I need an attack plan for the H.A.

[mcbunnymama]

thanks for the advice, my husband thinks we are starving the fish, because they keep swimming up to the glass to look at us and he thinks they're looking for food

[harlequin29]

they may be looking for food, but when they are hungry enough they will eat the algae. Most people can leave their tanks for a week and their fish won't starve. I assume that many people overfeed. I 'power feed' my corals and whatevers floating around my fish are welcome to =]

[mcbunnymama]

so, we've cut back feeding to 2x a week, blowing off the rock with a baster and doing weekly siphoning and 20% water changes and

MY TANK LOOKS WORSE THAN EVER!!
algae growing on the rock sand and glass even the crabs and snails shells are green

[zero186]

have you tried cutting the lights out for a couple days? the lack of light and food could have an effect

[mcbunnymama]

we only have the lights on for 4hrs a day as it is

[chrisd]

if the algae gets to bad the next time you make a water change you can scrub the rock in the old tank water with an old tooth brush. but keep with the water changes and the siphoning and you should be fine. you still have alot of nutrients in the water from the over feeding.

funny my blenney use to hold down the hermits and eat the algae of the shell

[mcbunnymama]

Originally Posted by chrisd

if the algae gets to bad the next time you make a water change you can scrub the rock in the old tank water with an old tooth brush. but keep with the water changes and the siphoning and you should be fine. you still have alot of nutrients in the water from the over feeding.

funny my blenney use to hold down the hermits and eat the algae of the shell

I thought I read a thread somewhere on here that brushing it will only make it worse, so we've stopped brushing it
we did buy some astrea snails that I thought would help, but they do absoluletly nothing and my turbo snails have disappeared since we introduced the astreas

[cutietwo]

Lawnmower blenney will do a great job with HA!! I had a HUGE HA problem and i got one, within 2 weeks it was all gone it was amazing!! And he's one of my favorite fish i have too so much personality!

[chrisd]

Originally Posted by mcbunnymama

I thought I read a thread somewhere on here that brushing it will only make it worse, so we've stopped brushing it
we did buy some astrea snails that I thought would help, but they do absoluletly nothing and my turbo snails have disappeared since we introduced the astreas

brushing it off in the old tank water is fine just try to keep the rock under water as much as possible. a lawnmower blenney would help but after the algae is gone the blenney would starve. the tank is to small to support a blenney. i have one and im trying to feed flake food and seaweed sheets but he will never touch the stuff. sad to say im going to take him back to the lfs before he dies. but i might replace him with another maroon.

i looked at your stocking list and i hate to say it but you have to many animals in the tank. you should have 2 fish at the most. the 2 percs would be fine. all the animals in the tank will help to feed the algae.

I have 1 maroon clown 1 blenney 5 hermits 2 astera snails 2 peppermint shrimp and corals. finger leather, green button polyps, sun fire zoanthids, and 1 brown montipora cap and im still looking to add a couple of mushrooms and 1 more montipora.

[chrisd]

almost forgot try changing 5 gallons of water once a week this will help to remove more of whats feeding algae. it takes time. it could take a month or two.

[mcbunnymama]

does anyone think a UV sterilizer would work, I'm pretty sure I saw one made for a biocube
not worried about the $$$ as much as getting rid of this stuff

[chrisd]

i used a uv sterilizer on my koi ponds for free floating algae (green water) it worked great but i dont think it will work for hair algae. the algae as to pass through the light in order for it to work.

[mcbunnymama]

Originally Posted by chrisd

i used a uv sterilizer on my koi ponds for free floating algae (green water) it worked great but i dont think it will work for hair algae. the algae as to pass through the light in order for it to work.

thanks, I just got back from LFS and they told me it would work great, glad i waited and didnt have them order it

[mcbunnymama]

another day of green ugg! had enough and went to LFS and bought some giant mexican turbo snails(or something that sounds like that) bought 2 because hey it's a small tank
4 hours later and my one lowest rock seems to be almost free and clear
at least I feel like I'm doing something besides sitting back and watching the green spread

[mcbunnymama]

Ok, so I'm not the most patient person, but this algae problem is ridiculous!!
The giant mexican turbo snails seem to have stopped eating. The tank looks horrible, will try to get some lovely(LOL) pics up soon
Went to LFS and was talked into buying some phos-ban, so put a small bag of it in the sump part of the biocube(that was 3 days ago)
This is a very frustrating hobby!