AlgaeFix Marine to control Hair Algae

I think you have a lot more to worry about with gasoline. Ever look at the label on the side of the pumps and that isn't just for the state of California. There are a lot of things we eat, like mushrooms that are included in California's regulations. This warning applies to the state of California only. ;)
 
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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15150703#post15150703 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by savethereef
Well it's been 24 hrs since my first dose and all i can say is wow. after months of doing WC and trying a sea slug and sea hare to no avail. I cant believe that 2 1/2 caps of this stuff and i can see the GHA falling apart. I am now able to see my returns that before where completly smothered with GHA. Also my whole sand bed was covered with cyano. now it lifting off like a carpet and decomposing. Also i notice there is some serious denitrification going on. alot of bubbles are coming out of the sand and coming out. I can now see most of my rock and the GHA that was smothering my corals is now receding and thats in just one dose? i spent $40 on those Slugs and a $14.99 bottle is fixing my problem. Well i will be doing my second dose tomorrow and hopefully it keeps dying off. after my 3rd dose i will do a 50g WC and do another 2 doses after that and see what happens.
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Rob aka STR:
Maybe I missed something, but it sounds to me as though you may be overdosing slightly. 2-1/2 capfuls, at least on my bottle, would be 25 ml, or the dosage for 250 gal of system water. A 225g tank plus sump, less rock, substrate, etc.; seems like it should be less than 250g of actual system water. Can you clarify your system, and let us know what type of algae you believe you're dealing with?
 
First Dose. I forget to put my lens and double dose my 125g tank; just find out that 1 cap is equal to 10ml.

Anyway everything looks fine after 12hr.
 
Has anyone thought of checking your source water? I had a HUGE GHA problem last year, and after 9 months of frustration and expense of testing my water, I finally broke down the tank and disposed of everything. Perhaps not the brightest of moves, but I thought it was at least a cure. Or so I thought. I bleached the tank, and purchased (at a great expense) all new live sand, rock, etc. And guess what.... the tank looks great, but is starting to grow the GHA again! can you believe this. Ok, so now I need to figure out why. I always knew it was either a nitrate or phospate problem. Bulbls replaced, so not that. Then I tested my R/O source water for nitrates with salifert. Guess what.. it was the same as my main tank (50) or 5 according to the low range. So I purchased new filters, and a TDS monitor which not alerts me to the detection of any nitrates, phosphates, and silica in my r/o water. I've picked the small bits of algae off of the plant in my tank, and am currently doing 20% water changes in my tank. Will keep you updated, but just food for thought to check the r/o system. You really want 0ppm reading, anthing else, and change the filters.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15167826#post15167826 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by flrn
Has anyone thought of checking your source water? I had a HUGE GHA problem last year, and after 9 months of frustration and expense of testing my water, I finally broke down the tank and disposed of everything. Perhaps not the brightest of moves, but I thought it was at least a cure. Or so I thought. I bleached the tank, and purchased (at a great expense) all new live sand, rock, etc. And guess what.... the tank looks great, but is starting to grow the GHA again! can you believe this. Ok, so now I need to figure out why. I always knew it was either a nitrate or phospate problem. Bulbls replaced, so not that. Then I tested my R/O source water for nitrates with salifert. Guess what.. it was the same as my main tank (50) or 5 according to the low range. So I purchased new filters, and a TDS monitor which not alerts me to the detection of any nitrates, phosphates, and silica in my r/o water. I've picked the small bits of algae off of the plant in my tank, and am currently doing 20% water changes in my tank. Will keep you updated, but just food for thought to check the r/o system. You really want 0ppm reading, anthing else, and change the filters.
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Oh yeah, that's the first thing i checked.:D
 
Did my 04th dose today,so far no changes yet.However I have gone three days lights off starting from y'day.Cheatos are doing ok.
 
i'm at 5th dose and my algae is definately thinner. and it comes off easier. when i pull it out it breaks free much easier than before. I need to do something to remove the nitrate and PO4 once algae is reduced to an acceptable level. I think i'll load my reactor up with GFO.
Any thoughts on Zeovit?
 
Ok, how about this.. the nitrates and or phosphates have to be coming from somewhere. Either over feeding, supplements with organic components, overstocked aquarium, or source water (which you've already stated checks out fine). I found that I was dosing my tank with DT"s live phyto, I was following the manufactures recommended dosing, and my nitrates would be higher the next day. I cut the dose in half, and it started to go down. Of course, as mentioned before, they are on the rise again, but I am contriubiting this to the poor source water. Again, just a thought.
 
Was just reviewing my copy of Brightwells "The Nano-Reef Handbook", and it mentions (as stated above in regards to the organic components) that chelated calcium containes calcium gluconate which is a organic material. And "it can rapidly cause water quality to deteriorate as dissolved organic material acrues". If you have been dosing your tank with a lot of calcium, then this too could be a source of phospates and nitrates in the tank. let me know what you think.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15171352#post15171352 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by flrn
If you have been dosing your tank with a lot of calcium, then this too could be a source of phospates and nitrates in the tank. let me know what you think.
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I wonder if this could be a source with the Randy's Two Part? I know my tank is dirty enough to be causing it all on its own without the help of percipitated compounds, but this would certinly be an avenue worth looking into.
Nice call flrn!
 
Cliff

Skipped my dose yesterday and, believe it or nor, a couple of my rics have already perked up somewhat from the moribund state that the Algaefix put them into.

I’m about 90% sure, at this point, that the Algaefix was killing my mushrooms, slowly but surely. I’m going to discontinue the dosing altogether now and see if I can make that 100% sure. Two of my smaller frags that I cut just before starting the Algaefix regimen detached from their moorings and refused to reattach in my small in-tank refugium, preferring instead to just dissolve.

As you can see from my “before and after” pics that I posted on page 19 of this thread, all of my mushrooms had taken on a lifeless, deflated look after 12 doses of Algaefix. The regression had actually started almost immediately after I began the dosing, then got progressively worse.

My bristle worms have become washed out in color and are not seen out in the open at all, even after lights out.

I suspect that whatever the active ingredient in the Algaefix does to kill the hair algae also plays havoc with the zooxanthellae in the ricordea. I’d be curious to know if you noticed any stress in your photosynthetic corals.

Anyway, there is another product out there that is made for controlling hair algae in marine and reef tanks that I used successfully years ago when I had my last tank. The only problem with it was that it would rob the water of dissolved oxygen and give it a slight “foamy” texture.

I think my experiment with the Algaefix is done for now, especially if my mushrooms continue to improve now that I’ve discontinued treatment.

If I can’t keep the HA under control by controlling nutrients, then I’ll probably give the product I used to use a shot.

I’ll keep you posted if you’re interested.
 
I had no problems with "mushrooms" at all. In fact, I wish it did slow down their growth. I have not dosed this product in weeks and my hair algae has not returned. The cyano that came after the death of the hair algae has pretty much subsided and things look great.

My nitrates and phosphates were zero before and after using this product. I suspect that my live rock was leaching out nutrients to fuel the growth as it was rock that I had allowed to dry out when upgrading to my current tank.

All seems fine now, and I'm glad I used the product.
 
i figured I'd do a cleaning before the 2nd dose,
and I was very surprised at how much of the HA that came out compared to before the first dose.

so far I'm happy.
 
After my third dose, I can say that ha has stopped growing almost completely. No new has grown where I managed to remove it and no new has appeared anywhere I can see.
There are spots I couldn't manually remove it and they are still there, but not growing.
 
Bruno,

It does appear that at around the 10th dose when using the every 3 days routine for AlgaeFix, may start to cause some problems. At least any hobbyists who need to dose the AlgaeFix that long should be very watchfully for any negative changes and discontinue if problems do start.

If there is another algaecide labeled for reef tanks, let us know which product it is. I am interested in following up with your situation. ;)
 
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