!

[swinginbeef]

You could try cutting your MH lights down to about 8 hours per day. That should help some but that main thing is keeping the nitrates in check through filtration and water changes.

[stephaniesquires]

I was in a lfs today and they had a tank with hair algae - tried everything, then they got a sea slug of some kind - it ate all the hair algae and left everything else alone...

[PIZZA101]

hmmm Sea slug... Ill try anything right now... lol thanks!

[PIZZA101]

Big beef... I cut lights down to 8 hours a day.. Seemed to help more growth!!

[tdc2006]

I had a big green hair algea problem during my cycle and I bought a sea slug and it took out all the green hair algae that it could reach. I think it took it about a week and then I had to take him back due to the fact he had nothing else to eat.

[stephaniesquires]

Maybe we could start a rental business - pass it from one member to another!!

[dfurbee]

When I had had HA problems, got 3 emerald crabs, a lettuce nudibranch and a bunch of turbo snails, also started to use only RO/DI water; my algae problem was gone within 2 weeks!

[PIZZA101]

All great ideas ladies and gents!!! I have two Emerald crabs and about 8 turbo snails right now.. They all seem to stick to the algae on the tank walls and the green algae on the rock(not including the hair) But my friend that I get my corals from is getting me a Blue Tang and about 25 blue legged hermits which he said would help if not get rid of the problem..dfurbee what is the lettuce nudibranch that your talking about, I have heard of the name but have no idea what it is or what it does...
Thanks again all for your help in my days of distress!!
Ronny

[dfurbee]

you can get them at reeftopia.com They eat hair algae, and I mean they eat it!!

[PIZZA101]

Thanks dfurbee,
I visited the site and spent over a hundred buck(no groceries this week i guess) but wow some really great prices!!! Thanks a bundle!

[dfurbee]

no problem, hope your algae problem gets better.

[megahaus]

Be careful!! Sea slugs.. most commonly sold as Sea Hares due to looking like a rabbit with its ears, can be DEADLY. If your sea hare eats red slime algae then it tuns that slime algae into a toxin as self defense. If your sea hare dies it lets go of that toxin, a lot of water changes will follow.. so be careful to make sure you don't have a big red slime algae problem any where in your tank. Sea slugs do eat hair algae, I've seen a sea hare eat all of the hair algae off of a completely covered back wall in a matter of two days... Just please be careful

[PIZZA101]

Great advice from all... I added three Lettuce nudibranch as well as 50 blue legged hermits and a total of 6 emerald hermits and that seems to keep my hair algae at bay.. thanks soo much for all your help!

[Sage Hen]

I added a Foxface Lo and he took care of what hair algae I had in my tank in less then a week.