Can we prevent hair algae and hydroids in the first place?

[Euphotica]

I am planning to order Supershrimp macroalgae and supershrimp moss balls. I will start a completely new clean tank with them. Are they free of hair algae contamination? Is there anything I can do in the water cycling phase, before I add the shrimp, to prevent hair algae from ever developing in the first place? (Manipulating temperature, pH, salinity, light exposure?) Is there any kind of shock treatment that the macroalgae and the superballs can survive but the hair algae probably won't? Hair algae can be such a nightmare to deal with after they take hold...and I will be needing to neglect my tank for weeks at a time during winter holidays so I may not be able to keep up with it.

Similarly, if I only get algae and shrimp from Mustafa, can I escape hydra infestation? Is there anything I can do in the cycling phase to prevent them?

[DrKirk]

Hydroids shouldn’t cause any problems. Hydra are freshwater only.

[JasonG3333]

I have (or potentially could have) lots of hair algae growing in my tank. I have one of those long aquarium tweezers, and I simply pull that stuff out of there from time to time (not very often at all) to keep it under control. No issues whatsoever doing nothing but that manual "landscaping". I wouldn't risk any of those other remedies that you brought up in your post.

[Euphotica]

Well not just genus Hydra per se (I think there is just one marine species isn't there?) but hydroid forms of ...whatever...that have venomous nematocysts.

[DrKirk]

Can you post some photos of the hydroids? They do have nematocysts, but have you seen them capture shrimp?

[Euphotica]

No pictures yet because no tank yet. I'm preparing to set up a tank after not having an aquarium for years. I wanna do everything right from the outset.

[Varanus]

With Mustafa's method the nutrient levels in the tank are ideally so low that I find it hard to believe that hydroids could survive (haven't heard of any in a supershrimp tank), and in such an environment hair algae grows slowly enough that it can be controlled by removing it until other algae out competes it. Ideally of course you won't have any hair algae in the tank to begin with.

[Mustafa]

Don't overthink it. Hair algae don't just magically appear...they get dragged in with things that people put into their tanks. I haven't had hair algae in my tanks for probably over 8 years so the SS macroalgae and SS mossballs are guaranteed free of hair algae. Just set up your tank following the instructions here, then sit back and relax. Everything will be fine. And if you somehow *do* drag in some hair algae from somewhere else...it's not that hard to get rid of it. Just remove as much as you can by hand periodically while letting the macroalgae (and surface algae) grow and outcompete it in a low nutrient environment. At some point it becomes so weak that the snails and shrimp just eat it up completely. Done.

[mike.d]

And if you somehow *do* drag in some hair algae from somewhere else...it's not that hard to get rid of it. Just remove as much as you can by hand periodically while letting the macroalgae (and surface algae) grow and outcompete it in a low nutrient environment. At some point it becomes so weak that the snails and shrimp just eat it up completely. Done.

This is exactly what happened in my tank. I started with 4 marimo that I bought off Amazon. I also started with lava rocks from another tank that had hair algae. Within a few months hair algae had completely covered the marimo. Pulling it out meant pulling up 3 of the 4 with it.

I took them all out and removed as much hair algae as I could. When I was done I still had some hairs in there that I was worried about. It never came back. The other algae took over and I haven't seen it since.