I'm loosing the algae battle. PIC

[Crackerballer]

What about modifying an AC110 into a fuge and throwing chaeto in there to out compete the algea? Leave main tank lights off for 3 days and run a lamp on the chaeto. That and some water changes should help big time. A moddified ac110 or ac70 could be done for less than $50, and you could remove it after the problem is solved if you wanted.

 

[clickrs]

Okay, I've heard all the same replies (fixes, tips, etc.) that you have received from everyone. I also have a 46 gal. tank added a refuguim and started to do alot of water changes, etc. Problem was not going away and I was getting very flustered by the whole thing. I was even ready to shut down the whole tank. But I got a sea hare (they are ugly and look like tards), but man did it work. Hair algae and seaweed are the only things they eat, so once the hair algae is gone, you need to get dried seaweed and put it in the tank every now and then. These things have huge appetites and I can't believe how fast one went thru all the hair algae in my tank. The only thing you have to be careful of is to cover all suction devices (skimmers, pumps, etc) with sponge like material (cause it will get sucked up in the intakes). I went to my local fish store and brought a large pack of a square filter type sponge, cut an x in the little pieces I cut off to cover the intakes and all was fine. Some people will tell you that the sea hare will ink your tank. I have not had that happen even when my first one got sucked into the skimmer pump. They are pretty cheap to get, I think Pets Plus around here sells em for $19.99.
Good luck.

Cindy

 

[zma21]

Here is personally what I would do.

-Take all of that rock out and scrub it to get the hair algea off
-Cut your feeding in half
-Put some phos-ban in your sump
-Cut your lighting period in half, but do this slowly (over a week or two's time)

 

[SanDiegoreefer]

Thanks again for all the replies. So far I've cut back the lighting, started feeding less, introduced 100 ml Rowa phos to my power filter (behind the filter in the supplied sock) and I bought 5 Turbos today.

I think that's about it for now. I'll keep a close eye on it and update any changes.

 

[SanDiegoreefer]

Oh,...and I just threw away the Biowheel.

 

[customcolor]

i am going through the same thing. what i was told to do since i only have mushrooms and some fish, is to scrub, 50%water change and shut the lights off for 1 month, skim all u can. the shrooms will survive. the fish i have i have had for a couple of years now so they are hardy too. i just got off the tap water kick and now putting in ro/di. i took out half of my rock 2 months ago and baked it and now waiting for the tank to look as good as that rock befor i slowly put it back in. i was bad on water changes and my tank is 5 years old with a deep sand bed so i think i have old tank syndrome. but that will and is getting fixed now cuz its all going in to a 125 in the next couple months. I HATE HAIR ALGAE !!!

 

[koralguy]

All the ideas posted here are great and most of the time they will work. Bryopsis can be stubborn so if these ideas don't work here's another idea that just resurfaced on another reef board. Apparently A. Calfo might have first pointed it out. Raising the Magnesium level to 1500-1600 for an extended period of time will kill bryopsis and not bother most other algaes or reef creatures. A few people have tried it recently and its working. You say your Mg is already 1500 but I'd get that double checked. Unless you are adding lots of Mg thats pretty hard to maintain. We can't post links to other boards but if anyone wants it PM me.

 

[Randall_James]

I think he advocates more of keeping the ph elevated above 8.4? I read that thread at MD a while back and it was pretty good

 

[Eldouble]

Herbivores!

Herbivores!

Just throw in 2 medium tangs and do some drastic water changes (50%) every week. The tangs will eat that up in a 2 or 3 weeks and keep it under control after that. You may, if you have the means, put all the other critters in a separate tank, and let the tangs and algae battle it out. Some of us pay good money to BUY algae to feed our tangs. Its all about letting nature take care of itself. And its much cheaper than buying 100 lbs of new rock.

 

[kuoka]

I'd start with fresh LR and I'd also buy from a more reputable store (even if you buy from the www). If your new rock starts to get algae, I'd take a tooth brush to it and add some cleaners (e.g. blue leg hermits, or a slug). These guys can help clean up while you get your water in order. Good luck.

 

[blu iz]

I did the water changes, added more turbo snails, borrowed an urchin from LFS and only had the lights come on for maybe 4 hrs a day. After a couple of weeks I added my foxface and he chowed down on what was left of it.
I have to admit it was pretty watching it flow in the current, but I don't miss it

 

[peterkay]

Here's what I would do:

- blackout for a couple of days.
- reduce feeding permanently
- When you perform water changes, give you LR the hurricane treatment (blow off your rocks with a powerhead get all depbris and uneaten food off)
If you want to get rid of all that hair algae, a sea hare will eat every last spec of it... and quickly too. The only problem is, if it is eating all that, it will be pooping all of it out as well.. your nutrients will spike. I agree with others that say your bioload is too big. You need to cut it down by a few fish, especially if you're going to add the sea hare. My LFS offerd to sell me one and then allow me to return it once it had done all the eating necessary. You should ask around and see if yours would do that as well.
A refugium is also an excellent plan.

i think A combo of all these and you should be fine.. Don't ditch your live rock. any new LR will just regrow the same stuff.

 

[koralguy]

Randall-James,

It was a different forum and definately Mg. Apparently at high levels it shuts some function of the algae down and it dies after 4-12 weeks.

 

[Randall_James]

There is a thread here on RC about it (high mg)... when asked on MD about it, Anthony stated he prefered raising the PH method. I had not seen the one where he advocated it. Not doubting that it has an effect, just never had the problem to start with is all.

 

[SanDiegoreefer]

Looks like I'm starting to see some results from the measures I'm taking. Last evening I started blowing on the rock with a turkey baster and a lot of the algae started coming off. When it did, I netted it. Also, the Turbos are a eating a good amount. Hopefully this trend will continue. I'll take pics if the results become more obvious.

 

[jeeperrs]

Just to give an example on the amount of food, I only feed about 1/4 - 1/2 of a cube everyday to my tank and that is for 2 clowns, 1 royal gramma, 1 two spot hog fish, and 1 dragon goby. I will also put a little cyclopeeze in there in the mornings for the corals but my fish eat it up too. When I say I put a little bit I mean about a pea size amount of cyclopeeze and that will feed my tank for 2 or 3 times. Oh, my tank is a 75 gal btw

 

[Serioussnaps]

Rather than beating yourself in the head over and over..I would A) cook the rock and start over or B)chunk it all in the trash, drain the tank and start over

 

[pbukow]

What would everyone think about adding a sand-sifting starfish to help eat up some of the nutrients in the sand-bed. Would they be considered a large/unnessecary bio-load at the moment? The reason i ask is i myself have a hair algae problem that is mostly in on my sand?

Sorry to just jump in the middle btw

 

[Randall_James]

IMO Starfish will ultimately do more damage than good (they eat the beneficial organisms in the sand bed)

 

[addicted2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10083330#post10083330 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Crosby
addicted2

What type of algae are those green circles on the back glass of your aquarium?

ya know..I am not quite sure..when I scrape a little of it , it has the same feeling as coraline algae..so I am assuming it is a type of coraline..they say coraline can be different colors. anyone else have any ideas??