Bryopsis plumosa Hair Algae

*Bryopsis plumosa Photo Courtesy of SaltCorner.com

Ok, so who hasn’t had some form of hair algae in their tanks? It’s a thin, fluffy and stringy algae that will grow fast, block out light to corals, and will become one of the most frustrating plants that you will ever have to deal with.

There are many different types and species of algae that get swept under the umbrella term “hair” algae. There’s Derbesia sp., Bryopsis sp., and Enteromorpha sp., to name just a few. By analyzing photographs and samples taken from people’s tanks, I notice most people the most problems with either Bryopsis or Derbesia.

Derbesia marina Hair Algae

*Derbesia marina Photo Courtesy of SaltCorner.com

The reason that hair algae is so difficult to control is that it grows unbelievably fast, can pop up anywhere in the tank, very few organisms will eat it, and typical nutrient control can barely keep it at bay. But there are methods of removal.

Nutrient Reduction:

While typical nutrient reduction like water changes and protein skimmers won’t keep hair algae from popping up by themselves, a combination of methods can. If you combine aggressive water changes and protein skimming (frequently clean inside and out by the way) with the use of a phosphate absorber, carbon, and some other product like ZEOvit or Prodibio for further nutrient reduction, then the hair algae can be eliminated, or at least slowed down.

Korallen-zucht ZEObak

*Photo Courtesy of Aquarium Specialty

ZEOvit is a spectacular set of products that will reduce your nutrients to “ultra-low” status by utilizing bacteria for the filtration. Prodibio, sugar dosng, and vodka dosing all do similar things in that they help reduce nutrients via bacteria.

Prodibio Bio Digest

*Photo Courtesy of Aquarium Specialty

Algae Grazers:

Most fish and invertebrates won’t really touch hair algea, but there are some that will. My personal fish of choice is the rabbitfish or the foxface. They are unbelievable algae hogs and will mow down most, if not all types of algae. I’ve seen them eat hair algae, bubble algae, and pretty much all algae that I had in my personal tanks. But sometimes they nip at zoanthids, so let’s look at other choices. Other tangs have been known to eat hair algae, but none are as consistent as the rabbitfish.

Scribbled Rabbitfish

*Photo provided by the author

Some snails will eat hair algae. The jumbo Mexican turbo snails are voracious algae eaters. I have seen them eat a lot of different types of algae, especially hair algae. However, these snails get huge and will knock over coral frags, dislodge rocks, and can even cause rock slides if the foundation is too loose.

Sea hares are another invert that will mow down hair algae. They are essentially large, shell-less snails that do nothing but eat. Hair algae is one of their favorites, but I’ve seen some pass it right up. Not to mention, sea hares are very sensitive and do not ship well. Lettuce nudibranchs are also known to eat hair algae, but they stay smaller and are just as sensitive as sea hares.

Herbivorous Sea Hare

Magnesium:

Believe it or not, high magnesium levels are probably the most surefire way to rid yourself of hair algae. A normal reef tank has magnesium usually around 1250-1350 mg/L. If you have hair algae though, you can increase it to 1600 mg/L or more and the hair algae will whither and die. The livestock of the aquarium should remain unaffected, but keep an eye on calcium and alkalinity as they all balance each other out.

So, to rid yourself of hair algae, the best thing to do is reduce your nutrients (nitrates and phosphates), add more inverts to your cleanup crew, get a rabbitfish or a type of tang, increase your magnesium, and manually remove excess algae. It’s a lot of work, but it will certainly pay off. That stuff will get way out of hand if you don’t do something about it.

Sources:
SaltCorner.com
SaltCorner.com
Aquarium Specialty – ZEOvit
Aquarium Specialty – Prodibio
Live Aquaria – Sea Hare
© 2009 Drs. Foster and Smith, Inc.
Reprinted as a courtesy and with permission from
DrsFosterSmith.com (http://www.DrsFosterSmith.com)
Free pet supply catalog: 1-800-323-4208

“The solution to the pollution is dilution!”

This is one of my favorite sayings and it describes the effectiveness of a water change so precisely. So what is it all about? Why are water changes so important in saltwater aquarium keeping?

To begin, water changes are the most effective form of filtration. They indiscriminately remove everything in the water…from algae fuels such as nitrates and phosphates, to gill burning ammonia. These nutrients can build up in a system and quickly get out of control, especially in smaller aquariums. A protein skimmer, phosphate reactor, and a deep sand bed can all remove nutrients, but each has their own set of limitations. None of these are 100% effective, but a water change is a lot closer to being that effective. You can remove all of the water from your aquarium and replace it with new, phosphate and nitrate-free water. Water changes also add to the stability of your system. By not letting harmful nutrients build up, the water quality stays stable and your tank’s inhabitants can thrive.

In addition to removing detrimental nutrients, a water change can replace exhausted elements. If you have a reef aquarium, the corals will remove certain elements from the water as they grow. These include calcium, magnesium, potassium, iodine, and a whole assortment of other items. This holds particularly true for reef tanks dominated by hard corals and clams. Hard corals absolutely suck up calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity…so much so that systems with these corals usually have a calcium reactor supplying calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity or the hobbyist will manually dose each substance.

So, now that you have seen the light, how much water should you change and how often should it be changed? To be honest, there is no right answer. The general guideline that gets thrown around a lot is 20% of your system’s volume changed every two weeks. Of course, this is just a guideline. You could certainly change more water, more often. I personally like to think about it this way: a reef found in the wild receives a 100% water change every few seconds. Obviously that would not be very economic or convenient for any hobbyist, but we do need to perform large and frequent water changes. World renown aquarist Anthony Calfo was a huge fan of extremely large (in excess of 90%) water changes as often as possible, even on huge systems. He of course had access to fairly pristine sea water from the nearby ocean and was able to pump the water directly from there. So, his water change costs were tiny given the amount of water he was changing.

I personally used to change about 20-30% every two weeks on each of my systems. When I began using the ZEOvit system on my 180 gallon SPS dominated aquarium, I increased the frequency to once a week (be sure to check back for a ZEOvit article). I have since stopped dosing the ZEOvit for various reaons, but have continued my weekly water changes.

To properly do a water change, you’ll need a few things. The first of which is clean water. Water can be purchased at an aquarium store or created by a reverse osmosis with deionization (RO/DI) unit. Water from an aquarium store is also created by RO/DI, and be purchased premixed or unmixed. Be careful with premixed water though as that store might keep their salinity at a lower or higher level than what you keep in your tank. If you buy or make freshwater, you’ll need to also purchase a bucket of sea salt and mixing equipment. The equipment list includes a water mixing pump, a refractometer or hydrometer (please, stay away from hydrometers), a heater, and a container in which to mix the water. Large Rubbermaid trashcans work perfectly for mixing water, but don’t use a previously used one as they will be tainted with chemicals and trash. Add water to the container, then add salt a little at a time until the desired salinity is reached. Then allow the water to mix for an additional 24-48 hours to help stabilize the pH and salinity. Next, perform the water change.

The best way to do a water change is to simply turn off all of your aquarium equipment and siphon out the desired amount of water. Prior to siphoning, many people will scrape the tanks walls to remove various algae that build up. Some will also clean off their rocks if detritus, slime algae, or other nuisance algae has built up there as well. Then, the gunk can be removed during the water change. Another thing to remember when siphoning is to LEAVE THE SANDBED ALONE! Do not siphon the sand bed. There are various beneficial organisms living in the sand that are food sources for aquarium livestock. Additionally, and more importantly, disturbing the lower levels of a deeper sand bed can yield negative results. Because lower levels in the sand are anoxic, or lacking oxygen, there are certain bacteria that live there and convert nitrate into nitrogen gas. Other, more harmful chemicals will also build up in these lower levels. If you disturb the sand, you can potentially release harmful chemicals back into your water as well as remove your nitrate processing bacteria.

Changing out aquarium water is a very simple and effective way to reduce nutrients in your aquarium and make it more stable. It’s the most effective form of filtration and will make your aquarium a much healthier environment.