just about out of patience (long)

[lvpd186]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9775197#post9775197 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by drstupid
i'd sort of suspect your skimmer isn't pulling its load. when's the last time you thoroughly cleaned it and/or the pump feeding it?

i don't know much about red sea skimmers, i'm assuming you're running sumpless and this is a hang-on? an upgrade here may be the best way to spend your money. i ran an aqua-c remora on my old tank for years, that's a hang-on skimmer, inexpensive, and it did a great job pulling the gunk out.

I agree, my suspicion is that the hair algae is thriving because of high nutrients. With so much hair algae I would also suspect that it is using up allot of the nutrients so your water tests are not coming back as high as they probably are. Unfortunately I also don't know too much about the red sea skimmers so I don't know if they are very good and if they can keep up with the bio-load of a 100g tank. I would consider running a phosphate reactor and running your skimmer wet (as well as some of the other suggestions). Maybe even upgrading your skimmer of adding a second one. Once your water quality improves I would guess that you will start seeing more coraline algae growth. Good luck.

 

[davidryder]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9778135#post9778135 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by abcsnana
I was having the same problem. Once I got my fuge up and going with LOTS of macroalgae and doing all the things you have been doing, plus shutting down the lights for shorter times and not having the MH on for 3 days at a time, I finally have gotten the hair algae under control. I now have 2 engineer gobies - they keep the sand so well stirred and cleaned, there can't possibly be any food left over. I have gotten 2 queen conch, 2 sand stirring stars, sally lightfoot crab, as well as several red leg and blue leg crabs.

Keep going. Add as many different kinds of macroalgae as you can get your hands on.

Good luck. J

Watch those queen conchs... they get enormous (~12") If they start getting too large fighting conchs make a good addition to smaller tanks (~4")... conchs in general like to move around rockwork!! Conchs are AWESOME additions for stirring up the sand, though... they constantly burrow their entire bodies in various parts of the sand...

<a href="http://www.phpstory.net/albums"><img src="http://www.phpstory.net/albums/aquarium/album/slides/041907fighting_conch.jpg"></a>

 

[davidryder]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9778181#post9778181 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lvpd186
I agree, my suspicion is that the hair algae is thriving because of high nutrients. With so much hair algae I would also suspect that it is using up allot of the nutrients so your water tests are not coming back as high as they probably are. Unfortunately I also don't know too much about the red sea skimmers so I don't know if they are very good and if they can keep up with the bio-load of a 100g tank. I would consider running a phosphate reactor and running your skimmer wet (as well as some of the other suggestions). Maybe even upgrading your skimmer of adding a second one. Once your water quality improves I would guess that you will start seeing more coraline algae growth. Good luck.

I don't use a skimmer

 

[drstupid]

i'd consider not patronizing the store that led you down this path for a while. they're just waiting for you to walk in the door and say "the guys on RC said i need an RO/DI unit, 14K bulbs, a new skimmer, refugium, phosban reactor, three queen conches and a herd of lawnmower blennies". why reward them for helping you build a pit full of hair algae? they've had years to guide you straight, and have not.

you're in dallas; marc levenson lives in ft. worth, check out his thread (it's split like twenty times):

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=9775204#post9775204

i think you'll find he's a good thinker with a great tank and very willing to share advice. it sounds like they've got a great reef club together there, too. you've got some local resources you can tap that will lead you down the yellow brick road...