Tip of the Day – 6/5/2014

There are very few, if any, methods out there that successfully rid an entire aquarium of hair algae. And I’m not just talking about hair algae control, but total annihilation. Because of this, successful removal requires many different steps and many different points of attack. You can make the claim that the water is dirty, phosphates are high, and magnesium is low, but even by falling in line with all of the recommended parameters, hair algae can still thrive. Manual removal works for what you can see and what you can actually grip, while fish and inverts do a good job keeping the stuff in check long term. Elevated magnesium works, but not all of the time. GFO will strip your water of phosphate, but then your corals don’t do so well in some cases. Hair algae removal is a delicate balancing act that requires strict attention to detail, with the only guaranteed measure being a full scale breakdown and scrubbing of the live rock, coral plugs and bases, and equipment. Each of the methods listed above (water parameters, manual removal, and cleanup crew) can work individually, but more often than not full removal requires implementing multiple methods. So, if you’ve got an algae problem, really of any kind, don’t limit yourself to one method if you want to be successful.