Almost ready to give up

[p4ck37p1mp]

Its a neverending project, probably why we like it. You'll get it under control, I was there several months ago when Caulerpa got into my display and went crazy. I got a better skimmer, upped the flow, got a foxface rabbitfish and got it under control. Those faxfaces really mox the algae, and this one trained my tangs to eat it too. They hadn't touched it until the foxface started in on it, I guess they got jealous and learned to munch it, now their insatiable for nori and chaeto trimmings from the fuge. They eat it like spaghetti, sucking it down!

You might want to get a hunk of chaeto from a local fellow reefer or LFS to reseed your pods and micro fauna. A little sand from an established tank certainly wouldn't hurt either.

 

[dolfans1]

I don't know if anyone has a sure-fire way of getting rid of hair algae. I had a major problem like yours about a month after I set up my tank. The difference was that my nitrate readings were 0 ppm. Of course this may have been because the algae was absorbing the nitrates as fast as I was generating them.

Your first priority should be to get rid of the nitrates - these are probably what's fueling the algae, and as long as they are high, the algae will return. Nitrates get exported from the tank in 1 of 3 ways: by anaerobic bacteria (if you have a deep sand bed), by water changes, and by skimming. The water changes you're doing and new skimmer should help your cause a lot. All that brown gunk your skimmer is now pulling off is organic matter that eventually would turn into nitrates. It may take a little time, but your nitrates should start dropping - just be persistant.

Other things that you can do to help speed up the exit of the algae:

1. Reduce your lighting. I have 2 x 400 W MH lights + 2 VHO actinic fluorescents. During my HA outbreak, I was keeping the VHOs on about 10 hours/day and the MH on only about 4 hours. Once the algae disappears, you can slowly increase the lighting back to your normal level.

2. Add a phosphate sponge like Phosban. Even though my phosphate readings were 0, I added 500 g to my filter bag. I've heard that trace levels of phosphate (below the range of most test kits) can help fuel algae growth. Don't know if it's true or not, but it can't hurt.

3. I added 3 doses (12 oz each) of Kent Marine Biological Clarifier. This is bacteria that supposedly competes for the same nutrients as the hair algae. Again, I don't know if it's true, but shortly after the 3rd dose of the stuff my algae started disappearing.

Good luck.

 

[casethekid]

I'll have to look around for some chaeto or something that I can maybe make into a fuge for all sorts of crawly critters...I do have a 20 long that I can make into a sump. Just a matter of getting the pump to make the return. I was thinking maybe with the return on the sump plumb it for a closed loop system. I'll just have to wait and see what $$$ comes in here.

Thanks again for all the encouragement. The tank looks 1000x better already.

 

[casethekid]

Ok, so about a week has passed and there is very little regrowth on the hair algae. I also was looking at the berlin classic XL manual, and it appears I don't have the turbo version, but I do have the venturi version. There is something in it about a venturi cone? What is a venturi cone, and do I need it? Will it make the skimmer more efficient?

 

[viper357]

Did you remove any of the centre tubes in the skimmer ?

 

[crustin]

berlin skimmers need to be over powered , what size pump do you have?