Like many here, I've been battling hair algae after taking over a tank from an office that was closing down. I think I'll be able to beat this without completely breaking down the system and cooking the rock and have instituted the usual protocol:
1) reduce nutrient import
2) install an RO/DI water maker to insure quality water
3) bi-weekly water changes, 15% and 25% respectively
4) Run Activated Carbon
5) Install a GFO reactor and change media frequently
6) Added a filter sock to the return line
7) Upgraded skimmer (to be fair the old one was essentially useless)
8) stock up on clean up crew
9) manual removal
For manual removal, I've removed what rocks I can from the DT to scrub them in a bucket. However, I don't want to remove all the rock because of an anemone that I have in the tank, and I'm also quite fond of the aquascaping, although that could be reproduced I suppose.
So for manual removal I have done the standard things, plucking it out, siphoning it out and brushing. When I brush I usually use either a toothbrush or another brush wiretied to a length of hose so that I can scrub and suck at the same time. While the old scrub and suck is indeed pleasurable, it is less than effective and getting all the detritus that winds up in the water column after brushing, even if I brush carefully.
In this thread:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1752032
Old Salty built a pretty cool water filtration pump and I thought I would give it a go. It was worth it! So, for all of you trying to combat hair algae along with me, and with all do credit to Old Salty Dog, I give you the Old Salty Dog Vacu-Suck device.
First I assembled the components, a Mag7 pump, a half inch barb elbow, and three quarter inch barb elbow, a bottle of tonic water, a large filter sock, some Rite-Size bonded filter pad, scissors and some teflon tape:
First, connect the half inch elbow to the exhaust port on the mag 7 (use the teflon tape at all connections):
Next attache the 3/4 elbow to the intake:
The next step is to empty the tonic bottle and clean it out. I did this the night before using the standard two-part dosing system of equal parts tonic water and Gin. Once the bottle has been cleaned out, cut off the top portion of the bottle:
Then cut a section of the large felt filter sock to be used as the secondary filter. Place this into the bottle top and secure it with a rubber band. Add some teflon tape to the 3/4 inch barb and place the bottle top on it so that it fits snugly:
I then cut a few pieces of the bonded filter pad so that they could be placed into the bottle top and act as a primary filter. I made more than one so that they could be changed out easily while the unit was running:
This whole unit gets placed in the DT:
Once the unit is in place, turn off all the other system pumps so that all water will flow into the filtered intake. Now start brushing and blowing, brushing and blowing, blowing and brushing, brushing and blowing.
I still brush with a siphon hose going into a filter sock and that helps with the big pieces, the detritus that enters the water column is what we're trying to get with the OSVS. I do small portions at a time, alternating between brushing the section clean, and then using a powerhead to blow off any detritus that remains. This takes time, you have to go over each section multiple time.
After cleaning off a section, you have to wait a while while the OSVS does it's thing. I recommend a little Sopressata and some Provolone:
As you are doing this, you will have to clean the filters. The primary filter needs to be changed out fairly frequently as it collects most of the big stuff:
You will also have to clean the filter sock out a few times as this catches the finer stuff:
I continued to do this over the course of about three hours. By then detritus was no longer coming off the rock and the filter sock was no longer turning brown (I had removed the blue filter pad the last time). After this was done I removed the unit and did a full system clean and performed a 25% water change. There's still some dry brown hair algae hanging onto some of the rock work that I missed or wasn't aggressive enough in getting, but that is always the case. The important part is after each cleaning there is less and less.
I think I've finally turned the corner with my algae problem and am starting to see a reduction in growth. I credit the GFO reactor and good cleaning for much of it. I think anyone who is trying to manually remove algae by scrubbing their rockwork while it is in the tank, could benefit from using one of these filter devices. I have an old mechanical filter that I will probably plumb into the system (along with a UV filter) but for fast detritus collection this can't be beat.
1) reduce nutrient import
2) install an RO/DI water maker to insure quality water
3) bi-weekly water changes, 15% and 25% respectively
4) Run Activated Carbon
5) Install a GFO reactor and change media frequently
6) Added a filter sock to the return line
7) Upgraded skimmer (to be fair the old one was essentially useless)
8) stock up on clean up crew
9) manual removal
For manual removal, I've removed what rocks I can from the DT to scrub them in a bucket. However, I don't want to remove all the rock because of an anemone that I have in the tank, and I'm also quite fond of the aquascaping, although that could be reproduced I suppose.
So for manual removal I have done the standard things, plucking it out, siphoning it out and brushing. When I brush I usually use either a toothbrush or another brush wiretied to a length of hose so that I can scrub and suck at the same time. While the old scrub and suck is indeed pleasurable, it is less than effective and getting all the detritus that winds up in the water column after brushing, even if I brush carefully.
In this thread:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1752032
Old Salty built a pretty cool water filtration pump and I thought I would give it a go. It was worth it! So, for all of you trying to combat hair algae along with me, and with all do credit to Old Salty Dog, I give you the Old Salty Dog Vacu-Suck device.
First I assembled the components, a Mag7 pump, a half inch barb elbow, and three quarter inch barb elbow, a bottle of tonic water, a large filter sock, some Rite-Size bonded filter pad, scissors and some teflon tape:
First, connect the half inch elbow to the exhaust port on the mag 7 (use the teflon tape at all connections):
Next attache the 3/4 elbow to the intake:
The next step is to empty the tonic bottle and clean it out. I did this the night before using the standard two-part dosing system of equal parts tonic water and Gin. Once the bottle has been cleaned out, cut off the top portion of the bottle:
Then cut a section of the large felt filter sock to be used as the secondary filter. Place this into the bottle top and secure it with a rubber band. Add some teflon tape to the 3/4 inch barb and place the bottle top on it so that it fits snugly:
I then cut a few pieces of the bonded filter pad so that they could be placed into the bottle top and act as a primary filter. I made more than one so that they could be changed out easily while the unit was running:
This whole unit gets placed in the DT:
Once the unit is in place, turn off all the other system pumps so that all water will flow into the filtered intake. Now start brushing and blowing, brushing and blowing, blowing and brushing, brushing and blowing.
I still brush with a siphon hose going into a filter sock and that helps with the big pieces, the detritus that enters the water column is what we're trying to get with the OSVS. I do small portions at a time, alternating between brushing the section clean, and then using a powerhead to blow off any detritus that remains. This takes time, you have to go over each section multiple time.
After cleaning off a section, you have to wait a while while the OSVS does it's thing. I recommend a little Sopressata and some Provolone:
As you are doing this, you will have to clean the filters. The primary filter needs to be changed out fairly frequently as it collects most of the big stuff:
You will also have to clean the filter sock out a few times as this catches the finer stuff:
I continued to do this over the course of about three hours. By then detritus was no longer coming off the rock and the filter sock was no longer turning brown (I had removed the blue filter pad the last time). After this was done I removed the unit and did a full system clean and performed a 25% water change. There's still some dry brown hair algae hanging onto some of the rock work that I missed or wasn't aggressive enough in getting, but that is always the case. The important part is after each cleaning there is less and less.
I think I've finally turned the corner with my algae problem and am starting to see a reduction in growth. I credit the GFO reactor and good cleaning for much of it. I think anyone who is trying to manually remove algae by scrubbing their rockwork while it is in the tank, could benefit from using one of these filter devices. I have an old mechanical filter that I will probably plumb into the system (along with a UV filter) but for fast detritus collection this can't be beat.
