2 years of hair algae

[oldyellingtang]

But of course I've kept up the battle. But it has been a battle. I never had it before I switched to this tank.
I don't have HA in my fowlr tank or my Qtank wich houses 2 maroons & 2 damsels.
Anyway here are the tank details - 60g display, 30g sump
lighting is two - 250watt ushios (10k). On 9 hrs a day.
sump has plenty of macro growing that is trimmed weekly - lit by 110 watts of LOA (65k) on reverse daylight. This tank has been running for 4 years with stuff that was moved over from a 30g tank that had been running for 10 years.
Skimmer: aqua-c EV-150 driven by a mag7
Flow: dual returns from the sump (both mag7's) & two SCWD's driven by mag7's.
Calcium reactor is DIY & there is a FW top-off reservoir that is filled with RO/DI water. The RO/DI water is never above 15 tds - if it is I change the filter.
Livestock - The tank is sps dominated with clams & some zoos.
Fish include: a yellow tang, a flame angel, a bengaii cardinal, & a mandarin dragonette.
There is 130lbs of LS & 120lbs of LR.
Feeding - the fish get fed 4 to 5 times a week. They get a pinch of flake (ocean nutrion formula foods) but once a week they get a cube of frozen something (brine, BW, mysis, etc.)
Any Ideas? I'm all out of ideas!
This picture was taken over a year ago - the tank has changed since then (things have grown).

 

[attml]

Get a Phosban Reactor and run some Rowaphos in it.

 

[oldyellingtang]

I've never tried rowaphos before. I've tried all kinds of stuff.'
The problem is that measurable phosphate is at 0.03
Here are the water conditions I forgot to add -
PH - 8.5, Temp - 79, SG - 1.025, ammonia - 0, nitrite - 0, nitrate - 5, Calcium - 490, dKH - 13.1
Would phosban remove phosphate that is almost non-existant in my tank? Would I benefit from that?

 

[scotts]

Well first of all let's get this out of the way. The tang police wil tell you that the yellow tang should be kept in a min. of 75 gallons. Plus with that much live rock there is not much room to swim. I will admit that I don't know, just passing on what I have heard.
Now onto what I do know about. I would recommend a clean up crew of hermit crabs and some snails. I fought hair algae for the longest time. I finally bought a clean up crew from here and within about 2 to 3 months the algae was gone. They also helped keep the sand clean.
Just something to think about.
Scott

 

[zanemoseley]

definatly run some ROWA in a phosban reactor or similar reactor, if your inorganic phosphates are at .03 then think how much organic phosphates are locked up by all the hair algae

 

[oldyellingtang]

Originally posted by Scotts
Well first of all let's get this out of the way. The tang police wil tell you that the yellow tang should be kept in a min. of 75 gallons. Plus with that much live rock there is not much room to swim. I will admit that I don't know, just passing on what I have heard.
Now onto what I do know about. I would recommend a clean up crew of hermit crabs and some snails. I fought hair algae for the longest time. I finally bought a clean up crew from here and within about 2 to 3 months the algae was gone. They also helped keep the sand clean.
Just something to think about.
Scott
Tell the tang police to get a warrant - when they come they will find the new 180g that he will be moved to after I finish remodelling the kitchen & dining room.

Clean up- crew - I got one. I hate to see astreas with hair algae on their shells that's just not right! I've tried armies of hermits & snails.
Thanks I'll add more to the tank maybe it's time again.
RowaPhos reactor - I'm going to try that I'm going to DIY one because I'm cheap!
Thanks for the input guys I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[spsfreak100]

Steve,
I agree that you should try running ROWAphos. For the past 3 days I have been running ROWAphos and my phosphate has gone from almost 1ppm to 0ppm within those 3 days (the phosphate was originally from the water I used to setup the tank). I would definitely recommend ROWAphos to get rid of phosphate.
As you probably know already, your phosphate is probably much higher than you think it is. Your algae is comsuming the majority of the phosphate, therefore you won't notice very much in the water column.
We should also aim to find a source of your problem -- Have you ever tested your RO/DI water, Freshly mixed saltwater, etc?
Graham

 

[oldyellingtang]

Okay, ROWAphos it is then. I figure I'll toss it in the overflow until I can get a reactor biult.
As far as the source of the problem? I have no idea what it is.
I don't overfeed, I use RO/DI, & I don't add anything to my tank (no additives - NOTHING!).

 

[zanemoseley]

I'd advise against just throwing the ROWA in unless you have a very fine media bad. I've heard a few reports of having brown tinted water and a ROWA dusting on everything caused by not running ROWA properly.

 

[gonfishin]

I put rowaphos in my filter (it comes with a filter bag) and it has worked great. Got rid of my cyano but still working on hair.

 

[oldyellingtang]

Originally posted by zanemoseley
I'd advise against just throwing the ROWA in unless you have a very fine media bad. I've heard a few reports of having brown tinted water and a ROWA dusting on everything caused by not running ROWA properly.
I guess what I said could (and might) be taken literally. Of course I'd use a fine filter bag. I've heard the same stories of getting that stuff all over the tank.