AlgaeFix Marine to control Hair Algae

I am now at my 7th doses of AF and no apparent reduction of Bryopsis. I am also raising my Mg++ level to almost 1800 using a combination MgCl2 and MgSO4. If after 10th doses of AF with Mg++ at 1800 and no reduction of bryopsis, I will switch to Kent Tech M as my last effort before tearing down my tank and start over again:(.
 
Updated pics a week later. I haven't done anything to the bryopsis at all except for dose AFX. The only clean-up crew I have is a single (good size) sea hare that my brother let me borrow. It has helped in removing the algae, but as you can see from the pics, it's dieing off nicely. It's all yellow with a sickly brownish red cyano looking coating all over it. From what the sea hare has eaten, it's not growing back at all. I'm very pleased and happy that I decided to try this experiment. I also have 2 tangs which pick at it a little, but that's it. Nothing worth noting. I haven't dosed any magnesium, or haven't manually removed it or anything.

Oh - one thing I did want to mention is that there does appear to be some coral stress in my experiment. Most noticeably my blue snowlake polyps are gone (not sure if it's a direct relation or not, or coincidence) and my open brains haven't been expanding. My Euphyllia frags appear to be doing OK only being slightly withdrawn. All other inhabitants are fine.

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IMG_2448.jpg
 
Did dose #5 yesterday morning, see my original post #1425 for detail of my setup. It seams to be working on most of the algae. I can suck it up with the turkey baster very easily. There is still some different green algae that hasn't seamed to be effected yet. I admit that I haven't had much time this last week to really syphon the rocks, but I'm trying. So far, it seams to be working.
 
Ycore said:
I skimmed through many pages of this but couldn't find a quick answer, but does Algaefix work against dinoflagellates? At first I thought I had diatoms, then I thought I had brown hair algae, but now I'm pretty convinced it's dinos. Brown slimy "tuft" like algae. I've tried everything to remove it, but it's slowly getting worse. The final "clue" was that my snails started dying or becoming very lethargic.

So, any experience on using this against dinos?

Thanks

Edit.. Found a few pages back that it hasn't been tested for Dinos...
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I am really kicking myself for not taking before and after pictures now. But i believe i may hav had dino's. The algae was long and did contain bubbles in it. I am through about 3/4 of a 16 oz bottle and without scrubbing, picking or any hard work my tank is looking great again. I lost alot of coral due to the algae. Some of them are even starting to come back now since the algae is gone. I will post some pics later of the current tank after about 2 months of dosing. It was really bad, almost everything was covered in algae. Water changes did not help and i did them every 2 weeks.

On a side note, i cannot confirm this but, before i started dosing i had redbugs in the tank and hardly any PE on my sps corals. Well it seems that there arent any red bugs in the tank anymore. Id have to take a macro shot of some of the corals to confirm, but the ones that did make it look great.
 
OK - it's all gone. I came home to the sea hare mopping up what was left. Not a single spec of it left and now I'll switch to a maintenance dose for a little while and wean off it.
 
My nirates & phospates are nil at the moment with vinegar dosing and rowa phos respectively. But i have very silicates in my Kent Marine RO drinking water which i use in my tank as told by my LFS after testing the water. How to control silicates in my water ? I will be uploading pictures soon.
 
If you're sure the water contains silica, a GFO will remove it. You could add a reactor to your RO/DI water reservoir, or get the high-silica DI cartridges on your next order. I'm not sure I'd trust a LFS or even many test kits, necessarily. Measuring is not one of the high points of this hobby, as far as I can tell.
 
sneeyatch said:
OK - it's all gone. I came home to the sea hare mopping up what was left. Not a single spec of it left and now I'll switch to a maintenance dose for a little while and wean off it.
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:thumbsup:

Glad to hear your particular procedure worked for the hard to control algae you have in your tank and if I understand correctly minimal but some negative effects on your coral. :)

Seems like your procedure may be a viable alternative for hobbyists that have tried everthing else they can think of to control a problem pest without results. Certainly it would be better then braking down a tank. Your precedure involved dosing according to the label except every other day instead of every three days if I understood you correctly? ;)
 
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zaitmi said:
My nirates & phospates are nil at the moment with vinegar dosing and rowa phos respectively. But i have very silicates in my Kent Marine RO drinking water which i use in my tank as told by my LFS after testing the water. How to control silicates in my water ? I will be uploading pictures soon.
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Does water filtration system have a DI filter after the RO membrane? If not I would buy one. ;)
 
HighlandReefer said:
:thumbsup:

Glad to hear your particular procedure worked for the hard to control algae you have in your tank and if I understand correctly minimal but some negative effects on your coral. :)

Seems like your procedure may be a viable alternative for hobbyists that have tried everthing else they can think of to control a problem pest without results. Certainly it would be better then braking down a tank. Your precedure involved dosing according to the label except every other day instead of every three days if I understood you correctly? ;)
Click to expand...

Yep - nothing left of the bryopsis at all. The noticeable effects on my corals were that my Euphyllia frags seemed to be just a little withdrawn and one out of 2 of my open brains were not pleased - but since only one was affected, I believe it's a placement / flow issue more than the AFX. My blue snowflake polyps are gone - again, not too sure if the bryopsis snuffed them out or if was the AFX. My sea hare and one lone hermit are the only inverts and they're fine as well as my fish.

Dosing was done at the recommended amount (in my case I used 15 ml I believe) but the frequency was increased to every other day instead of every 3 days. After a couple of weeks, I thought I was losing the battle, then it died quickly after that.

I really don't recommend anyone doing this unless they are prepared for the worst. Since I don't have much livestock, I figured I'd give it a shot. If anyone's thinking of doing this with a tank full of corals or expensive inverts, I'd think twice.

The only additional thing I can think of that may have helped is that I use kalk in my auto-topoff system. My parameters are:

Ammonia = 0
Nitrites = 0
Nitrates = undetectable (but probably some)
Phosphates = undetectable (but probably some)
pH = 8.3
alkalinity = 11 - 11.5 dKh
Calcium = 500 - 520
Salinity = 35 ppt
temp = 79º - 80º

I believe the elevated alkalinity may have something to do with it for some reason - no scientific thought behind it - just a hunch. I also believe that I do have some sort of trates and PO4 since I am experiencing another cyano outbreak. Then again it always seems I get cyano after my HA battles and I am feeding on the heavy side trying to fatten up my fishies. The tank is new and I'll let nature take it's course for now since I know I'll be dealing with weird stuff for the next few months anyway.
 
thewire said:
Ya but do you need to dose after it's completed?
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Once you have eradicated the pest algae, you may want to do the maintainance dose once per week for a while and then quit IMHO. Personally, I don't like the idea of extended maintainance dosing after you have erradicated the pest. If the pest re-appears then go back to the every three day dosing until it is gone. ;)
 
Due to this thread I went out and purchased some Algaefix marine for my 65 gallon mixed reef with a hair algae problem. It's a very old mature tank and was moved a few months back. I think this is what caused the bloom, which consumed most of the tank.

All tests came out normal, which is common in this type of situation.

I changed out all the bulbs, 4 T5's and 2 PC's. I began running carbon. Did large weekly water changes. Lessened the amount of natural light to the tank. Got a sea hare. Still had algae.

After dosing for a month I have to say I was really surprised that this product does such a stellar job. It was most likely a combination of the changes I made along with the product, but I did notice that the HA was thinner and began floating off the rock and into the power heads.

Thumbs up. Thanks again!
 
Alright I'm a believer. I am on dose 7 or 8. I have two tanks one 300 display one 150 I do nothing different with the tanks but one has an algae problem and one is spotless. :blown:

I have killed off about 90 % of the algae, I read to stop after 10 doses, how long do you wait to start again. I REALLY want to win this war, I miss my clean tank:sad2:
 
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carnut said:
Alright I'm a believer. I am on dose 7 or 8. I have two tanks one 300 display one 150 I do nothing different with the tanks but one has an algae problem and one is spotless. :blown:

I have killed off about 90 % of the algae, I read to stop after 10 doses, how long do you wait to start again. I REALLY want to win this war, I miss my clean tank:sad2:
Click to expand...

If the AF is killing your algae, than going beyound the 10 doses is fine IMHO until it is gone. If you see no effects after 10 doses, then caution may need to be used after that point. AF will kill chaeto after 10 doses, so you may want to remove it. ;)
 
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