AlgaeFix Marine to control Hair Algae

[sneeyatch]

Thanks Cliff. I didn't know if it would really be counter productive since it's still a new tank. God knows I hate the typical algae blooms in a new tank, but this is obviously different. I started with my dosing yesterday, so I'll keep everyone in the loop as to how it goes.

 

[HighlandReefer]

Your welcome.

Good luck.

 

[zaitmi]

My vinegar dose is now 16ml daily and i have stopped dosing vodka. Though i am seeing more cyano type deep maroon algae on my rocks.

Anyways my question is that what happens when soneone allows to grow algae on the rocks and keeps on cleaning the glass? Will bad algae on the rocks pollute the tank water or they clean rocks just for aesthetics?

 

[HighlandReefer]

I'm not sure where you nitrate & phosphate level is at now? You will need to continue increasing the amount of vinegar you dose until your nitrate is gone. If your phosphate is high, you will need to use GFO to reduce it. Once your nitrate & phosphate hit zero is when I would expect to see a decrease in algae. Until then you will need to run GAC, do proper water changes, remove the algae.

 

[falconut]

After reading through this thread many times and battling algae for almost a year, I have decided to try AlgaeFix Marine. Thanks for the time everybody has spent posting in this thread, because I wouldn't have tried without it.

I have a 90 gallon tank with approximately 100 gallons total. It has been setup for almost 6 years now and it's been pretty successful over that time. I currently have mostly softies (Xenia, Misc. Mushroom, Riccordea, Leather, Kenya, GSP, Misc. Zoas, Clove Polps, Yellow Polyps) a Green Bubble Coral, Favia Frag and a Blue Maxima Clam. There are also misc. Hermit Crabs, Turbo Snails, Tiger Conch and a CBS. In my refuge, I have Chaeto and 8 Mangroves.

I had an algae outbreak a few years ago that GFO was able to remove. But, it had come back about a year later, even with GFO. A added 500 ml of WM pellets along with 1/3 lb of GFO (swapped regularly). Using a turkey baster, I have been able to blast alot of the algae off the rocks and some areas of the glass. But, it just doesn't seam to have taken care of all of it. There is some GHA that just doesn't seam to want to go away. I have been checking my NO3 and PO4 and the NO3 has gone down from around 5 to now undetectable, while the PO4 has read 0.00 on a Hanna Checker. I beleive that there is PO4 leaching from the rocks and being used by the algae before it can be detected. So, I'm leaving both the GFO and Pellets online. Hopefully as the algae dies off, the PO4 will leach out and get pulled from the water with either the GFO or Pellets.

I started my first dose of 10 ml last night and will keep everybody posted on my results.

 

[zaitmi]

Reeflander

Nitrate : 5ppm
Phosphate : 0.05 mg/l

 

[HighlandReefer]

After reading through this thread many times and battling algae for almost a year, I have decided to try AlgaeFix Marine. Thanks for the time everybody has spent posting in this thread, because I wouldn't have tried without it.

I have a 90 gallon tank with approximately 100 gallons total. It has been setup for almost 6 years now and it's been pretty successful over that time. I currently have mostly softies (Xenia, Misc. Mushroom, Riccordea, Leather, Kenya, GSP, Misc. Zoas, Clove Polps, Yellow Polyps) a Green Bubble Coral, Favia Frag and a Blue Maxima Clam. There are also misc. Hermit Crabs, Turbo Snails, Tiger Conch and a CBS. In my refuge, I have Chaeto and 8 Mangroves.

I had an algae outbreak a few years ago that GFO was able to remove. But, it had come back about a year later, even with GFO. A added 500 ml of WM pellets along with 1/3 lb of GFO (swapped regularly). Using a turkey baster, I have been able to blast alot of the algae off the rocks and some areas of the glass. But, it just doesn't seam to have taken care of all of it. There is some GHA that just doesn't seam to want to go away. I have been checking my NO3 and PO4 and the NO3 has gone down from around 5 to now undetectable, while the PO4 has read 0.00 on a Hanna Checker. I beleive that there is PO4 leaching from the rocks and being used by the algae before it can be detected. So, I'm leaving both the GFO and Pellets online. Hopefully as the algae dies off, the PO4 will leach out and get pulled from the water with either the GFO or Pellets.

I started my first dose of 10 ml last night and will keep everybody posted on my results.

Thanks for sharing your results with us.

Hopefully AF kills your specie of algae.

 

[HighlandReefer]

Reeflander

Nitrate : 5ppm
Phosphate : 0.05 mg/l

Your getting there.

YOur goal IMHO, is to have undectable readings for phosphate and nitate using hobby grade test equipment.

 

[NeveroddoreveN]

Would AF be worth a try for bryopsis? I've been battling it for about a year now. I have a ULNS so it doesn't look like green acres or anything; it's just no matter how hard I try there are always babies coming. I've kept select frags in complete darkness for 2+ months and it still re-grows. Raising Mg from 1350 to 1800 for weeks doesn't touch it (tech M.) What I've had the best success with is just superglueing over any and all that I find. Would a UV sterilizer help? I'm just looking for something to slow it down enough to make progress with the superglue instead of an algal quagmire.

I guess my bigger question is, can it ever truly be eradicated?- or just kept at bay?~



~Logan

 

[HighlandReefer]

Bryopsis is very tough to eradicate from a reef aquarium full of rock and coral. Unfortunately, AF does not seem to work well on bryopsis with the posts we have had in this thread. Increasing mag levels seems to work best with the Tech M product from the reports I have seen, though some hobbyists achieved control using other mag supplements.

The only other thing that may work that I have read in one thread, is where the hobbyist achieved control of bryopsis raising his salinity level up to 1.030, which the hobbyist reported worked on his particular specie of bryopsis. This was reported by one hobbyist only. I have read where the scientists have found that some species of byropsis don't do as well at higher salinity levels. This may be worth a try. If you decide to try this, I would appreciate hearing about your results.

 

[zaitmi]

Reeflander

Test Results :

Nitrates : 8ppm (due to change in progress from vodka to vinegar). Vinegar dose :18ml daily.

Phosphates: <0.01 (almost undetectable)
Should i still replace rowaphos or wait till next week.

Should i still scrub rocks to clean but my new plants like red thread and micro tube worms will die. What do u suggest bro?

Hey reeflander, i want add some hardy corals who dont need much light? Can u suggest some? How abt. Mushroom Leather Coral.

 

[HighlandReefer]

I would prefer to see an undetectable reading for nitrate and phosphate when fighting an algae problem before you stop the GFO.

Scrubbing and removing the algae is the most important thing you can do when fighting an algae problem. The other life should make it even with scrubbing.

Many of your soft corals can get by with less light.

 

[zaitmi]

I would prefer to see an undetectable reading for nitrate and phosphate when fighting an algae problem before you stop the GFO.

Thanks for the reply, I am not asking about stopping bro, but replacing the GFO. Should i continue replacing?

Scrubbing and removing the algae is the most important thing you can do when fighting an algae problem. The other life should make it even with scrubbing.

Bro, i don't think so my red thread plant and tube worms will survive if i scrub them with a tooth brush in a seperate old used saltwater tub. They will die
Plz help.

Many of your soft corals can get by with less light.

Good, i will start with some Brown Mushroom Leather Corals.

 

[tripnbili]

I finally broke down and joined this thread by trying AF. I've posted a few threads on RC regarding an ongoing brown hair algae problem. I've tried everything I can to get rid of the stuff.

So today was the 4th dose and so far so good as far as the algae goes. The brown stuff is 80% gone and that nasty film that I had to clean off the glass every other day is only every 4 or 5 days now (and that might actually be due to VSV dosing)

Seemingly negative impacts are:

* A mild to moderate case of Cyano on the sand bed
* Polyp extension on almost all of my SPS is crud...


I've read through this post and see that cyano is common with the breakdown of algae, plus the VSV can feed it as well? I vacuumed the sand bed 3 days ago and run filter socks 24/7. I'm still running GFO & GAC. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to quit dosing the VSV until I get the cyano under control??

Also, have there been any other reports of SPS being negatively affected or poor polyp extension?

Thanks so much and will definitely post my progress.

Temp: 78
pH: 8.3
PO4: 0 (Salifert)
NO3: 0 (API)
Ca: 420
dKh: 8.5
sg: 1.025

Thanks again!

 

[HighlandReefer]

There have been few reports of negative impact on coral. Overdosing VSV can have negative inpact on coral, especially the sugar part. It does not take much sugar to cause problems. Personally, I would remove the sugar from the mix you dose. Many hobbyists have reported less cyano problems when dosing vinegar only, including myself and Randy.

 

[tripnbili]

There have been few reports of negative impact on coral. Overdosing VSV can have negative inpact on coral, especially the sugar part. It does not take much sugar to cause problems. Personally, I would remove the sugar from the mix you dose. Many hobbyists have reported less cyano problems when dosing vinegar only, including myself and Randy.

Are you saying to change my mix to vodka and vinegar, or only vinegar? And in either case, how would I determine the new dosage amount?

I've been dosing 1.1mL of VSV on a 90-95g system

Thanks!

 

[HighlandReefer]

Personally I like the vinear better when you have cyano problems. To use vinegar you will need to figure 8X as much vinegar for the vodka part you are using. I would not bother to figure the sugar into the equation.

 

[tripnbili]

Personally I like the vinear better when you have cyano problems. To use vinegar you will need to figure 8X as much vinegar for the vodka part you are using. I would not bother to figure the sugar into the equation.

I use the glassbox recipe...200ml Vodka, 50ml Vinegar, 1.5tbps sugar.

So you're saying 200ml x8 = 1600ml + the original 50ml = 1650ml total?

And then my current dosage of 1.1ml daily would equate to how much of the new mix?

 

[HighlandReefer]

With your current mix, you are using 0.275 ml of vinegar and 0.825 ml of vodka per day approx. Therefor you will want to use 6.875 ml of vinegar per day to be equivalent to your current 1.1 ml daily dose, not counting the sugar part. So I would use about 7 ml of vinegar daily & work from there.

 

[HighlandReefer]

FWIW, I have used 45 ml of vinegar in the 100 gallon total water equivalent per day without problems. Randy has dosed at least twice the amount I have without problems. Each tank is different and the nitrate production in your tank can make a big difference (total amount of fish & fish food added).