Seeing green hair algae only in overflow box

[Pilotkev55]

I have noticed some green hair algae only in the overflow box. I feed the fish once a day. I am running a reactor with GFO in it. From what I have read about it is it may not be bad as long as it's only in the overflow box. It's eating nutrients and that's not bad. One suggestion was to try and cover the open top of the overflow box to restrict the light that it gets. I'm not sure I want to scrape it out for fear of some ending up in the tank.although I would figure that the filter sock would catch it.

Maybe I should leave it because it's consuming unwanted extra nutrients or phosphates? Any thoughts on this would be great
Thanks

 

[emmett0122]

i have some hair algae in my overflow box as well i just let it go i dont or havent had any out breaks in the main tank and it is helping with nitrates and phosphates but it comes down to personal preference. if you dont like remove it if it doesnt bother you then leave it.

 

[Pilotkev55]

That's what I have been finding out. It's not in my main tank either so I'm going to leave it be

 

[ReeferRob]

If it's in your overflow box, it IS in your main tank. Critters and the GFO is taking care of it for the most part, they just can't get to the overflow. ;)

 

[Pilotkev55]

Yeah that does make sense

 

[Old Tom]

As long as the green hair algae isn't inhibiting the water flow i would leave it alone as the the nutrients in the water (phosphates and nitrates) will be consumed by the algae and that is a good thing. it should be easy to remove if it becomes to overgrown and an issue with water flow. As for growth in the main display tank, it is there but the other live stock is consuming, you may also want to reduce your feeding a bit to reduce the amount of nitrates and phosphates that are being generated for growth.

 

[Pilotkev55]

I did reduce my feeding and the algae in the overflow box has disappeared for the most part.