PO4 and hair algae

[tommyz44]

Hmm what kind of hermits. I have the blue leg hermits. They pick but they dont really eat much of the hair algae. Either that or the rocks are leaching so bad they cant keep up >.<. After i solve this im hopping to be able to simplify my sump much like that.

Thanks for the reminder though! I need to get a before picture of my tank so i can record my progress. I tried up to 10 doses of algaefix with no luck as some people have had. This was about 2 months ago. I stopped when my macros started growing back.


As promised i will start to record my LaCl progress. My first dose i did .5ml in 1L of rodi. My phosphates before dose was about .09 and after dose was .04 dripped over about an hour and a half. The sock didnt seem to cloudy or foamy. Though the sock was close to full so i know it was working. Ill post some before pics later today or tomorrow.

 

[windyridge]

Emerald crab

 

[SantaMonica]

I recently added 2 gigantic emeralds (I think they could really grab you good). I forgot they eat a bit of coralline too, but it grows back quick enough.

 

[windyridge]

Be careful about really big ones as they can become territorial and aggressive towards other crabs in the tank. I was in ABC reefs yesterday discussing this very thing with one of the guys there.

 

[tommyz44]

I have an emerald in each of the tanks in the system. i know what you mean though, in my dt i have the larger of the 2. He never bothers me but when im doing some manual HA removal and he is no were to be seen...I get a little nervous :worried: haha. A little update on my battle. I have done a dose of LaCl. even after picking off a bunch of HA my hanna showed .01.

I had a scooter blenny pass away last week. So to make up for him since my mom loves the blenny/dragoneets. I went out tonight and got a lawnmower blenny. Immediate he started going to down and ripping out the large patches of algae. Maybe this was the solution i was looking for all along!

I added a few (as embarrassing as it is with my tank like this) pictures so i can record my progress with the LaCl dosing.

 

[indigorn]

Have you tried a sea hare ? I had one and he had my hair algae under control rather quickly. I returned him to the LFS after he finished the last of my algae.

 

[tommyz44]

I cant say Ive ever tried a sea hare...Ill keep that in mind. Any certain breed that you used?

Also to update i tested my water for PO4 tonight and read 0.00 so i tested again and got the same results!!! Now i just have to battle pulling the hair algae while doing small doses of LaCl to eliminate the PO4 as it leaches. To dose i have a homemade device. Its a gallon jug with a hole at the bottom with the hose siliconed in. I have this drip into my sock. So ill add very small amounts and use this to also top off my water for now since i know i evap well over a half gallon a day. Since i am running low on phosphates now i picked up some alk buffer just in case i see it drop while dosing the LaCl.

 

[tommyz44]

Also tested the rest of my water. The only change i saw was my calcium was up. Probably due to the water change on sunday. But the Alk was down to 12 which i think is actually a good thing as 13 seems high. Ph still held at 8.2

 

[tommyz44]

Well its now been 9 days and a few doses of LaCl. I've monitored about every other day. Im pulling out what i can. Also took a few rocks out and scrubbed them. Even through this i dose a little Lanthanum with my top off into my sock and ever few days I've tested for phosphates. Still seeing 0.00. Seems now im at the point of pulling the hair while the phosphate leaches as its not starving out. But i dont see much progress quite yet.

I might have to move my tank so I'm thinking about just getting a new 30 gal or larger. If i do that i have 25 lbs of rock thats cured and ready. Also did a lanthanum treatment on them to make sure they have nothing to leach. I can then scrub the rocks to add them to the new tank if i do this. Hopping to see petco do a 1$ a Gallon soon.