Darn Hair Algae!

Trying not to panic, it's not that bad, could be worse. I have little patches of it here and there, but I didn't notice until a few days ago that it had spread after I cleaned off that one rock that had it. (I bought a piece of live rock from my LFS that I wish I wouldn't have, it was the perfect shape and size but had hair algae and I didn't realize then how evil it is). My nitrate and phosphate tests read zero. I try to feed sparingly. I don't have room for a sump but I could try adding a HOB refugium. I think I have plenty of snails - a turbo, 12 nass, at least 50 dwarf ceriths, 9 florida ceriths, 7 nerites. Also a starry blenny and he eats a little. I have two powerheads in addition to the strong flow from my fluval 405. I tried to remove it with my fingers but it's so hard to grab, is there a special tool they sell for this?
At my next water change I will try to get it all scrubbed off the rocks. But one question for you guys - I have a few nice branching coral rocks that have little feather dusters and brittle stars on them, and I don't want to hurt them when I use a brush on the rocks, what can I do? Try to get the brittle stars off first so I don't hurt them, try to avoid the feather dusters? Here's a pic of the one I'm really worried about. You can see the hair algae in the crevices where the turbo can't get to. Just yesterday I moved the little snails from the glass and reassigned them to this rock (the glass is pretty clean).
aquarium022.jpg
 
In all the rambling above, my question is: how to scrub rocks without damaging critters like feather dusters and brittle stars? Or are they a necessary casualty in the war on algae? Thanks in advance for any advice, or input. Maybe if I clean the rocks of it completely then my CUC can keep up with new growth. If not, maybe try a blackout or refugium with macro...what would you try first if you were me? Also I should mention that I just recently started testing for calcium and found out it was only 360, for some reason I thought that was only important if you had hard corals. I did a huge water change and it's at 400 now, and I'm switching to Reef Crystals (was using Instant Ocean) and bought a supplement (using sparingly to bring it up gradually). I don't suppose low calcium has anything to do with algae? My other parameters are perfect. Well, alk is on the low side, 7-8.
 
It's not too bad - part of it is the process of a relatively new tank going through some growing pains, as it finds the right balance of nutrients/bacteria growth, etc.

Nitrates & Phos generally read 0 with hair algae because it is so effective at eating up nutrients that they are sucked right out of the water column into the algae. (that's why algae turf scrubbers are supposed to be so effective)

Scrubbing the tanks, and even clean up crews, aren't the most effective, because it's not really removing the nutrients from the tank. They stay in the system. Running carbon in a reactor or even in just a bag in your tank near high flow can help.

Do you have a skimmer? That will help remove dissolved organics that decompose and feed the algae.
 
It's not too bad - part of it is the process of a relatively new tank going through some growing pains, as it finds the right balance of nutrients/bacteria growth, etc.

Nitrates & Phos generally read 0 with hair algae because it is so effective at eating up nutrients that they are sucked right out of the water column into the algae. (that's why algae turf scrubbers are supposed to be so effective)

Scrubbing the tanks, and even clean up crews, aren't the most effective, because it's not really removing the nutrients from the tank. They stay in the system. Running carbon in a reactor or even in just a bag in your tank near high flow can help.

Do you have a skimmer? That will help remove dissolved organics that decompose and feed the algae.

Yes I do have a skimmer. I could put some carbon in my fluval cannister if you think that would help. The refugium here is all I have room for, do you think getting this and putting some macro in there would help alot (worth the money)? [ame]http://www.amazon.com/CPR-Aquatics-AquaFuge-Small-Refugium/dp/B001F1W7YU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322697116&sr=8-1[/ame] Or would it be the same adding plants in the tank (I don't mind how it looks). Thanks.
 
I don't suggest raising mag, not without trying other solutions. Test the water coming out of your ro/di to see if nutrients are being introduced there. I wouldn't spend that much on a hob fuge. More refugium space, some carbon, or even just time will get rid of it.
 
whatever you do DO NOT scrub the rocks while they are in the tank. All that does is release more spores than it spreads even more. Start doing weekly water changes and less feedings. till you get it under control. We had a VERY BAD hair algae problem in our last tank. So start now to get it under control.
 
Thanks everyone. I guess I will try some carbon and more water changes. I change about 10 gal every two weeks. I really don't want to do a water change every weekend, but maybe I have to. My RODI filters are only a few months old, but I will check the TDS again to make sure they're good. I feed my fish a tiny little bit twice a day because if I don't my chromis get really nasty to each other. I also recently used Phyto-feast for my corals, I spot fed them a half teaspoon total, but I heard this can fuel algae growth so maybe I should not do that anymore.
I may try raising the mag if I can't get rid of it, there seem to be plenty of people out there that say it works (using the Kent Tech-M). But raising something so much higher than what's in natural seawater instinctively sounds a bit risky to me.
 
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