Hair Algae is driving me nuts!

I have a pretty bad hair algae problem in my 14 gallon biocube.(6 gallons of actual water) Its not horrible, but if I didn't scrub it every other day it would become horrible. I don't know why I am getting it.
I used distilled water and oceanic sea salt, and I do a 1 gallon water change every Thursday. I have 1 fish.
I think it might be a problem with my feeding. I give my clownfish spirulina brine shrimp (about 5 shrimps) a day. I was told that the water the shrimp is frozen in has crazy phosphates, so I have been thinking of switching to a flake food. Somebody else told me not to feed everyday, so I alternated days and my clownfish got thin so I switched back to every day.
Should I be changing out more water in my water changes or what?

clean-up crew?

I used to have some turbos, but after they died I did not replace them because they got so big and knocked the corals over all the time. Right now all I have is 2 scarlet red hermits, but I really don't think they are much help at all.

First I would test your phosphates. Do you have a phosban reactor? If not I would get one. I would also invest in an RO/DI water filtration unit to be absolutely sure that the water you are putting in your tank is clean and contaminate free. What are you dosing/adding to your tank? Make sure it isn't anything you are not testing for.

I haven't been dosing my tank much. I lost my test kit in the move, but hopefully I will be able to pick one up this weekend. I use Essential Elements and Nano A/B.
What is a phosban reactor and where can I get one?

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem.aspx?idproduct=TL4311

Little big for your tank, but they do wonders. I wonder if they make a smaller one...

Can always make one yourself...

I would add more hermits and snails, but then, I never had a tank that small and don't know all the isues one can have.

Maybe it's time for me to try one out...:splitspin

Most likely phosphates, and it's not coming from your water, so it's probably coming from the food or your additives.

I would try a step-wise approach. You could start by rinsing your food before you put it in. Or alternatively you could try flake food like your friend suggested. I've got a 15 gallon with a clownfish and a goby and I feed them a small pinch of food daily (or every other day). I bought a 7-ounce/200 gram container of flake food 2.5 years ago and literally have used less than half of the container. They are both quite healthy. Fish can survive on a lot less than most people feed them.

It also helps to have macroalgae or softies like xenia that soak up excess nutrients. If all else fails, you could also buy some phosguard or equivalent and throw it in with any charcoal you might be running, or you can go with the reactor.

Charcoal can help with that? I don't know exactly what the charcoal does to the tank besides remove odors and keep the water a litter clearer.

I am going to try some different feeding techniques and see if that may help a little bit.

As soon as I have the extra money I am definitely going to try and get a phosgaurd reactor and phosban. I am a student on a budget so I may be sticking with just scrubbing it off for awhile. I was originally going to save for a halide upgrade...but first things first:letitallo

Keep an eye out here some people sell used ones from time to time.

In the nano's I just use the chemipure elite. I take it out rinse it in distilled water and then I put it in the filtration area of the tank.

Some carbons are rinsed with Phosphoric acid, therefore they leach phosphates. What salt mix are you using? Is it PO4 free? Test it. If it is PO4 free, do a water change twice a week and use a phosphate reactor.

Also please stop using tap water

I didn't mean to use the charcoal to remove phosphates (in fact, like a previous poster said, charcoal often leaches phosphate into the tank, some brands more than others). I meant that if you use charcoal, you could add phosban/phosguard/etc into the filter with it.

As you can tell, there are many ways to reduce phosphates and other problem nutrients in your tank. Especially if you're cash-strapped, I've found that it's generally cheaper to avoid adding them in the first place rather than finding ways to remove them once they're in. Your one pretty obvious source = feedings. Try rinsing your food and feeding less.

Good luck.

Is your tank near the window?

I use oceanic sea salt and distilled water that comes bottled (I don't use tap water). Its far from a window.
Would chemipure do a sufficient job of removing phosphates, or would i be better off with the phosgaurd?

Phosban reactor is the best at removing phosphates, chemipure elite is just carbon with phosban remover mixed in with it

Can I get phosguard, put it in a media bag, and then in chamber 2 in my biocube (area with most flow), will that work?

you have a 14 gallon cube!!! just keep doing water changes with rodi water and salt that you use for 2 weeks and then keep on ur water changes once or twice a week and lower ur bioload :biggrin:

i have a standard 10 gallon nano,i feed my 2 clowns ocean nutrition formula 1 pellets once a day they eat about 4 pelets each.anything left over my clean up crew takes care of. i have a fuge growing cheato which takes care of nitrates. i do a 3 gallon wanter change once a week.. keep up on your water changes.mabe add phosban which i swear by to reduse phosphates whice can cause the hair alage.how old is the tank if it is 2 months old then this wouod e norma anything older han that would mean that theres too much nutrients being added. order the pellets i suggested and do a 20% water change weekly,plus add phosban and i guarantee you that after 2 weeks your problem will be solved.next time u do a water change put that tank water into a clean bucket and try to srub as much of the hair algae off as possible in hte tank water then return the rocks to the tank .the more you can remove th ess it will come back one you introduce the phosban.get the pellets i suggested and make sure you do not over feed feed them onece a day and make sure the fish get acouple pellets each and thats sufficient.if ou need y help you can pm me np

and btw dont use distilled water only rodi water for topoffs and salt mix.distilled is stil not fully pure

IFoundNemo said:

Can I get phosguard, put it in a media bag, and then in chamber 2 in my biocube (area with most flow), will that work?

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do not use phosguard!it has the possability of leahing aluinum into your tank .use hosban like i said. aluminum can ruin your reef believe me ive been through the phosguard and there is no match to phosban because it osnt use aluminum!!!!