AlgaeFix Marine to control Hair Algae

I had no problems with my rbta's. My urchins dont seem to like it too much. Lost a few snails.


I have a few snails too and did not notice any issues with them. In fact, I see some baby snails now. I normally dose in the overflow box. Do you dose directly in Display tank?
 
My algae fix will be here on thursday. I haven't had a chance to read the direction, but from what I have gathered on here is that I dose every three days. Do I have to do a water changed every three days also? Do you take all the carbon out of your filters?
 
I'd probably remove the carbon unless the directions said otherwise. Water changes probably aren't required, but might help reduce the nutrient load if a lot of algae dies quickly.
 
WmTasker I had no issues with clams and anemones when using AF, but as I posted in the other thread it will not do much for what you have (Bryopsis). I apologize because I believe you bought AF based on my recommendation thinking the pictures showed hairalgae. I thought I was fast enough to ID the algae better and made new recommendations.

See this post from this thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=20470785&postcount=1975

From your other pics this is Bryopsis
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There's no need to apologize. I would never get upset at someone that is using their time to help me. I'll most likely just put in another order for the tech m and Salifert test kit. I was thinking about getting in a 2 part cal/alk supplement anyway. So I can use this time to hit the free shipping price.

Off subject: Has anyone used Two Little Fish C Balance 2 part dosing?
 
I haven't used C Balance personally, but it gets reasonable reviews, and it should be a fine product. All of the 2-parts seem to work well, although the cost per unit of supplement might vary. I used B-Ionic for years, and then switched to the DIY version.
 
AlgaeFix Marine to control Hair Algae

I need some experienced guidance here.

A few months back, my gravel bed looked bright green before I had a GHA breakout in my tank. Here's an old pic to show that.

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Now, after 12-13 doses, growth of GHA on the rocks is almost gone. However, I'm getting similar green patches on my gravel again. I've been siphoning the gravel, but they come back in a couple of days. I'm not sure if these are GHA in their infant stage. Here's a pic.

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I'm switching to weekly dosage now. But don't know how to keep my gravel in check. Anyone faced something like that?
 
My sand is exactly the same. I couldn't seem to get rid of it so I've slowly removing the sand. Switching to BB.
 
There are a lot of approaches to dealing with microbial pests on sandbeds. I might start with some GFO. What's running in the system now for filtration?
 
AlgaeFix Marine to control Hair Algae

Here's my filtration in sequential order.
I've just added filter sock on sump-inlet about 2 weeks ago.
I run Biopellets in a Reactor followed by Skimmer.
I then have a chamber of macralgae, chaeto and caulerpa. (I took the macroalgae out last week while cleaning 3/4 of chambers in the sump. There was a lot of detritus under them and I didn't know if it was due to GHA or Macro dying, since I'm in 12+ doses. Currently, its not back in the sump, stored in another bucket with lights).
And then I have a GFO reactor before the return chamber. I had taken the GFO reactor offline while cleaning the sump last weekend. But didn't get time to install it back. So, its been offline for a week now. (My reactor has a divider to use two medias. I've used RowaCarbon for about 3 weeks before taking offline last weekend). I plan to install the GFO reactor back today.

My nitrates and phosphates used to be nil before starting AF. I think that's expected. However, my nitrates started climbing while using AF. I had my GFO running all the time when dosing AF (until last weekend), and it kept phosphates at zero (Salifert). I haven't tested since taking GFO offline. I'll test it today and post it if its greater than zero. However, my nitrates are at 10 now.
 
Algae fix it doesn't work with bryopsis
This is after half a bottle and one dead SPS. Too much AglaeFix is harming Zooxanthella.
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TankCla, in addition to WmTasker advice, try removing as much as possible. It really makes a big difference. I had lots of long flowing algae and manual scrubbing was too tedious. I used Algaemower and it made it so much easier. Plus, with Algaemower, none of the chopped algae goes back in the water but gets collected in a meshbag. Its a good tool to use alongwith AF or increasing Mg to fight these damn nuisance algae.

Good luck!
 
I'm having the substrate issue too.

Me too. Reduced phosphate to 0.00 (hanna), nitrate has always been zero, I spend so much time sifting it out of my sand every weekend. I've been considering AF but don't like the idea of adding this stuff without knowing long term consequences. Gradually going BB I guess.
 
Me too. Reduced phosphate to 0.00 (hanna), nitrate has always been zero, I spend so much time sifting it out of my sand every weekend. I've been considering AF but don't like the idea of adding this stuff without knowing long term consequences. Gradually going BB I guess.

How long has your sand bed been going? Did you go with a deep sand bed? The reason I ask is I have read and heard from other reefers that over time our sand beds can store nutrients in them (phosphates, nitrates, organic). Then after a while, they release them back into the aquarium. Maybe the algae is growing on the sand cause what it needs isn't in the water but coming from the sand. The nutrients leaking might just be low enough that you cant test for it, or it is getting used up as fast as it is leaked out. This is why I have had a Bare Bottom for years and this is my first tank that I have had an algae problem. Only to find out that it wasn't my husbandry but but an algae that I broght in on another rock. Bryosis.
 
Now that the GHA are almost gone from my rocks, I'm not sure if I'm dealing with GHA or Dinoflagellates on my substrate. They do also come in brown and greenish-brown color.
My substrate pic is in one of comments above.

I have also noticed some stringy brown stuff with bubbles in my overflow box. I tried to get a pic with my phone. What do you think is it?

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Tanks with GHA issue are mostly running with very low nutrients in water column since the large GHA population consume them. I'm guessing that such tanks are probably low on denitrifying bacteria population too. And when we take out GHA using AF, other nuisance algae like Dinos could sprout due to less competition.

Has anyone tried AF to fight Dinoflagellates? Is AF effective against dinos?
 
How long has your sand bed been going? Did you go with a deep sand bed? The reason I ask is I have read and heard from other reefers that over time our sand beds can store nutrients in them (phosphates, nitrates, organic). Then after a while, they release them back into the aquarium. Maybe the algae is growing on the sand cause what it needs isn't in the water but coming from the sand. The nutrients leaking might just be low enough that you cant test for it, or it is getting used up as fast as it is leaked out. This is why I have had a Bare Bottom for years and this is my first tank that I have had an algae problem. Only to find out that it wasn't my husbandry but but an algae that I broght in on another rock. Bryosis.

My tank is just over two years old, very shallow sand bed (no more than 1"). When I first had the problem and I started to sift the algae from the sand I could see clouds of detritus that would then get picked up by my skimmer and caught in my filter pad. Now that I've been sifting it out like this every week the water doesn't cloud much at all. I also blow the rocks off and my whole sump to make sure I don't have much detritus anywhere.
 
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