hair algae?

[fishsticks]

hair algae? like lil grass is growing in my tank its getting long like grass if growing.... someone said get a clean up crew i already have hermitcrabs and they dont do anything!... what about a red starfish like the small ones will those do it? what can i get that just likes that hair algae stuff?

 

[dustin_P74]

emerald crabs will eat an amazing amount of hair algae and bubble algae

 

[cgoodman381]

As far as I know theres nothing that will really mow it down except for a sea lettice (but then will die from eating it all and having no more food).

Some things that may do some work on it.. long spine urchins, emerald crabs, have heard some algae blennies will eat some, turbo snails...

the best thing iv found for hair algae though is just pulling out as much as you can and letting some snails to the rest.

 

[RyanG]

Get a lawnmower blenny! Mine cleared my system in 4 days, emerald crabs and turbo snails also do the trick.

 

[yote]

All the critters mentioned above will help with the hair algae.But you'll still need to figure out whats fueling it.
Step up the water changes.Run some kind of phosphate media(phos-guard,phos-ban,so on and so forth).reduce feeding,cut back on the lights.
All the fun stuff.

 

[ccCapt]

Like Yote said, improve your water quality. Take away the food source, high nutrients, high nitrate, high phosphate, and the algae will die off.

 

[dustin_P74]

but if you font have anything to help eat it then the dying algae will just release nutrients back into the water and youll be back at step one

 

[Bifferwine]

Turbo snails and emerald crabs are good. As a last resort, get a sea hare. They work wonders, but you will have to make sure that you can return it to the store or pass it on to someone else's tank, since they will starve to death after they've cleaned your tank.

Keep in mind, any invert cleaner is not an option if your nitrates and phosphates are too high (which are what fuel the algae in the first place). The inverts will just die.

 

[ccCapt]

but if you font have anything to help eat it then the dying algae will just release nutrients back into the water and youll be back at step one

That's what water changes are for. :) Dilution is the key to polution!

 

[yote]

Its also best to manually remove as much of the algae as possible.
When I see it growing,the first thing I do is pull it out.Then I start testing more often and double my water changes.