# Green hair Algea



## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Local buddy has bad case of it-
Calcium and phosphates are off a bit from time to time-

Is this the cause.

Whats the best way to remove this stuff.


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## His Majesty (Apr 5, 2005)

get your params under control

then go get yourself a tiger conche or two depending on how bad it is. those things eat alage like no bodies buisness. plus htye have really cool looking shells so its a little addition to the tank.


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Trigger lover said:


> *get your params under control*
> 
> then go get yourself a tiger conche or two depending on how bad it is. those things eat alage like no bodies buisness. plus htye have really cool looking shells so its a little addition to the tank.


Understandable....
Whats some ways to keep your phosphates under control.

Any different way of treating this stuff though-Wont/dont have them things local.
Any other critter take care of this stuff by chance?


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## His Majesty (Apr 5, 2005)

Turbo snails are also pretty good. but when i had an out break i just ripped them out and got my conche.

heres a good link 
CLICK

this link is good too for phosphate control
HERE

hope that helps


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

AK the PHos is driving it.

Get a phospan media. I got a good one recently. I will double check what it is, and let you know on Monday.

Other than that, a large water change will really help. Depending on the size of the tank, and HUGE (e.g. close to 90%) water change will solve the issue for months. Of course, if you do not solve the root issue it will come back.

Adding any removal sourse (e.g. marco-algae) will help use up extra NO3 & Phos in the system, and snuff out the hair algae. I use cheatomorphic and it does a great job of helping out, plus it is very easy to remove, will not go asexual, etc. Perhaps something to look into.

Does your friend have a RO/DI unit?

Removal by hand would be your last resort. Of course, it will do little to nothing except give you a head ache.


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Trigger lover said:


> AK the PHos is driving it.
> 
> Get a phospan media. I got a good one recently. I will double check what it is, and let you know on Monday.
> 
> ...


I'll respond back to this also when I have time later on today.
Thanks for said info-


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

I started dosing Kent Tech- M magnesium suppliment, and keep my MG levels at around 1350 to help. I have read some good things with people melting it with higher MG levels.

You need to get the phosphates as low as possible, thats whats contributing to its growth... typically i like to find the cause and remove it rather than dosing something else to compensate or temporarily fix the problem. As suggested above, a GFO reactor, (Granular Ferric Oxide) and media such as "phosban" will work wonders. and if he isnt using RO/DI water to begin with... START or you will never conquer this problem.


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Coldfire said:


> I started dosing Kent Tech- M magnesium suppliment, and keep my MG levels at around 1350 to help. I have read some good things with people melting it with higher MG levels.
> 
> You need to get the phosphates as low as possible, thats whats contributing to its growth... typically i like to find the cause and remove it rather than dosing something else to compensate or temporarily fix the problem. As suggested above, a GFO reactor, (Granular Ferric Oxide) and media such as "phosban" will work wonders. and if he isnt using RO/DI water to begin with... START or you will never conquer this problem.


So RO unit is why one is having the problem then.


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

AKSkirmish said:


> So RO unit is why one is having the problem then.


Oh for sure.... do a few 50% water changes using RO/DI water and good salt mix and the problem will disappear.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

as others stated keeping the phospahtes down with a phosban reactor is a good start but stopping the introduction by using ro/di will be a better long term solution then keeping up the alk and as a result ph will slos contribute to slowing the spread of it both of these along with phosphate reduction can easily be achieved with frequent water changes of around 10 percent ( again using ro/di filtered water) .

emerald crabs are also really good hair algea eaters


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