GRRR Hair algae

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Sorry I haven't been on for awhile. I've been sick again. Darn Crohn's Disease.

Anyways,
As allot of you know I have been having problems with my RO water. I did finally get the new filters and more water is being made as I type. Because of the high nitrates in my water, I now have hair algae. Tons of it. It is growing fast!!!! None of the clean up crew touches the stuff. My yellow tang wont even eat it and he eats everything! What eats it? How do I get rid of it? I've never had it before this.
How much water can I change at a time on a 125 with a 40 gal sump? How often should I do the water changes? I don't want to do too much at a time or too often. I just want my beautiful tank back. So far the only things I have lost due to the 60+ppm nitrates is my hammer coral and 2 leathers. Knock on wood.

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks everyone,
Angie

[Reptoreef]

A 25-30% change, weekly until your nitrates are in check, IMO.

Crop as much of the HA by hand as you can as often as neccessary.

Drop the amount of light period you have.

Reduce in amount and how many times a week your feeding.

Absolutely... DOSE NOTHING!!! until you're system is back in check.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Thanks Repto. With all of the water changes I can't imagine having to dose anything, lol.
I am only feeding every other day now. I will cut back my lighting and keep up with the water changes. Hopefully everything will get back to normal soon. I also bought a better nitrate test. I think I'm slowly going to replace all of my test kits. Switching them all to salifert I think.

Thanks again,
Angie

[peregrinus]

you can also try turning your skimmer up so you are emptying the cup every day or 2.

[Renee]

Repto and peregrinus have pretty much covered it. Reduced light and food is going to be a big part of it. Do you have a refugium? If so, do you have macroalgae? That would help use up some of the excess nutrients. If you're in the market for a cute fish, a lawnmower blenny would help clean up. But you don't want him to starve when the hair algae is gone. There's a fine balance there. My LMB now eats macro from my refugium. Quite a character of a fish, too.

Renee

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

I have a refugium with chaeto. in it. I was thinking of a LMB but nobody around here has one. I will have to call around Madison to see if one is available. I don't want to order one off line, shipping for one fish is still 45.00.

I can't imagine what the nitrates would be at if I didn't have all the chaeto. Yikes!!!

Thank you,
Angie

[Renee]

$45 ? Yikes! Okay, that's not the best part of your recovery plan, anyway. The light & food & removal of as much as you can... great start. I wish Repto had seen my tank at it's worst. He'd still be laughing. It looked like the Jolly Green Giant took up a sleepy residence in an 8 foot long tank. 9 inches of hair algae all over the rock... at least 3 inches all across the back. It was DREADFUL, but temporary.

[dakar]

Angie, Animart down on the east side of Madison had several LMB's about a week ago. Most of their FO tanks aren't too bad, I like to catch them on thursday's when they get their SW livestock.

[Reptoreef]

Hey Ang... try your best to be patient and go step by step... IMO, there are NO quick cures that will result in a healthy system. It will be all good.

[Reef_Angel]

You'll get it all out of there girl. Just don't run yourself down and get sick again! Are you in the clear for now? Feeling stronger or still a little blah? Hang in there! Halloween's coming and those children are gonna want to drag you out and about for trick or treating!