Red Sea Max Aqurium, New Set Up,

[***Fabulous***]

7 weeks ago I purchased a red sea max salt water aquarium all was going well, I put in the uncured live rock the water levels started to balance themselves out but after 4 weeks a major algae problem began , hair algae, all over the rocks and the base. We put the tank in darkness to see if light was the food source for its growth as nothing else has been added to the tank but it made no difference. I have now put some turbo snails in and a cowry snail to try to combat the problem before I put any fish etc into the tank as it doesn’t look at all pretty. Can anyone give me any more advise??

 

[BigC]

Hair algae is one of the things that plague many a new startup you are no different than many, many other aquarists setting up a new marine aquarium. Are you using RO water, are you employing some kind of Phosphate control. (Rowaphos) Blue legged hermits will help (provide extra shells or they may attack the snails) I still get patches of the stuff even after 4 months. I am now thinking about a refugium to include Cheato to try and starve the remaining nuisance algae out.
Regards
BigC

 

[steelhealr]

Hair algae is a nasty 'hitch hiker' and I've repeatedly posted here that changing the lighting interval will have no effect on the hair in the long run. The problem is 'immaturity' of the tank, a 'rich' environment and lack of competition (coralline algae and macro). You need to do consistent water changes, consider a refugium, make sure you are using RO water and stay the course. SH

PS SH

 

[***Fabulous***]

Yes I am using RO water and I change 25% of the water each week, I am not using a Phosphate control as I have tested the water for Phosphates and the levels are zero. It’s so frustrating!!

 

[rictheredneck]

whats the tds of your ro water if its good and so are all you other levels the best biologial warfare on hair algae is a sea hare imo but i'd tell your lfs that you are gonna bring it back in a few weeks sort of like a rent...


when they have eaten everything they starve

 

[steelhealr]

Even minute amounts of phosphate can be a contributor. Due to the 'poor' sensitivity of some testing kits, I'd HIGHLY recommend keeping a phosphate binder in your system. SH

 

[gigmeyer]

IME, I'd say SH's 'immaturity' comment is the key here if you're keeping up with maintenance, using RO water, and added a phosphate binder as suggested. Personally, I used a hard bristle toothbrush during weekly maintenance to keep the tank looking a little better during the worst of it (months 6-11). That's probably the only suggestion I'd make to make you feel better as I don't know that it speed things along at all (in fact, it's always possible it just spreads the algae around and prolongs the cycle).

I could provide a long list of things I tried (Nudibranchs, Magnesium, lighting period, pagan rituals, etc.), but my belief now is the secret to this problem is time and of course maturity. At some point, the green hair algae starts to turn brown and dissipate.

 

[steelhealr]

NB: POI..anyone ever see hair algae growing on coralline algae? Probably not. Think about it. SH