Brown and green hair algae

Herbivores are part of the natural ecosystem. It takes a lot of them to do the job of eating the algae that grows every day. There has to be a balance of enough herbivores eating each days algae growth.
A tidal pool or just below the surf zone are two of the natural environments most similar to our tanks. A lot more snails and other herbivores live in these areas because of the higher light and nutrient levels.
Is this the 8 gal or the 65 gal? How many snails and hermits are in this tank?

It's the 65 Mark. Ive been slowly adding more snails. What other herbivores should I add? Thanks for the info!

I am using RO and I have not done a water test this weekend. I will probably later tonight. I did do a 5 gallon water change after scraping some algae off the glass. The bulbs are about 4 months old I'm told.

Jake was asking asking about a test of TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) in the RO water. You may have assumed he was asking for test results for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate.  I'll take a wild stab at it and predict that your test results will be close to perfect.
Algae eats pollution. That's the wonderful thing about algae.

Still waiting for the answer to my question, How many snails and hermits are in this tank
I would not add them slowly. Now is the time to double or triple the numbers. The lack of snails and other herbivores in 99% of reef aquariums is the reason for terrible nuisance algae problems a month or two from now. Let's look at snails and hermits first. We'll cover other herbivores later, as needed.

BTW, the test results you do need to run are for Alkalinity and Calcium.
Also, this is not commonly accepted knowledge, but when algae is the problem, water changes actually just feed algae growth. Simply put, you cleared off some algae and then fed it with a large water change. Don't feel bad. This is what is called counter-intuitive. It happens to all of us so you are in great company. 

Would love to see a pic of this tank.

Mark Peterson wrote: Still waiting for the answer to my question, How many snails and hermits are in this tank

One snail per gallon is the recommended number for a new tank, without any algae problems. Not being able to see a pic of the tank to help me give accurate advice, to be safe I would suggest adding another 30 snails ASAP.  Algae is way easier to stop before it gets out of control.

When the algae is all cleaned up and too many snails are going hungry, simply sell the extras to someone here on the MB.

Have you checked Alk and Ca yet?


Edited by Mark Peterson - November 16 2010 at 10:13am