Am I missing something?

[Jane]

Still got Hair Algae. Rock work is covered.
7 year old 72 gal bow, MH and actinic lights.
1 small yellow tang
1 jaw fish
2 anthias
2 fire gobies
1 sleeper goby
1 small clown
red & blue hermits
peppermints
2 mithrix crabs
1 coral banded shrimp
1 sally lightfoot
1 sea hare (MIA)
snails

replaced all bulbs (Jan)
replaced DSB (April1)
scrubbed rock (April 1)
replaced all RO/DI filters (Dec)
cleaned skimmer (April 1)
replaced old power heads with a Koralina 2 & 3 (April 1)
added Phosban reactor (using PURA complete now) (April 1)
rinse food in RO water before feeding (Feed lightly once a day)
change 10 gal every week
added Tech M to raise mag
added calerpa
cut down light time to 5 hours
dosing with kalk
I use B Ionic
Waiting for my order of Rowaphos to arrive which I plan to try in the reactor next.

salinity 1.025
ph 8.03
Phos reads 0
CA 400
Nitrates read 0
dkh 10

temp 75-78

The HA now only grows on the rock where it is rooted. It doesn't spread but continues to grow where it is. It is no longer on the glass or anywhere else except the rock. (before it was everywhere)

I know the phosphates must be in the rock from the old sand bed and will take time to be removed but each day I hope for less HA and it doesn't seem to be dying off.

Am I missing something? Suggestions please!

 

[Packersfan21]

How any powerheads?
How long are the lights on each day?

A pincushion urchin as wellas some snails might help. Also, i don't reccomend calupera in the DT because it can quickly spread and take over.

 

[Packersfan21]

Oops didn't see that tank lights are on for 5 hours and you that you already had snails. Did you slowly decrease the light time or decreaseit to 5 hours all at once?

 

[downhillbiker]

you are right about the phosphates. you cant just hope for the HA to go away. you have to start taking out the phosphates. GFO, granular ferric oxide will do the trick. you can use this in a phosban reactor or in a canister filter or overflow in a sock.

 

[Lenny718]

From what you posted it looks like your doing everything right, Have you thought about taking out the rocks with the HA and replacing them?

 

[widmer]

As far as a DSB is concerned, newer isn't better. I'm not sure what it was like before, but I'd probably be surprised if replacing your DSB was a good idea.

 

[seapug]

Give it time. The Phosban took about 8 weeks and one media change at 4 weeks to kill off the algae in my tank, but once it started it was all gone in about 5 days.

 

[Jane]

Packersfan 21 - yes I decreased the lighting gradually.

Downhillbiker - Ya the reactor is great but I am hoping the Rowaphos works better than the PURA Complete GFO. I read it works better at drawing it out of the rock work.

Lenny 718 - Yes I've thought about replacing the rock but...that would have to be the entire reef ! If nothing else works I will. But...it is practically the only thing I haven't replaced so far.

Widmer - The DSB was 7 years old and saturated with detrius. It was strongly recommended by others to do it before my tank crashed. That I know was not a mistake. The new bed is nitrfying and I made sure the new oolitic sand was seeded with a bit of my old sandbed. I have plenty of life in the new bed already. My corals have really perked up since I've done all of this and the water clarity and parameters have really improved. It really was exhausted and needed to be changed. I saw it coming and should have done it sooner and may have not gotten the HA problem.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Seapug is right, it will take some more time before you notice the HA going away after adding your phos reactor. But, you are on the right track. Now all you can do is keep doing what you are doing, and let time take care of this.

 

[Jane]

Seapug - That makes me feel better! I guess I am looking for results too quickly. There is an improvement but I just am hoping to finally get rid of the darn stuff so I can start replacing corals that I lost. Sounds like I am about half way there. When the Rowaphos arrives I will run that. (I have changed it out once already. ) I will hang in there.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Also Jane, I don't know if your HA is just on the rocks or on some of the glass too, but you should notice it die back from the glass first. Odds are there is going to be some phosphates leaching out of the rocks for a bit, that will fuel the HA. Making sure that you turkey bast your rocks before each WC is a good idea.

 

[Jane]

Thanks Toddrtrex - It has been a long time fighting this stuff. Before I changed out the DSB it was growing full force and I was hand removing every day only to have it grow longer and greener. At least now it seems to be frozen at a stand still so I will wait for it to go the other way and be gone.

 

[SkyPapa]

How much GFO do you guys put in your reactor?
I have a TLF and have been using about 150grams.
That is about 1/4 of the chamber.
Can I put more in?

 

[Toddrtrex]

I have never weighed how much I put in each reactor, but I would say I put in about 2 inches worth, for my 29 and 58. For my 75 I put about 3" in -- that tank has a higher bio-load, and I feed that one heavier.

 

[Jane]

ecr111 - I have the same reactor and 150 grms is how much I use when using pure GFO. The Pura Complete I am using right now - I use more. The reactor is half full but this product has carbon mixed in with GFO as well as silicant remover etc. I have just ordered Rowa brand and really want to try the Rowaphos to see if it works better. Some test results I was reading claim it is stronger - we'll see what happens.

 

[seapug]

I tried RowaPhos for a while in my reactor but actually found myself having to clean the glass more often than I did using TLF PhosBan so I switched back. It was surprising to me considering it's supposed to be a higher quality product.

 

[SkyPapa]

I didn't weigh either, the TLF Phosban came in a 150g jar and I put it all in.
It's about a month old.
I just today received 2 lbs. of the pellet GFO from bulk reef supply and I'm going to put it in this weekend.
I think I'll add a little more this time.
I run carbon in a magnum canister that feeds my RDSB.