Crush Coral
New member
Scrubbed is made by Rubbermaid. and the filter sucks the algae out. hate typing on my phone.
Kill Method Needed (algae)
- Thread starter ostrow
- Start date
MrSandman
Team RC
I had a bad case of hair algae less than a year ago and I blacked out my tank for 3 days by taping black trash bags on all sides. Afterwards the rocks were spotless. You mentioned that you blacked out but how did you do it? Did you just turn off the lights? Or did you cover the tank completely to prevent even ambient light from coming in?
ostrow
It's Dr. Goodluck Himself
3 days???? And it was all gone??? And hasn't come back??? Seems hard to believe! I have not done that with the blackout. I will try.
But it looks like my only hope is a re-start.
MrSandman
Team RC
Maybe it was a different strain or algae but I had it bad.
See this post: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=22796931
Before you restart I would at least give this a try. I was completely amazed with the results.
See this post: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=22796931
Before you restart I would at least give this a try. I was completely amazed with the results.
Patrick Cox
Active member
Hi,
Did you try the blackout?
Did you try the blackout?
Patrick Cox
Active member
Sorry to hear that. I am battling GHA myself. I've been running GFO and I started dosing Prodibio BioDigest and Bioptim to increase bacteria and hopefully reduce nutrients. I started this treatment about 5 weeks ago. I also permanently removed some of the rocks that were more affected than others. Some of the algae is losing color and looks weak so I am hopeful I am at least keeping it from spreading. The result is to be determined. Good luck!
asylumdown
New member
This thread gave me the shivers. I'm of the distinct opinion that sometimes our 'rule of thumb' advice for certain problem organisms miss the mark entirely because our 'rules of thumb' group said organisms into entirely meaningless catch-all categories like "hair algae". If you're dealing with a particularly pernicious flavour of an uncommon species of "hair algae", none of the things we recommend may work. The thing that controls this algae in nature might be some random species of some random fish/invertebrates that have never entered the hobby, and you may very well be dealing with the marine equivalent of Canada Thistle or some other noxious weed.
If you truly want this to be gone from your reefing life once and for all, and you've really tried everything everyone else has suggested, I don't see what options you have other than a complete scorched earth approach. Half measures like cleaning a few of your rocks at a time are just going to be a huge amount of time and effort for a temporary reprieve as this stuff will just re-colonize them if they go back in the infected system.Anything you can't frag off to living tissue-only will have the be considered forfeit, and you'll need to bleach your rocks, drain, bleach and dry the tank and all equipment that have ever touched the water, and start again.
If you soak your rocks in bleach for a few days, then dip them in HCL, there's pretty much zero chance any spores will survive, so I think the rocks themselves are salvageable, but to truly be rid of it you need a clean and total break.
If you truly want this to be gone from your reefing life once and for all, and you've really tried everything everyone else has suggested, I don't see what options you have other than a complete scorched earth approach. Half measures like cleaning a few of your rocks at a time are just going to be a huge amount of time and effort for a temporary reprieve as this stuff will just re-colonize them if they go back in the infected system.Anything you can't frag off to living tissue-only will have the be considered forfeit, and you'll need to bleach your rocks, drain, bleach and dry the tank and all equipment that have ever touched the water, and start again.
If you soak your rocks in bleach for a few days, then dip them in HCL, there's pretty much zero chance any spores will survive, so I think the rocks themselves are salvageable, but to truly be rid of it you need a clean and total break.
ostrow
It's Dr. Goodluck Himself
Not opinion! Fact!
And why 90% of the threads I started on this deviate from the question!
Even blackout for 10 days, after quadrouple dosing AlgaeFix, after every other method, and the crap could not possibly be happier.
Yeah. Sigh. I just wanted a way to put fish in fuge, nuke system, return fish, nuke fuge, and move on.
Seems not possible.
Still trying to schematic how to do this. I don't have a second 100+ system to hold fish or cure rock.
Today, removed the coral from the right third. Was all dead anyway. Removed one big rock. Will do same in middle and left.
Then need to decide how to do this. I am not sure drain and dry needed. Once fish out, why not run bleach through the system then dechlorinate well? Then re-cure rock in the tank a month or two after the bleach/acid treatment on them? I would replace all sand but not clear why the drain and dry needed if I bleach the system.
asylumdown
New member
yah the logistics are frightening. After 14 months what other way around it is there though? Send your fish to live with a friend for a while?
If you could put them in the sump and nuke the display, then reverse, it would probably work, it just depends on how big your sump is relative to your fish. I've considered doing something similar for different reasons (mostly to cut out my internal overflows and re-scape) but a few of my larger fish would have to find new homes for at least a little bit.
I've always said that spotless water parameters aside, sometimes coming down with a problem algae is no more complicated than your tank having been exposed to a problem algae. When someone comes to the forums dealing with aiptaisia, we don't tell them there's something wrong with their water...
If you could put them in the sump and nuke the display, then reverse, it would probably work, it just depends on how big your sump is relative to your fish. I've considered doing something similar for different reasons (mostly to cut out my internal overflows and re-scape) but a few of my larger fish would have to find new homes for at least a little bit.
I've always said that spotless water parameters aside, sometimes coming down with a problem algae is no more complicated than your tank having been exposed to a problem algae. When someone comes to the forums dealing with aiptaisia, we don't tell them there's something wrong with their water...
asylumdown
New member
you mean run bleach through the tank emptied of rock? yah that would probably work just as well. You'll need a lot of bleach, and you'll want to ventilate the room reeeeeeal well. I'd still want to acid treat the rocks elsewhere, if that's a step you'd take.
CStrickland
New member
Have you considered the peroxide?
I haven't needed it *knocks wood* but it seems to have the benefit of keeping some of the biofilter alive. I'm sure you've seen the threads where nothing else worked and h2o2 did the trick. Might be worth a shot before you nuke the thing. Not much to lose.
I haven't needed it *knocks wood* but it seems to have the benefit of keeping some of the biofilter alive. I'm sure you've seen the threads where nothing else worked and h2o2 did the trick. Might be worth a shot before you nuke the thing. Not much to lose.
