Being a hobbyist first, like everyone else I have battled hair algae.  Here’s how I am winning the battle.

First and foremost, ensure your water parameters are in check:

Nitrates as low as possible, at worst 30-40, lower is better

Low Phosphate – should be 0 and even so a kit says 0 you probably have some

Alk – 8-10 dkh

Calcium 400+

Magnesium 1300

For testing we recommend Elos Test Kits.  If you really want to know your phosphate level, there are Hanna and Milwaukee Photometers.

If you need to lower phosphate, GFO works wonders.

For maintaining your Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium 3 part kits work great.

Next you need to make sure your bulbs are quality and not too old resulting in shifted spectrum.  For T5s we like ATI, Geissman, UVL, GE and KZ.  They should be replaced every 6 months or so.

For Metal Halide we like EVC, Phoenix and Radium. These should be changed every year or so.

The third part of our hair algae control recipe is good flow.  This makes a huge difference.  Keeping detrius in the water column so it can be filtered out rather than having it settle on the rocks helps a ton.  We love our Ecotech Vortech’s.  On my own tank, this made the biggest difference in controlling hair algae.

A good protein skimmer like ATB, Eshopps, Precision Marine, Bubble Magus is a requirement.

Finally is just good maintenance.  Change water regularly and remove any algae you can grab by hand.  Before long your algae will be under control.