byaren Posted April 16, 2014 Report Share Posted April 16, 2014 I have recently set up a second, all in one, 2 foot cube tank. The eventual aim for this tank is to be set up for seahorses (H. Kuda). However I am having / about to have a problem with hair algae ( I can see a coating on the back wall of the tank and on some of the live rock pieces. Current tank inhabitants: Dragons breath algae Chaeto algae 5 nessarius snails History: I purchased this tank second hand (partially set up) with live rock and sand, however all livestock bar 2 nessarius snails had perished. When purchased the nitrates in the tank were off the charts, and since then I have done a large number of large water changes to reduce the nitrates. The current stats of the tank: Phosphate between 0.5-1.0 (api test) Ammonia 0 api test Nitrite 0 api test Ph 8.2 api test Nitrate 25 salifert test My first question is: could someone please give me some suggestions on how to control the hair algae, while still maintaining my macro algae? The second question (less important question) I have, is when should it look at introducing any seahorses? byaren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted April 16, 2014 Report Share Posted April 16, 2014 Firstly keep in mind you need a chiller once it starts to warm back up. Losing your horses on the first hot summer day is not an experience you want to experience. Even now we are having hot days that could raise tanks to uncomfortable temperatures. While you have limited livestock in the tank, I would get in a 95% waterchange if thats possible and get the nitrates/phosphates as close to 0ppm as possible. You wont be able to do such massive water changes once the tank is stocked with seahorses, so I would take advantage of the chance now. Combine that with aggressive algae removal and you should have the nutrients problems under control. Then I would be confident with adding sea horses. The API phosphate kit is very inaccurate at lower concentrations. If it picks up ANY phosphates, then you have too much phosphates in there. The salifert nitrates kit is awesome though. Ensure you are recording all tests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liquidg Posted April 16, 2014 Report Share Posted April 16, 2014 Sorry mate you can not get rid of hair algae, only keep it back with tweezers or what ever. The only way to remove and it stays that way is to sterilise your aquarium and do not reuse any of what it may have grow on, seen or unseen. It usually comes on live rock. Use sterilised base rock and check everything that goes in, this will prevent it from happening at all. Sorry mate but your snails shell may be infected as will chaeto, not so much dragons breath though. Introduce when no ammonia or nitrite's show in a test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byaren Posted April 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2014 Thanks so much for your response I will do so as soon as I have prepped the water. I already have a chiller set up and running (in both this tank and my other tank) Once again, thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanked Posted April 18, 2014 Report Share Posted April 18, 2014 chemi pure elite or phosgaurd well help keep levels in check. Don't use old lights. Get some microalgae in there like caulerpa or chaeto to out compete the hair algae. and manual remove is the only way. but I keep a healthy wall of it on the back of my all in one unit seahorse tank and vac it every week to keep in check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted April 18, 2014 Report Share Posted April 18, 2014 chemi pure elite or phosgaurd well help keep levels in check. Don't use old lights. Get some microalgae in there like caulerpa or chaeto to out compete the hair algae. and manual remove is the only way. but I keep a healthy wall of it on the back of my all in one unit seahorse tank and vac it every week to keep in check. I got to see pictures of this tank the other day. Theres some incredibly healthy macro algae species in there, including chaeto and dragons breath. Have to admit to being more than a bit jealous of it. My main query is......... is it Bryopsis? Because if so there are a few solutions. But if its NOT Bryopsis then there are HEAPS of solutions. And even if it IS Bryopsis......... then its still mostly an aesthetic issue. Not something thats going to effect the health of seahorses. If anything it provides yet another area for pods to breed, which is always welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byaren Posted April 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2014 Just an update: On Friday I completed a large water change as recommended by Donnie, this lowered the nitrates to about 2 (salifert test). During this I scraped most of the hair algae and dead coralline off of the back wall of the tank whilst the water was low. Before I began I removed the chaeto to one of the buckets with the just removed tank water, so that it remained in the water. I then scraped off the back wall ensuring that none (or almost none) of the removed material ended up in the tank. I then filled the tank and returned the chaeto. Since then the nitrates have remained low and are lowering by the day. My nitrates are now at 0.25 according to the salifert test. The hair algae has not returned to the back wall and there has been minimal growth on areas that I did not scrub. Thanks for the help everyone. I'm now hoping that I will be able to maintain the macro algae. Here is a pic a couple of days before the clean up. (Sorry about the direction) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted April 22, 2014 Report Share Posted April 22, 2014 Nice. How long until you get your horses? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
