What factors should I look for, for solving my hair algae problem

[Reefer Dude]

Well if Nitrates and Nitrites are not a problem what other factors should I look for in my hair algae problem. I run RO water, but I am starting to wonder if there is something the RO may be missing. Is there anything besides Phosphate I should look at ( I have not done a phosphate test yet). Although I thought I almost had the hair problem beat, it is really starting to come back today. I have had no die off, and I have been doing a 5 gallon water change every week. Any ideas of what else I should like at. I have never had a hair algae problem before.

One thing I think may be a problem is my skimmer, it is a ASM G1X which is very small for my tank but also I am having one heck of a time tuning it. I had it dialed in really nice for a nice thick dry skim mate, however it just stopped skimming like that and now the only way I can get it to skim is wet. I do have an Octopus 150 on the way out which should get me nice skimming action.

What little live stock I have in the tank is doing fine I just need to get rid of the hair algae.

[oyam123]

Use RO/DI
Cook your rock?
Bulbs?
If you have it then you are creating an environment for it to thrive.
You are feeding...Now what is feeding it? is it the water, light, elements in the rock?
All you can do it RO/DI water, new bulbs, less light, less feeding, more flow with better skimming.
Finally cooking your rock.

[Reefer Dude]

Well all I use is RO/DI water ( I have a 5 stage unit). The bulbs on my tank are brand new, I do not feed that tank as all I have is one fist that eats the hair. I have good flow, however skimming is a problem. I am not going to "cook" the rock as that is a process for bare bottoms and I am not going the BB route. I do need to do a test on the RO water just to make sure nothing is wrong.

[tito]

Get oyam123's TDS meter and check your output on your RODI unit. What size tank again? I don't think the skimmer is your problem because it sounds like the tank is lightly stocked and your are doing the weekly water changes.

[Ben]

Unless the hair algae has been there for a couple months, I wouldn't worry too much about it yet. Sand and rocks hit with fertilizer runoff often have a large amount of phosphate bonded to the calcium. As your bacterial populations shift and balance in response to the transition of mini-cycles (which continue long after you can read ammonia and nitrites), they will tend to secrete enough acids to free some of these phosphates.

The reason cooking rocks doesn't work with DSBs is that the sand usually has more phosphate bonded to it than the rocks for two reasons: 1) Sand is more likely to be taken from close to the shore where runoff occurs. 2) Uneaten food and fish waste is more likely to end up on the sand than the rock, overall.

Borrow a TDS meter to double check your RO/DI. If the DI media goes bad, it starts exporting nutrients instead of sequestering them. After that, do a phosphate test. If you find any phosphate at all, run an iron oxide phosphate remover such as PhosBan. Aluminum oxide leaches some aluminum into the water which can be much more toxic than iron.

[Reefer Dude]

My RO/DI unit is brand new, but that does not mean that is using quality parts. I will grab a phosphate test kit today and run a test. My tank is now only two months old so I know it is still in its cycle, I just want to be as proactive with the tank as I can.

[oyam123]

Do you have info on the Octopus 200 recirc skimmer?

[Nyles]

check your water with TDS as suggested. Do more fequent water changes, when siphoning, remove the siphon tube and just use the tubing, suck up the hair algae and pinch it off inside the tub so you remove all particals. Basically your using the siphone like a set of tweazers.

Water changes are your friend! Make sure you test your water with a TDS! I also siphoned the crap out of my rocks, they had a lot of gunk in them. blast down your LR free off loose particals weekly, and siphon. Don't confuse this with your substrait, leave that alone.

I had to bump up my water changes to 15% twice a week for a month, that comboed with pinching the HA, and it was gone after that. Tried all the other stuff mentioned other than cooking, this is what did it after months of fustration.

I also added mechanical filtration (filter sock) for the time being as well to catch any loose particles, It will need to be cleaned daily or bi daily till you get it sorted. this will help from keeping it water born.

You need to keep PH04 as close to zero as possible, this is very important, even if it says 0 you could still have PH04, just the HA is eating what is in the water. Try a large water change (40%)

[Reefer Dude]

I will do a large water change this week and see what that does, and try to borrow a TDS meter.

[Reefer Dude]

Originally Posted by oyam123

Do you have info on the Octopus 200 recirc skimmer?

What info are you looking for? Knowing what I know now I would have ordered the recirc for my tank but the 150 is going to be plenty big for my 90 but I am just starting to learn about the recirc and wish I would have gotten one of those.

[Nyles]

Originally Posted by Reefer Dude

I will do a large water change this week and see what that does, and try to borrow a TDS meter.

I would post here in your local forum, someone will have one, just drag a sandwich bag of water over to their place. Good to go. Good luck!