AlgaeFix Marine to control Hair Algae

[kharmaguru]

@Biodork.

Absolutely wild.

I used algaefix roughly 2 years ago and to this day I still have no green hair algae nor usual green glass haze. However a brown turf algae that algaefix had no effect on continues in my tank with extremely low nutrients. I would go so far as to say it's now the only algae that grows. I suspect this as I'm running an ATS to combat it and the algae that grows on it is the same brown turf. No CUC that I've tried touch it. Direct spot treatment outside my tank with H2O2 is the only thing that nukes it. Tedious but effective. Fortunately it's a slow grower.

Tanks are about balance - algaefix throws a wrench in that balance and you never know just what will result on the other side. Just my 2.

 

[Biodork]

I agree, Algaefix should deffinately be a last ditch solution. But hair algae had already defeated me on a previous tank (broke down everything and sold the system) and I didn't want to go that route again without one last shot. I tried phosphate remover, H2O2 in areas that were feasible, reduced lighting, new MH bulb, almost daily manual removal, additional cleanup crew... all with no success.

I dosed my system for approx one month. I have a 30 gallon system, but with a fair amount of live rock, so I opted to be conservative with each addition of Algaefix and used 2ml (manufacture recommends 1ml/10gal). I have to be honest and admit that I was not completely on the ball about dosing every 3 days. I never dosed more often, but it was probably more like every 3 days for the first few doses and then 1x per week for the last couple of weeks. I left my skimmer running. I think this is really important because as the algae started to die off, the skimmer went nuts. I also continued to do weekly 15% water changes.

Best of luck!

 

[Biodork]

One thing I forgot to add, I didn't really see much of a change for the first couple of weeks. After that, the algae turned pretty sickly and could be easily siphoned off the rock work. I did do some scrubbing afterwards. Lots of detritus from all the die off.

 

[Johnic]

Cool. I can't wait to dose. I too have reached a point where this is my last effort before I tear it down and get out of the hobby. Tired of looking at a Forrest of green HA.

 

[Biodork]

I hear ya, post some photos and let me know how it goes.

 

[Johnic]

Will do.....

 

[Johnic]

First Dose last night

First Dose last night

Well I dosed 2.5 ml for the first time last night..lets see how this goes.

Before Pics

 

[nolanrob123]

Well I dosed 2.5 ml for the first time last night..lets see how this goes.

Before Pics

How does the tank look now?

 

[petere1989]

Do you leave skimmer on or leave it off? And if off, for how long after treatment?

 

[Johnic]

Well. I'm about 3/4 of a month into it dosing every three days and the gha is almost all gone. There are done resilient patches but I'm still dosing.
Yes. I left skimmer on

 

[Johnic]

Well I have to say. Algae fix worked. My tank looks unreal. I ran skimmer while doing it and bought more turbo snail and a tang. Very very little left in tank. Im happy with results.
I think I'll dose once a week to keep it at bay. All more corals look better than ever and tank is back to normal.

 

[worm5406]

Any updates for those over the past month??

Just trying to keep this thread alive for others going through the same problems.

Your before after pics are like night and day.

Keeping some of the new people in the loop, to see what can be done, AFTER checking everything else, helps all of us in the long run.

Thanks for your updates and sharing of data.

 

[Johnic]

I've had great success with it and continue to use it once a week to prevent it. I think the trick is to be patience and let the stuff do its work. Mind took about 1.5 months.

 

[knight2255]

Anyone tried this with an algae turf scrubber? I was thinking of dosing this every 3 days. For the first 2 days I would disconnect my ATS while the algae killing active ingredient breaks down and then reconnect the ATS on the 3rd day to remove whatever PO4 I can. I would be skimming and dosing sugar as well everyday.

I'll take pics and maybe make an animated time lapse gif of the results.

 

[worm5406]

Anyone tried this with an algae turf scrubber? I was thinking of dosing this every 3 days. For the first 2 days I would disconnect my ATS while the algae killing active ingredient breaks down and then reconnect the ATS on the 3rd day to remove whatever PO4 I can. I would be skimming and dosing sugar as well everyday.

I'll take pics and maybe make an animated time lapse gif of the results.

I would like to see this.

I have a ATS as well and wondered what it would do to it, I have not looked up the answer yet, though.

 

[Fishypapa]

I had a similar issue but started using GFO in a reactor and a UV sterilizer and haven't had it come back at all since.

Did you actually put a Tang in a 30g tank? Hope the 75 gets finished soon then.

 

[knight2255]

Thankfully this is working on my very bad algae problem. I"ve taken my ATS offline and have to clean out the skimmer cup twice daily. I'll be doing my 4th treatment this evening and think that after 4 more, I should have the stuff cleaned out. I'm taking daily pics so hopefully I can put together a time lapse gif of it disappearing.

 

[coketech]

My Turn!

My Turn!

Hi guys

Its my turn to give Algaefix a go.

I have three algae types:

Grape algae Ventricaria ventricosa http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-02/hcj/feature/

Brownish redish shortish algae, kind of bristle-brush texture.

Green shortish algae, kind of bristle-brush texture.

Unfortunately I had to spend less time on my tank maintenance that I wanted to for a while due to other pressures, so the algae got a little out of control.

I was given some second hand AlgaeFix by a friend so im not sure if its a bit too old but I'll give it a go.

My first dose was on Saturday, I gave it another dose on Sunday (fully misread the instructions). Ive given it its next dose today (Tuesday) but there is still no visible change to the algae. Ill post pics soon once something starts changing...

 

[Fishypapa]

Fyi

Fyi

Just something to watch out for while people are using Algaefix:

Specific Gravity (water=1): 1.006
pH (as supplied): 5.8-6.8

Make sure to monitor your Salinity and pH.

Additionally check out the page http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC34167 to see how much information regarding the primary chemical in Algaefix is NOT available and see the links further down for information regarding toxicity to Aquatic/Marine life.

 

[ReefTron5000]

Sorry if this has already been discussed but the regularly labeled "Algaefix" is the same thing as "Algaefix Marine" right? I'm looking at the product document sheets on API's website and they both list dimethyliminoethylene dichloride, ethoxylate as the ingredients? I can't find the Marine stuff near by, just the regular.