Long Term Project- Hair Algae Reduction Pics

[JasonF]

Since I am trying some various natural methods of hair algae reduction I thought I would post some periodic pictures to show how it's going.

Some pics of the tank currently

And before the tang police check in the blue spot is there temporarily. They are the only thing I have found that will eat a particular type of grape caulerpa that grows periodically in my tank. I fatten up the little ones and take them back to the store for credit.

A few closeups of livestock

Note the hair algae on them

Now onto the solutions. The first is turbo snails. They seem to be doing the job in whatever area they graze in but getting them where I want has been an issue. They either stay on the glass or in non visible parts of the tank. Here is a section they have cleared. They have knocked over some stuff but not bad.

Next solution is a pincushion urchin. I decided to try one despite the damage they can do to coraline and general mayhem. They are quite able to get rid of the hair algae though.

Last solution was a sea hare but this one isn't doing much. He is rather small and not staying on the rocks much. I find him on the glass when I see him at all. I suspect I will have better luck as he grows bigger. No pics currently.

I'll update as things go along. Before anyone asks I use RODI water and keep up with my changes on filters. Tank parameters are fine I just get a hair outbreak ever 18 months or so but this one is worse than normal so I'm trying new things.

 

[JimmyS]

I have an urchin that I purchased for algea removal. I have not had any issues with coral damage or seen my coralline decline in great quantities. However, you can see its "tracks" on the rocks every so often.

It has also done a great job on some turf type algea that nothing else would touch.

 

[Dtking]

I know i am new at all of this, and i only have a nano tank, but my snails have been doing the job so far, i dont have alot of hair algea, but so far so good, but again i have only had my tank for 6 weeks, i dont have a huge hair algea problem, and i am just now getting to my green phase, is there any other think i should do to prevent this?!

 

[brucoh]

Jason, what do you have for water movement besides your sump return? I don't see anything in those pictures. You need to get some powerheads in that tank. Get that water moving. That's a big part your problem right there. You really need to yank all that rock out and stick it in a pitch dark tub for 4-6 weeks doing a 100% water change in the tub every week to get rid of all that hair algae (otherwise known as "cooking" your rock). I had to resort to that myself after everything else failed and it works like a charm. My tank is better than ever. It's a major pain in the butt though but it was worth it for me. I just can't help but think that DSB is part of your problem too. How old is that sand?

 

[JasonF]

Sump return is the flow at about 600 gph on a sea swirl and I won't be adding any powerheads. The sand bed is about two years I think, but is only a little over an inch deep. It looks more since the goby keeps piling it all at the front of the tank. I've had that rock for five years now and I don't plan on cooking it and losing the life that has grown. The snails and urchin are doing the job for the moment. I'll post another pic or two next week as there is more progress to show.

The reality is my tank goes through multi year cycles that cause me to deal with different problems. This one was made worse since I fell behind on my bionic dosing and let the alkalinity and calcium drop. That has been taken care of and things are looking up. I started the thread so people could track my attempts at using natural methods of control. While I know rock cooking and insane flow rates work for some people, they don't fit in with my plans for the tank. The only thing I have considered is upping the sea swirl to a 3/4" so I can go to 3/4" tubing and push a bit more flow through it with a mag 9 instead of a mag 7.

Edit: I have also considered removing some sand simply because of the Goby. If he is going to try and burry everything at the front of the tank I might as well give him less ammunition to do it with.

 

[Gwalker]

That's a good looking angel you got there!

 

[JasonF]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7541118#post7541118 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gwalker
That's a good looking angel you got there!

Gary check PM

 

[Gwalker]

" check PM"

Ditto

 

[MyMonkey]

Trust me, more flow will not rid your tank of Hair Algae. Can't hurt though. Thanks for this thread. Can't wait to see what works.

 

[brucoh]

Trust me, more flow will not rid your tank of Hair Algae.

I didn't mean to imply that it would rid his tank of hair algae. It's just one thing that can help to keep it from growing out of control like that in the first place.

 

[kpk]

I believe that flow will help in keeping it at bay. It keeps the detritus lifted for the protein skimmer to do it's job. In my opinion I would take the rock out, get a hard bristle brush and scrub the crap out of it. Maybe even let it set in newly changed water for about a week or so. It may make it white, but alot cleaner. Also depending on flow get a couple low cost seios and plug em in. Also in my opinion barebottom is very nice and clean. Oh and do some large water changes every week for awhile.

Kyle

 

[MyMonkey]

I think the scrubbing is a good idea. (I have done it ) You must do all the rock at the same time it seems. Cooking likley will work even better. However, I can't imagine killing all the life on the rocks currently even to rid the HA. Might be just me though.

 

[Lazyreefer]

Take 1/4 of your rock and throw in out in the sun for 3 or 4 days. In 2 weeks do the next 1/4 etc etc. If you have nothing growing on your rock this is easy and natural (sunlight). There is no need to kill all your biological filtration at once. Also, you may trade 20lbs of live rock for 20lb of live rock in someone's sump.
I assume you use RO/DI water.
Also, I am trying out a Phos reactor with Rowa. I will let you know if it works.
Last, water movement is an easy inexpensive way to improve your tank (non-Tunze)



Doug

 

[captbunzo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7544010#post7544010 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kpk
I believe that flow will help in keeping it at bay. It keeps the detritus lifted for the protein skimmer to do it's job. In my opinion I would take the rock out, get a hard bristle brush and scrub the crap out of it. Maybe even let it set in newly changed water for about a week or so. It may make it white, but alot cleaner. Also depending on flow get a couple low cost seios and plug em in. Also in my opinion barebottom is very nice and clean. Oh and do some large water changes every week for awhile.

I agree with everything Kyle says except for the like of barebottom tanks.

Really, your flow really is crazy low. High is going to 40-60x flow per hour. Crazy high is somewhere above that. Your rate, about 10x per hour, is crazy low. If you keep things moving more, you will give your skimmer more opportunity to do it's job. And a single or pair of SEIO 620s is a GREAT way to accomplish your goal. They can be got online for $40 or so. That is probably a little high. I can't imagine having a Euroreef skimmer and not providing with appropriate crud by having at least decent flow in the tank.

And I can't stand the idea of cooking rocks. However, you do probably have a lot of detritus build up on/in the rocks. I would regularly do some major turkey basting of those rocks to try to get them cleaned as much as possible. Get that baster right up to the rocks and find as many places that you can spray into the rock, making crud jet out in strange places elsewhere on the rock.

And while your sand probably is loaded with crud, I wouldn't change it out. I (personally) would add another 1-2 inches of fine oolitic sand. That plus the higher flow will help the DSB do it's job better.

Anyhow, my 2 cents or so. Take it with a grain of salt. And enjoy! Thanks for posting pics and info about your progress...

 

[JasonF]

Guys no rocks will be removed, scrubbed or cooked from this tank. That just doesn't fit with the way I approach reefing. I also will not under any conditions be adding power heads to the tank. I have worked long and hard to get equipment out of the tank I will not be adding more. I may however increase the flow from the seaswirl. If you actually look at the tank and the corals in it, they get excellent variable current. You get that swaying back and forth that is natural and I get little to no detritus on the rocks. I do turkey baste the rocks on occasion, especially on the side opposite the seaswirl (the only place it doesn't blast). I would also wager my sand bed is cleaner than most. What the goby doesn't spread around or eat, the cucumber takes care of along with the breeding population of nassarius snails. One thing my sand bed is not is stagnant. Oh and I do use an RODI setup.

My solution to this problem has been and will remain to let nature take its course. The turbos, urchin, and sea hare will be the solution, along with some water changes. Like I said before this occurs about every 18 months or so and then things clear up. This one is just a little worse and I thought I would document my methods for anyone that was interested in choosing a more natural method for control. The livestock I keep does not live at the surface like a lot of the acros out there (the acros I do have are right up next to the seaswirl). They don't get blasted by constant wave action, they get gentle back and forth currents.

 

[kpk]

Cool JasonF I will be tagging along. Very interested to see how it turns out. I am like you and don't like equipment in the tank at all.

Just for everyone's information I didn't mean actually "cooking" the rock. It is a biological process by putting it in the dark and changing the water every week or so give the beneficial bacteria something other than fish crap, left overs etc. so it attacks the detritus in the rock and drives it out. I "cooked" mine for about 4 months everyweek changing all the water, dunking and swishing in the old water to get the loose detritus out. I was getting about a cup at least of crud a week for the first 2 weeks. At the end of "cook" down to just rock sloughing off. talk about coralline growth. After that the phosphates where low and the coralline really loves that. You don't actually kill the live rock. It is actually more alive with beneficial bacteria than straight out of the ocean and without all the crud...

Kyle

 

[JasonF]

Yeah when I first started the tank five years ago I did all kinds of scrubbing and low light periods to reduce algae but after the intitial outbreak I just haven't wanted to do anything majorly disruptive. I did know what cooking rock was I just don't want to do it . If I ever get the 120 I want going I'll have a closed loop along with the sump return for flow but I'm limited on the 58. I would rather the solution take months than do anything that will disrupt my tank.

I'll try and get another shot posted today of what the turbos and urchin have been doing. They have the front right of the tank fairly clear already.

Edit: Ok here is the right front of the tank.

You can see the brighter bare areas where they have been munching things down.

 

[captbunzo]

Just gotta ask. Why are you so anti-powerhead?

 

[JasonF]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7551792#post7551792 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by captbunzo
Just gotta ask. Why are you so anti-powerhead?

They're just this big ugly black thing hanging on the side of your tank. I do have one in the 37 since it just has a Eheim 1250 (317gph) as a return. When I started the 58 I had multiple maxijets and a hang on back skimmer taking up space. Then I added a CPR aquafuge and things got really crowded. After I got married and moved out of the apartment into a house, I added a sump and sea swirl. Made a huge difference and I ditched the aquafuge and maxijets. The tank never looked better.

I have really been happy with the flow patterns I get from the sea swirl and it has not even hiccuped in three years. If I do add more flow it will either be an additional or larger sea swirl. In addition to the ugliness of powerheads they are directional flow. I had some sort of rotating powerhead at one point but it kept dieing (a common problem with that unremembered model from what I read). I've also lost livestock to powerheads before.

Ultimately the biggest reason would be aesthetics, with secondary safety and directional flow issues.

 

[chem-e]

JasonF - I'm in the process of doing something similar as I have HA and I don't have any plans of cooking the LR. I think the only thing different in my approach is that I'm sucking out the HA weekly to try and keep things reasonable for my cleanup crew. With the weekly manual removal and water changes, it's been keeping the HA from getting out of control, but not eliminating it. Good luck with your project.