FED UP!!! its war time!

brewski4u1

brewski4u1

Member
well i have been fighting a hair algae problem for almost 3 months now and i cant seem to beat it no matter what i do! I've bought all new lights! shortened my lighting period by 3 hours I'm running phosban like crazy! i test for phosphates and there at zero and its still growing strong! i have a monster clean up crew and i do 10 gallon water changes weekly sucking up as much algae as i can! well I'm done and soooo fed up I'm doing something i said i would never do !
i'm going w/ chemical warfare lol
I'm looking at the stuff by API called algae fix and I'm hope it works i have read about it and seems pretty good has anyone on here tried it?
 
tropills

tropills

Member
have you tested your water source ? the algae is consuming the phosphates so I can see where you won't get any reading. what is your nitrate level ?
how much, how often and what are you feeding ? frozen foods contain a lot of phosphates if not rinsed well before use. we have all at one time or another had to deal with a algae outbreak. you need to find the cause then and only then can you fix it. chemicals for those type things (algae removal)
can do more harm then good on your tanks biological status. and could make more troubles for you.
 
brewski4u1

brewski4u1

Member
nitrate are 0 and water source is from the LFS i can only assume its good cause they use the same stuff in all there tanks and they have no hair algea i use frozen food and it gets rinsed very well and i feed once every 2 or 3 days.
i'm at a total loss as for the cause thats why its driving me NUTS!! if i didnt have any corals i would just shut the light off for a few days and see if that would help lol
 
tropills

tropills

Member
Originally Posted by Brewski4u1
http:///forum/post/2987421
nitrate are 0 and water source is from the LFS i can only assume its good cause they use the same stuff in all there tanks and they have no hair algea i use frozen food and it gets rinsed very well and i feed once every 2 or 3 days.
i'm at a total loss as for the cause thats why its driving me NUTS!! if i didnt have any corals i would just shut the light off for a few days and see if that would help lol
I would still test their water. are you by chance over feeding ? even a little excess food can cause problems. I know you said you have a monster clean up crew but they still produce waste themselves. Are you running a skimmer ?
what is your Bio load. remember fish are cold blooded and can go a week or more without needing food. you could try feeding once a week. Are you running any carbon ? having fish I'm surprised to see you have 0 trates. not saying you don't but it just seems odd.
 
brewski4u1

brewski4u1

Member
the trates barely show up so pretty darn close to ) and yess i run a skimmer! and for fish i got 2 clowns a potters angle and a Bi color blenny ! i'll cut down the feedng to maybe 2 times a week! and yess i'm running some carbon! i levels are almost always 0 or darn close i do a 10 gallon water change once a week and its only a 30 gallon tank!
 
thehorndaddy

thehorndaddy

Member
I used Algae Fix from API as a last resort to fight my hair algea and it worked great! The hair algae all fell apart and fell off the rocks within a week. You just need to suck up all of the fallen algae. I continued to use it for a couple of weeks after to maintain the algea problem and haven't used it since (been over 8 months now). I had fish, corals, anemone, inverts, etc. and all of them survived. I won't use it again unless I really have to, but it works!
Good luck!
 
tropills

tropills

Member
Originally Posted by Brewski4u1
http:///forum/post/2987455
the trates barely show up so pretty darn close to ) and yess i run a skimmer! and for fish i got 2 clowns a potters angle and a Bi color blenny ! i'll cut down the feedng to maybe 2 times a week! and yess i'm running some carbon! i levels are almost always 0 or darn close i do a 10 gallon water change once a week and its only a 30 gallon tank!
Sounds like you have all your bases covered as you said. but yes try cutting your feeding down those are pretty small fish and don't need very much.
and still test the water from the LFS. When I had my hair algae outbreak several years ago it took me 8 months to get rid of it. I had trace amounts(PO4) in my water source and I was using RO/DI so it can happen though the water source itself even though you think it's not.Good luck and please keep us posted on what you find out.
 
naclh2o nut

naclh2o nut

Member
I feel your pain!

I left the hobby several years back, for this reason. But now I have everyone here and all will work out.

I would be sure to find the source of the problem. That is the key to not going through it again.
GoodLuck and update as you move forward.
 
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