How to remove hair algae easily

[Reeftanker3295]

Dont worry, this isnt another thread on how to get it to stop growing it isnt growing anymore but since my cyano bloom the hair algae covered the whole tank and now i need an easy way to remove it from the tank. Ive been ripping it out but it takes so long and doesnt even get close to ridding the rocks of it. Whats the quick and easy way to remove it? Should i take out each rock and scrub them until its all off then dip them in freshwater to get rid of all the pores and stuff on the rock?

[bb0029]

I use a spatula when my wife is not home. I scape it off the walls with the spatula and follow behind it with a net. I also turn the water flow off too. Everywhere else I just had to pick it off.

[Newbie-Reefer]

My tangs seem to keep it down. They consume algae like it is fillet minion.

[Reeftanker3295]

Mines all on the rocks, the only place my snails wont go for some reason...

[Reeftanker3295]

I could try to get a baby yellow tang just for a couple days so it doesnt get too stressed in my 30 gallon then return it. But dont know about that.

[Newbie-Reefer]

There are several fish that will eat it. If a tang isnt a good fit just do some research. Turbo snails pretty much eat it all, but watch out for the bulldozer effect. They nock over my rocks all the time.

[Reeftanker3295]

Have turbo snails, they dont touch it. Believe me, i researched everything that ate it and what killed it and none of it worked until i removed my bioballs haha. Will brushing the rocks kill bacteria or anything on the rocks causing a cycle or should i be fine?

[SoK]

I'd like to know this as well. I just scored 20# LR for $45. The rock came with 2 orange rics, orange n green zoo's, a colony of green digi's n a blue yuma. Only problem is the guy had been neglecting his tank in lieu of a move coming up so now it has HA pretty bad.

I'd take it for a scrub but I don't want to damage any of the coral on it. Any other options?

[Reeftanker3295]

SoK, the problem with that is you have corals that dont like to be exposed to air. In your situation id do what ive been doing then just try turbo snails, maybe even acclimate some mollies to SW. What i do is fill a small pan with fresh water, bring it over to the tank, rip out as much HA as i can without dropping any, put it in the freshwater, rinse your hand in the pan of freshwater to kill anything on your hands, then repeat for hours. Takes a long time, but i know the feeling of having that hair algae, and youll eventually do anything to remove it.

[Newbie-Reefer]

Originally Posted by Reeftanker3295

SoK, the problem with that is you have corals that dont like to be exposed to air. In your situation id do what ive been doing then just try turbo snails, maybe even acclimate some mollies to SW. What i do is fill a small pan with fresh water, bring it over to the tank, rip out as much HA as i can without dropping any, put it in the freshwater, rinse your hand in the pan of freshwater to kill anything on your hands, then repeat for hours. Takes a long time, but i know the feeling of having that hair algae, and youll eventually do anything to remove it.

You got the right idea. with rock that does not have coral on it I would scrub it and soak it or boil it. this will kill the algae. Problem is that it will reattach if you do not kill all in the tank. HA is a pain in the butt that is for sure.

About the mollies.......

know of any others that can be acclimated? I am going to try some mollies just for fun, and I have thought about starting a tank with only fresh water fish acclimated just to throw off my buddies. If you can give me a link to a list of acceptable fish i would be very happy.

[quader94]

if its dead, you could take it out and scrub it with a toothbrush, i did it and it worked prettty good

[Newbie-Reefer]

that is true... I forgot he said it wasnt growing. Scrub it off and rinse the rocks.

[SoK]

Originally Posted by Reeftanker3295

SoK, the problem with that is you have corals that dont like to be exposed to air. In your situation id do what ive been doing then just try turbo snails, maybe even acclimate some mollies to SW. What i do is fill a small pan with fresh water, bring it over to the tank, rip out as much HA as i can without dropping any, put it in the freshwater, rinse your hand in the pan of freshwater to kill anything on your hands, then repeat for hours. Takes a long time, but i know the feeling of having that hair algae, and youll eventually do anything to remove it.

Am I OK to FW dip the rock or will that cause a cycle when I put it in the tank? From there, I'll just start picking it all off. I'll have time saturday. my sisters 21st bday party is Friday so I have a feeling I won't wanna do much else lol...

[Reeftanker3295]

Mhm a dips fine, just dont let it sit in there for too long. Ok tomorrows another reef tank day! Parents going out so im going to turn off the tank, do a water change, scrub the rocks in the old water and rinse them off then find out my micro bubble problem.

[bcrum51]

you can pull those corals out of the water long enough to clean the rock and even do a fresh water dip wont hurt a thing just do it in a timely fashion