Need suggestions for removing hair algae from Montipora Cap.

[Mr_Reefman]

Does anyone have any good suggestions for removing hair algae from a Montipora Cap.?

Thanks!

[Whoyah]

Welcome aboard!!!

Any idea what is driving you hair algae problem? The standard answers for hair algae control are:

Reduce feedings.
Reduce light period.
Increase skimming.
Frequent water changes.
Remove as much hair algae by hand as possible.
Check water quality including Phosphate for out of normal levels

I am sure I missed something but thats a good start.

[Reptoreef]

A soft-bristle toothbrush will work well, but be sure to take the steps listed above to aide in keeping the HA away. Glad to have ya on CR.

Repto

[Mr_Reefman]

I think the hair algae bloom was a by product of adding new lights and just a buildup over time of nutrients (it's been up for 4 years now). My phosphates are high and nitrates are creeping up slowly.) I've pulled out all the hair algae I can by hand using the airline tubing siphon/pinching method, have done water changes, and added more Chaeto to the sump, reduced the lighting time, and added a phosphate media.

Setup is a 75 gallon tank with a 55gallon sump plumbed behind the wall, 390watts PC lighting, LR/LS, 75gal hot wet/dry trickle filter w/bio balls removed. Protein skimmer is in hot filter, powered by a wooden airstone.

I'm in the process of removing the hot filter and replacing with just a bigger overflow box, and putting a Berlin protein skimmer in the sump. I am researching MH/actinic combo fixtures and will be converting to MH soon, but want to "clean" everything up and bring water parameters back in line before adding the stronger lights.

The hair algae isn't that bad now, but I'm having a hard time getting it off of the Montipora Cap. due to the rough edges of the coral "holding" the algae on the edges of the coral, and some of the algae is growing between the layers of the coral!

[Reptoreef]

That's gonna be a definite challenge... cap is pretty brittle. With the larger skimmer, you should see improvements. BTW, how about the water source??? What are you using??? Have you tested lately???

[Whoyah]

What kind of feeding schedule are you on? And what is in your tank that your feeding?

[davejnz]

unless you have a nutrient poor system,nuissance algae will continue to invade the skeleton of your cap before tissue overgrowth will happen.If your growing HA,nutrients need to be reduced.In nutrient poor systems,tissue overgrowth will occur in 2-5 days.That said,i would get your nutrient level down via WC,aggressive skimming,active carbon,etc.. then try fragging the dead skeleton off,if conditions are favorable,tissue will quickly heal over the broken edges.Sometimes with large M.caps,it might not be possible to just break off the dead area without damaging the colony in which case i would remove the coral from tank,scrub all algae off the dead part,and then use a superglue bandaid to prevent algae from invading