tprize
New member
So about 6 months ago, I started my battle with Hair Algae. I beat it, and wanted to share my story. The first sign of the algae was pretty minimal, I figured that my cleanup crew would take care of it.
Truth be told, I was moving soon, and had cut down on maintenance. So about a month after the move, the tank looked like this.
I was a little frustrated, so I tried the method everyone had talked about, raising my MAG with tech M. After about another month, it looked like this.
I was incredibly frustrated. Everyone talked about how it just melts off, and mine was growing!. I kept up the MAG level thinking maybe, it just takes time"¦ nope.
After reaching out to RC, and my local forum INDMAS, I decided to do a shotgun approach of all the advice.
Here is the list of things I did to fix the tank, it took about 2 months to win.
1. I purchased a new cleanup crew including hermits, and a emerald crab.
2. I used Phophate Rx.
3. I manually removed as much as I could.
4. I got a much better media reactor, and started running 50% more Phosguard.
5. I did weekly water changes.
6. I used prodibio bioclean
7. I changed my sandbed. (The old sand trapped to much food.)
This gave me multiple tools to remove the algea.
1. Physical: Hand removing, cleanup crew, lack of stagnant food.
2. Chemical: Phosphate Rx, Phosguard.
3. Biological: Prodibio, Water changes.
Here it is today, and I am glad I did not quit reefing because of this, because the tank is beautiful.
Truth be told, I was moving soon, and had cut down on maintenance. So about a month after the move, the tank looked like this.
I was a little frustrated, so I tried the method everyone had talked about, raising my MAG with tech M. After about another month, it looked like this.
I was incredibly frustrated. Everyone talked about how it just melts off, and mine was growing!. I kept up the MAG level thinking maybe, it just takes time"¦ nope.
After reaching out to RC, and my local forum INDMAS, I decided to do a shotgun approach of all the advice.
Here is the list of things I did to fix the tank, it took about 2 months to win.
1. I purchased a new cleanup crew including hermits, and a emerald crab.
2. I used Phophate Rx.
3. I manually removed as much as I could.
4. I got a much better media reactor, and started running 50% more Phosguard.
5. I did weekly water changes.
6. I used prodibio bioclean
7. I changed my sandbed. (The old sand trapped to much food.)
This gave me multiple tools to remove the algea.
1. Physical: Hand removing, cleanup crew, lack of stagnant food.
2. Chemical: Phosphate Rx, Phosguard.
3. Biological: Prodibio, Water changes.
Here it is today, and I am glad I did not quit reefing because of this, because the tank is beautiful.