hair algae

ygrowup

ygrowup

New Member
Hey guys ? here. 125g tank converted into reef tank. Got new lighting 8-96wpc bulbs on 12hr timed cycle running the 8 bulbs at different intervals to simulate full day cycle. Corals are doing awesome already and multiplying. Live rock is even showing signs of lots of new life. The problem seems to be the algae loves the lights too. After just 4hrs I can barely see through the tank. The tank is 10 months running but only on the new lights for a month. My old lights were just 2 live glow bulbs and two marine glows so algae was not ever an issue. My ? is what would you suggest,quantity and type of algae eaters for the 125g staying away from fish(had enough with ick to last a lifetime,Im done with them coral cant get ick) to keep up with the algae growth occuring. Thanks
 
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alti

Guest
get an ru unit. our tap water here in jersey has pretty good ammounts of phosphate and silicates in it. when i switched to distilled water the algea went away within a couple of weeks.
 
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alti

Guest
by the way, where do you live? me and some other local reefers pool online orders together to save on shipping. if you need to order anything let me know and ill see if someone wants to share the shipping costs.
hamuskinny@aol.com
 
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alti

Guest
the phosphate sponge may help, but if it was really working you would not have the algea. what is you nitrate level? high nitrates can fuel algea blooms as well, but i strongly suspect the tap water is the culprit. check united waters website and you will see that we also get alot of TDS in the tap as well. there is no substitute for ro water or distilled water. its much easier to prevent the algea cfrom formong than to clean it up afterwards.
 
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alti

Guest
andover is about an hour from here. we may be able to setup something. send me an email. im going to try to get some type of list going so when someone wants to order i can send emails to all the locals.
 
ygrowup

ygrowup

New Member
do you use a specific vendor if so I could check availability of certain frags and give a list and do you have a reccomendation on an ro unit to handle my tank
 
ygrowup

ygrowup

New Member
Nitrates are never a problem they are tested dayly and never higher than 10ppm and usually around 5ppm at least I assume they're not a problem
 
birdy

birdy

Active Member
I just thought I would add that it is very common to have an algae bloom after changing to a better light system. But I also agree with using RO water. You might want to reconsider using a uv sterilizer on a reef tank they remove valuable nutrients for the corals they are best used on FO tanks.
 
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alti

Guest
sounds fine. i really would invest in the ro unit if your going reef. trust me, you will see a huge difference.
 
zafirablanca

zafirablanca

Member
I have seen this topic come up on other threads with others giving advice to cut the light time down. If I remember right, some got significant hair algae relief by cutting back an hour or so of light. Try a forum search, it wasn't that long ago. Hope this helps.
Good Luck
-Christine
:)
 
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