Eric G's 180 Build - The plight of the hair algae.
- Thread starter EricGRIT
- Start date
Big (well, important at least) update!
Hair algae is now 100% gone from the DT. After months and months (really, years if we go back to the beginning) of trying to figure out the source of the problem I finally gave up on that and went a new route. I still do my best to manage phosphates, do regular water changes, etc. but I'm not chasing numbers and scrubbing my rocks any more.
The solution was adding some fish that were most-likely to eat filamentous algae. I also removed the "3d" rock wall but I went a couple months post-removal before adding these fish and the hair algae did not subside. Listed in order of most impact to least:
1. Foxface Rabbitfish - by far the most hungry for the hair algae.
2. Sailfin Tang
3. Kole Tang
The Foxface simply devoured the vast majority of the algae in the tank. In QT a few months back I started feeding them with chunks of HA to see if they had a taste for it. The Foxface would eat pieces right out of the water column. As soon as I put the fish into the DT I saw noticeable improvements daily. Probably ~3-4 weeks total before I would say it was 95% gone and two months in I can't find a single strand in the DT.
Corals are looking great, actually repairing themselves from being choked by the HA before. Pics to come pretty soon, but I'm working on the house more and my two Jebao WP40 pumps died on me within 2 weeks of each other. I'm expecting an MP40wqd on Wednesday and I'll get a 2nd soon after. Exciting times in this reef!
Hair algae is now 100% gone from the DT. After months and months (really, years if we go back to the beginning) of trying to figure out the source of the problem I finally gave up on that and went a new route. I still do my best to manage phosphates, do regular water changes, etc. but I'm not chasing numbers and scrubbing my rocks any more.
The solution was adding some fish that were most-likely to eat filamentous algae. I also removed the "3d" rock wall but I went a couple months post-removal before adding these fish and the hair algae did not subside. Listed in order of most impact to least:
1. Foxface Rabbitfish - by far the most hungry for the hair algae.
2. Sailfin Tang
3. Kole Tang
The Foxface simply devoured the vast majority of the algae in the tank. In QT a few months back I started feeding them with chunks of HA to see if they had a taste for it. The Foxface would eat pieces right out of the water column. As soon as I put the fish into the DT I saw noticeable improvements daily. Probably ~3-4 weeks total before I would say it was 95% gone and two months in I can't find a single strand in the DT.
Corals are looking great, actually repairing themselves from being choked by the HA before. Pics to come pretty soon, but I'm working on the house more and my two Jebao WP40 pumps died on me within 2 weeks of each other. I'm expecting an MP40wqd on Wednesday and I'll get a 2nd soon after. Exciting times in this reef!
After almost three years out of the game (kinda) I'm back! I've had a lot happen since my last post and while all the hair algae is dead, so are all the corals. Without the algae in the tank I went for ~9-12 months of amazing growth, perfect levels w/automated dosing, etc. Couldn't believe how great things were going in the tank with minimal effort.
Video from Aug. 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZqLYgA2tyY
Video from Oct. 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGt2ZaibkcQ
Pics from Dec 2015:
The tank is still running and all the fish are still alive but I've lost all coral and things are pretty ugly in there as I've only done one water change in the past year. About two years ago my Apex main unit burned up, most likely due to high moisture content in the fish tank room. As I've had many, many things taking up my time I didn't purchase a replacement unit and left the tank to go manually since then.
So, that happened and then my wife had our first baby Aug. 2017. Next one is coming in March and the first is now enjoying the fish swimming around the tank, albeit an ugly tank. Rather than tear the thing down, which was the original plan, I'm cleaning it up and this will be a journal of rejuvenation!
Video from Aug. 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZqLYgA2tyY
Video from Oct. 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGt2ZaibkcQ
Pics from Dec 2015:
The tank is still running and all the fish are still alive but I've lost all coral and things are pretty ugly in there as I've only done one water change in the past year. About two years ago my Apex main unit burned up, most likely due to high moisture content in the fish tank room. As I've had many, many things taking up my time I didn't purchase a replacement unit and left the tank to go manually since then.
So, that happened and then my wife had our first baby Aug. 2017. Next one is coming in March and the first is now enjoying the fish swimming around the tank, albeit an ugly tank. Rather than tear the thing down, which was the original plan, I'm cleaning it up and this will be a journal of rejuvenation!
No dosing, 2 or 3 water changes in the past couple years, no skimmer running for the past year due to lack of ATO and that's where we are now. Green algae covering the glass, which for a while was absolutely covered in coraline but without alk/cal/mg that turned white and went away as did the corals.
All things considered the tank didn't look as bad as I'd expect from a description like this, but still real bad. Pics....
After just a little scraping of the glass, replacing a couple bulbs, 15 mins of removing old dead coral - here's where we stand tonight:
Next Steps -
First things first, ordered a replacement Apex base unit and that will be here next week. Going to get a bunch of water changes done, clean out every nook and cranny then slowly work back towards dosing and getting parameters in check before adding any coral.
Also will be moving all water out of the sump room and under the tank as we now need room for actual pantry space rather than equipment
Finally, replacing that drywall tank stand. This was the first real project I did at our house and many, many, MANY projects later this is one of the less-great looking things in the house Funny how time and experience make you see things differently. Will be removing the "lip" of sorts which makes the footprint bigger than the tank itself and going with grey wood planks to match the house more closely. Then this fish tank room is turning into the kids' play room so they will have a nice view.
Excited to get back into it and my ears are open to any new tech in the hobby!
All things considered the tank didn't look as bad as I'd expect from a description like this, but still real bad. Pics....
After just a little scraping of the glass, replacing a couple bulbs, 15 mins of removing old dead coral - here's where we stand tonight:
Next Steps -
First things first, ordered a replacement Apex base unit and that will be here next week. Going to get a bunch of water changes done, clean out every nook and cranny then slowly work back towards dosing and getting parameters in check before adding any coral.
Also will be moving all water out of the sump room and under the tank as we now need room for actual pantry space rather than equipment
Finally, replacing that drywall tank stand. This was the first real project I did at our house and many, many, MANY projects later this is one of the less-great looking things in the house
Funny how time and experience make you see things differently. Will be removing the "lip" of sorts which makes the footprint bigger than the tank itself and going with grey wood planks to match the house more closely. Then this fish tank room is turning into the kids' play room so they will have a nice view.Excited to get back into it and my ears are open to any new tech in the hobby!
