API Algaecide

[The Saltwater Kid]

Has anyone tried this stuff? I saw it in Pets Mart the other day and it says it gets rid of all sorts of nuisance algae from green hair to red slime (cyano) and that it's reef-safe and won't harm any corals, inverts or fish.

 

[spleify]

I don't know if this is the same stuff, but there is a discussion in the Reef Chemistry forum about something like this.
HTH

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1595003

 

[THE ROOK]

AlgaeFix Marine worked very well on my tank. I made alot of changes but this definitely helped. I plan on dosing once a week to help keep tank under control.

 

[catfisher]

Why not just solve the source of the problem? i.e. lower phosphates with a phos reactor, water changes...

 

[The Saltwater Kid]

I do weekly 20% water changes and my phosphates are "0" so I don't know what could be wrong. I believe my algae is Bryopsis as it's tall, stringy and fern-like. Taking my rockwork apart and scrubbing the rocks is not an option as i assembled it using acrylic rods, black zip ties and epoxy and there's no way in heck that I'm tearing that apart!

 

[iFisch]

That's because some of the algae can consume the phosphates/'trates, thus it shows as "0".

When in reality, you have an algae problem.



The API stuff works great. Many, MANY users of this stuff. And most of them are successful with it.

 

[THE ROOK]

I made several changes & I think got a handle on my algae issues.

-Only feed frozen food (strained & rinsed)
-Cut MH lighting to 4 hours
-Vodka Dosing
-Purchased a decent skimmer
-3 days no light period
-New Bulbs
-Dosed AlgaeFix

Don't believe there is a simple cure. Better tank management is required, IMO.

 

[The Saltwater Kid]

The thing is I'm really in a catch 22...all of my corals (a lot of SPS) are growing great with awesome coloration so I really hate to mess that up by reducing the photo period and reducing feeding too much...I wish there were some happy medium to find . The bulb is relatively new (couple months old) and the skimmer is a nice one for a nano tank.

 

[1DeR9_3Hy]

If your corals have good color and they grow great why mess with it? An algae free reef is literally un-natural

 

[evsalty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15068442#post15068442 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by catfisher
Why not just solve the source of the problem? i.e. lower phosphates with a phos reactor, water changes...

Fixing the source of the problem is still neccessary but algae such as hair and others types of branching algaes can thrive off of the nutrients that they already contain inside them. I used the Algaefix Marine when I got red slime and it killed it and it never returned. I did fix the source of the origional problem as well which is why I do not need to use the product on a weekly basis. I truely believe in this stuff.

FYI though it does nothing to hair algae nor does it claim to on the bottle or API's website.