Green Hair Algae problem

[julianchan]

So, I have a massive outbreak of green hair algae. It is starting to get a little under control just by pulling stuff out, but I am wondering if I can do anything else to help.

Here is the parameters of the tank :

Ammonia : 0
Nitrates : 0
Nitrites : >10ppm
Phosphates : 0
Hardness : 13dkh
Calcium : 400
Temp : 78f
pH : 8.3

I dose with vitamin C everyday (though I do miss a day or two here and there), vitachem is added to the tank weekly and a few drops to food as and when I feed. And I dose the tank with Kents Iodide mixture once a week.

I have been pulling out by hand the algae, but obviously cannot get rid of everything in there. I have pulled out a few pieces of rock and scrubbed them down, but the algae has just grown back on it. I have a few snails and some emerald crabs in there, but the growth is a little more than they can handle.

Any help would be great...plus anything that i should be addressing that I do not know about...

[Pufferpunk]

I always felt it was a waste to dose a tank with vitamins I soak their foods in. What fish & inverts do you have? Do you have any algae-eating creatures in there?

[julianchan]

1 gsp, 1 tomato clown are the only fish

I have a 4 emerald crabs in there, 2 sea urchins, 3 peppermint shrimp, some snails. Oh, and 2 hermit crabs.

Corals include green star polyps, brown button polyps, a few leathers, zoas, and frogspawn.

I guess the algae eaters would be the emerald crabs, urchins and snails...other than that, nothing.

[Pufferpunk]

Try a sea hare but beware, they do get caught in powerheads.

[julianchan]

hmmm...I can get them for free...I think...is this what you mean?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/themixguy/4308070305/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/themixguy/4308074443/

Took those photos just a month ago. And a search on google yielded photos of critters just like this...

Thanks for the help PP

[Mek0ng]

I would avoid those, sea hares can nuke a tank. Try GFO I suspect that phos reads 0 because the GHA has consumed it all.

[Pufferpunk]

I've lost many sea hares (mostly just disappeared) & a couple got chewed up in powerheads (hence the warning). Even been inked by a couple, picking them up. Never a nuked tank by a single one.

[julianchan]

Well, I have to ask, how safe are the sea hares with a puffer...since they are largely unprotected by anything, and what is GFO?

[chubber]

Alright,

Nitrates : 0
Nitrites : >10ppm

I take it this is the other way round. Phosphates and nitrates can both fuel hair algae as well as CO2 (although a PH of 8.3 suggest this is not an issue). Your low Phosphate reading may be a mix of the type of test kit used and the algae using it before it hits the water column.

Are you using RO and/or a cannister filter? I reduced the problem by using Rowaphos to remove phosphate (before the algae does) and purigen to help with nitrates, as well as cleaning the cannister filter weekly.

This reduced growth a lot, but not completely so i'm interested to in the sea hare too, but have also heard mixed reports about them releasing toxins.


Cheers

[julianchan]

You are correct, it is the other way around.

I do use purely RO/DI water for topping off dealing with the salt creep, and the salt water that is used is "ocean water" or something to that effect, it is salt water harvested a few miles out from Catalina Island. I run a HOB skimmer (AquaC Remora Pro with a Rio1400 pump), no canister filters at all.

I guess it might be prudent to mention I have added products to remove phosphates (started about a month and a half ago) called PhosGuard (it was something recommended by the LFS, and was cheap enough to just give a try)

[Pufferpunk]

It might do you better to mix your own salt water.

[julianchan]

Unfortunately, mixing is not quite a viable option for me at this point...space is an issue. I'll test the SW from the LFS and see if it is an issue. If it is, I'll see if I can find another LFS that sells SW that they mix themselves.

[Pufferpunk]

Ooooh, that could get $$$. Have you tested the water right after you scoop it out?

[julianchan]

I am already paying $3.99 for 5gallons of water, I don't think it can get much more expensive than that...

This will sound dumb....but scoop the water out of where?

Just to clear it up...I am not taking the water myself...there is a company that has sole right to collecting water (in pristine areas around Catalina Island so I have been told) and cleaning it up for aquarium use, and distributes it to a few LFS's. Getting anything from Catalina is hard...its a sanctuary...only electric vehicles on the island.

[Pufferpunk]

I thought you were scooping it out of the source yourself. Better to get premixed SW than reconstituted stuff. I don't trust it.