enough hair already

[deejeff442]

OK i have been battling hair algae for ...hell its got to be a year now.it is still out of control.here is what i have been doing for the last 6 months.the system is around 300 gallons .i put in new bulbs 3-4 months ago .good bulbs not junk.i have a 75 sump with a ton of macro growing like crazy under a bulb ,i added a monster skimmer rated for 600 gallons which pulls out a cup of yuk a week,now i have bought a reactor and have been running this junk crap reef octopus bio spheres in it.they say it takes 4 week to get running right and to grow some bacteria in the screen.well its been 10+ weeks now.seems the algae is getting worse.
of course i test and zero phosphates nitrates are zero the test is yellow as can be.
now i am thinking of running seachem phosgaurd through the reactor and ditch the bio spheres junk or .maybe just maybe give snake a big head and give a scrubber another try.
opinions ?

 

[travelerjp98]

Possibly the tests aren't accurate?

 

[btldreef]

It's common hair algae, not bryopsis, right?
The only GFO we have any luck with is Phosban. I also run ChemiPure Elite, which has a little phosphate remover in it.
I know you have the MP40's, what are you running them on? We run ours on Reef Crest Random for the most part, but once or twice a week kick it into Tidal Swell or Nutrient Transport and it really kicks up a lot of crud.
We battled bryopsis, so the treatment method was different, but I have to say that adding more flow is what has really kept our algae problem at bay. Even my back glass is cleaner. On my 180, I'm now runnin 3 MP40's and an MP10. I can't remember what my return pump is but I want to say 1600gph split in two. My cleaners were basically useless in helping with the algae issue with exception of my little foxface. He's only about 2", but man can he make a dent! We cut back tremendously on feeding to force the little monsters to graze more off the rocks which also helped, and no one seems to be having any ill effects as a result. I have a fairly large refugium (55G) which is LOADED with grape caulerpa and caulerpa serrulata. There's some red macros, but I don't think they do much. I'm convinced that caulerpa pulls out more phos and nitrates from the water than chaeto does.

 

[deejeff442]

i run 2 mp40s on random full and have a korilia #4 along the back.i need to do something even the snails have it all over them.
i bought into the bio spheres bs.i hope nobody else does.i will look at phosban.i have been doing 35 gallon water changes every weekend for months also.

 

[slice]

You're aware that I have this --->||<-- much experience compared to yours, but I would advise reviewing the basics. We all understand that your tank is only trying to seek balance, so what is the source of excess nutrients?

 

[deejeff442]

no idea.i dont feed much there are only 3 fish in the tank.how many nutrients could i possibly be adding to support a full sump of macro ,the reactor and the dt?i am worried to cut back on lights since i have 50+ corals in there.
i used to always run the phosban like btldreef but the lfs had this new awesome bioshere sensation .adding carbon ,i could have just dumped vodka in for that.i can still use the reactor for anything though.
now if i go to phosban i am not sure how it will affect the macro

 

[btldreef]

Quote:
Originally Posted by deejeff442 http:///t/389483/enough-hair-already#post_3442554
i run 2 mp40s on random full and have a korilia #4 along the back.i need to do something even the snails have it all over them.
i bought into the bio spheres bs.i hope nobody else does.i will look at phosban.i have been doing 35 gallon water changes every weekend for months also.
You might need more flow.
We were doing 40G on the 180 (265 total volume) for quite a while all in one shot. My husband made his own daily water change system and we now do 2G twice a day, it seems to help. Of course, doing it manually is going to be a PITA.
So now the basic questions: What are your inhabitants and what are you feeding? How much? How often? I was soooooo hesitant to cut back feeding for my fish, but it really did help.

 

[slice]

How old is the tank? What is the condition of the sand bed? With all the coral, coralline and such, how much rock do you feel is available to denitrification?

 

[deejeff442]

i feed once a day maybe a teaspoon of homemade food.i put 50 snails and 50 hermits in a few months ago and nothing.i only have an inch of sand and there is no algae on it.no algae on the back glass and i get next to no algae on the front glass.only on the rock.there is alot of flow in the tank the corals bend over from it .
the tank is 3 years but i had everything in it from a 150 that i had for 9 years .so just swaping it over 12 years but some rock i have had for well over 20.i have 300+ lbs of rock
yea no plans to change water everyday.

 

[btldreef]

Try Tidal Swell mode on your MP40s.
Your corals being pushed over might just be where you have the MP's placed. My tank is basically half the size of yours and I have almost twice as much flow. I thought I had enough with just two MP40's, then adding the MP10 really helped, but adding the third MP40 has made a huge difference.
What macros do you have?

 

[slice]

I apologize for being such a simpleton.
It is my understanding that our systems are predictable, within reason, to input. Algae exists where conditions are favorable. We attempt to direct algae proliferation in refugiums, away from our DTs.
Sorta like Riparian Water Rights. We can't stop it, but we can direct it where to go.
When nutrient input overwhelms our system's ability to cope accordingly to our scheme, doo-doo happens (yes, "doo-doo" is a scientific term....look it up).
Apparently, your system's ability to cope with nutrient input is not in synch with your intentions.
Are your sure your home-made food is what you intend it to be? Are you blowing crap out of rock holes and crevices before water changes?

 

[deejeff442]

ok took a pic of the sump and some of whats in it.the algae needs to feed on something and i dont know where its coming from.my homemade food is just all raw seafood.shrimp,krill,mussles,crab,silversides i get at the local chineese store all raw.and i add seaweed to it.

 

[deejeff442]

now in the other half of the sump i have 50 lbs or so of rock rubble there is no algae what so ever on anything .there is hardly any flow going through it.so i am thinking even though i have 3-4 month old bulbs .its the lights in the dt.i have another korilia #4 powerhead i will put on the back and see what happens .now with all the corals i will reduce the lights some maybe 5 hours of the mh and 9 hours for the pc's.i just dont want to hurt the corals they are all looking perfect

 

[deejeff442]

well added another ph .the one in the back wasnt even running .so now its turned up.i added the rest of the bio spheres i had to the reactor and of course the pump was too small to churn it so i had another one thats bigger and it works good.so i guess i will give it a few days

 

[btldreef]

Just an FYI, you can turn your lights completely off for up to 3 days without harming your corals. This can actually promote them to sprout new growth quicker once the lights come back on, it puts them in survival mode and they want to grow as quick as possible.
I had nothing but issues when I had rocks in my sump.

 

[deejeff442]

i actually dont want my corals to grow faster.i am running out of room.but i will cut my lights in half for a while and see what happens.i was thinking to just not run my pc lights i have them on 12 hours .just my mh for 6 hours a day for the next week.

 

[eric b 125]

Quote:
Originally Posted by deejeff442 http:///t/389483/enough-hair-already#post_3442690
i actually dont want my corals to grow faster.i am running out of room.but i will cut my lights in half for a while and see what happens.i was thinking to just not run my pc lights i have them on 12 hours .just my mh for 6 hours a day for the next week.
i would be concerned with shocking the corals going from no light to MH. what about not running the MH for a few days and just the PC's?

 

[deejeff442]

because i am thinking its the pc's that are causing the algae.i have been running alot of light. the bulbs i have mh are newer so i am going to try them first.ireally need a new light fixture.one pc dont work .problem is i plan a bigger (longer ) tank in the next few months and i need to figure out what i want to do for lights.i might just go pendants with the mh .this way i can just buy one more when i get the 8 foot tank.

 

[willie]

Im right there with you Deejeff. The stuff is driving me crazy, It was all over my back wall, and on a few of my more intricate pieces of tonga rock and I beefed up my clean up crew while cutting down the food. I added 2 emerald crabs, 3 turbos and I already had around 40 snails, hermits, ect... I put in a lawnmower blenny, who by the way is a green hair algae machine, a yellow tang that is doing his part but not with the enthusiasm I has hoped for. I reach in and pull the longer stuff off because it seems like the algae fish and the cuc only like the shorter growths and tend to ignore the long stuff. I filled my refug with calurpa and cheato. Its no longer on my back walls thanks to blenny and turbos but still cant get this stuff to stop growing on rocks.

 

[deejeff442]

yep its a pain.a friend here has three tangs he qt for me i pick them up next saturday i hope.yellow belly hippo,orange shoulder and a blond naso.they should help.i added 100 snails and 100 hermits a while back and they did nothing but clean the back wall.i cut my pc lights this morning and now i plan to just run the mh .for a week.what kills me is i spent over $200 on this reactor and bio spheres set up and it aint worth a penny so far.i am just wondering if i bought bad bulbs? they werent cheat like $250 to replace them all and thats when the algae started really going.