Brown Hair Algaea???

Pysiek

Pysiek

Reefing newb
Hello
I have my tank for a year now. About two weeks ago my tank start to get a spots with brown hair algae. Please check the photo. I took the photo from internet and my algae is exactly the same except it's brown.
I do 20% water change every week. 3 weeks ago my first baby was born and I missed one water change . This is when the brown hair algae start to show up. I do have new filters on my RO/DI system.
What might cause the algae to grow? How can I get rid off it?
 

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Some photos below. I will check parameters as soon as I get home from work. Also I have a Phosban Reactor on the way :) .
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Also in real the algae looks darker brown that this
 
I had the same problem. I added a single chamber BRS running carbon/gfo mix and no more HA. Cleared in about a week. I also changed salt brands. I found out my old brand (Instant Ocean) was testing levels of phosphates in newly mixed water. So every time I was doing water changes I was adding more phosphates....My RO/DI TDS was 0.
 
rrbigdog said:
I had the same problem. I added a single chamber BRS running carbon/gfo mix and no more HA. Cleared in about a week. I also changed salt brands. I found out my old brand (Instant Ocean) was testing levels of phosphates in newly mixed water. So every time I was doing water changes I was adding more phosphates....My RO/DI TDS was 0.
Click to expand...
I use Instant Ocean salt
 
Use chemi pure elite as a filtration media & Don't overfeed your fish. Also, stay away from pellet/dry foods get frozen and check your phosphate levels. Another idea is go to a site called www.about.com. type in hydrogen peroxide treatment for algae. There are also vids on youtube that show how its done. Peroxide kills the algea in a saltwater tank within less than an hour. I hear you do have to be careful of shrimps because they can kill them off but I don't have any shrimp in my tank. It will also knock out of balance the helpful bacteria in your tank so you need to add something like nite out II and special blend after treatment (usually I add these bacteria the next morning) It's a targeted treatment and you do a little treatment each day for an X amount of days.....don't fully remember. The site also tells you how many ml's of peroxide depending on how many gallons you have. You inject it directly onto the algae or into the sand if you have cyano. I've had tremendous success treating cyano and hair algae but everyone's situation and outcome may be slightly different. I also haven't had any loses of livestock using this method
 
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I remember reading that it could possibly kill shrimp if they hang around the area that is treated. It did not state specifically what type of shrimp. I think the key is to follow the directions on the site and read up/google as much as you can before attempting to use around them. I just did a treatment 2 weeks ago but I don't have any shrimp to worry about in my scenario.
 
My first bet is that your phosphates are pretty high.Test your phosphates first to see what your levels are. I'm not aware of any products that are safe for inverts but that doesn't mean there aren't any (look at Dr Foster & Smith's website). Do you have a sump? maybe you could put some chaeto algae to help absorp the phosphate levels which should help stop the growth of algae. Doing water changes alone will not resolve the issue. You have to find the exact source of the problem. How much do you feed? what kind of food -frozen or dry? what type of filtration media do you currently use? How much and what type of lighting? How strong is the water flow in your tank and what directions are your water pumps facing? These are some questions we need to know to help you out the best we can.
PS what size tank do you have?
 
I have 55 Gallon tank with sump/refugium. I have chaeto before and it died twice. What I mean is it turn brown and looks weird after couple weeks. So I stopped using the chaeto and now I have live sand and live rock in my refugium.
I feed dry to my clownfishes and frozen food to any other fishes. The only reason why I use dry food is because they told me so at my LFS.
 
1st step...I would avoid any dry foods. Many of them are high in phosphates which can and will add to the algae growth. They are good for when you go on vacation to put in an auto feeder if u don't have a sitter. As far as the chaeto, I'm not sure why it could have turned brown.
1. How many fish are in your tank?
2. How often do you feed?
3. Do you have a clean up crew?
 
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1. I have two clowns , one Kaudern's Cardinal , one bicolor blenny , one scooter blenny
2. I feed the fishes every night about an hour before my main light go off and moonlights kick in
3. Before I have 2 turbo snail. First one died after 2 days second one died last week. Was in my tank for about 2-3 months. Also I have pistol shrimp which eat most of my clean up crabs. I have several fighting conches , 2 sand sifting sea stars , some worms to take care of my DSB.
Today my clean up crew should arrive so I will add :
- 10 Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs
- 20 Margarita Snails
- 20 Dwarf Red Tip Hermit Crabs
 
How big is your tank?

And did you post your parameters and I missed it?

(Sidenote: the sandsifting stars don't do well in our tanks long-term. You may consider rehoming them.)
 
jahel318 said:
Use chemi pure elite as a filtration media & Don't overfeed your fish. Also, stay away from pellet/dry foods get frozen and check your phosphate levels. Another idea is go to a site called www.about.com. type in hydrogen peroxide treatment for algae. There are also vids on youtube that show how its done. Peroxide kills the algea in a saltwater tank within less than an hour. I hear you do have to be careful of shrimps because they can kill them off but I don't have any shrimp in my tank. It will also knock out of balance the helpful bacteria in your tank so you need to add something like nite out II and special blend after treatment (usually I add these bacteria the next morning) It's a targeted treatment and you do a little treatment each day for an X amount of days.....don't fully remember. The site also tells you how many ml's of peroxide depending on how many gallons you have. You inject it directly onto the algae or into the sand if you have cyano. I've had tremendous success treating cyano and hair algae but everyone's situation and outcome may be slightly different. I also haven't had any loses of livestock using this method
Click to expand...

I first used a Chemi Pure Elite in a filter sock to see if it would help. It did but that is an expensive long term solution. I changed to a gfo/carbon chamber. Since you stated you already have a reactor on the way I would just start with that. If phosphates are the problem you should start to see improvement quickly. Mine took about 1 1/2 weeks to clear. Also, IMO I would not do any other chemical treatment until I ran the reactor...Especially since you already purchased one.
 
ErinCahir said:
How big is your tank?

And did you post your parameters and I missed it?

(Sidenote: the sandsifting stars don't do well in our tanks long-term. You may consider rehoming them.)
Click to expand...
I did not :( I'm sorry. My 4 weeks old daughter give us hard time yesterday. I will take the measurements ASAP.
Also by rehoming you meant give them away? Will they die in my aquarium?
 
My LFS told me he is using Mangrove Plants in his refugium. He thinks they are better then chaeto. I think I might purchase some from him.
 
Okay . Here are my parameters:
Calcium - 400
Alkalinity - 143.2 ppm
Phosphate - between 0 and .25 closer to .25
Nitrate - 0
pH - 8.31
Temp - 78.3
Salinity - 1.024
 

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