hair algae advice what else can i do ?

[brad3314]

of course your right it could i'd already tested it for phophates but it was the same reading as my tank water so it was 0.1 and like bordsurfer said before that is 0.10 so is this enough to help the growth along remembering also my lights are old and overdue ?
what would be a better level to be at of course 0 would be best but what's the lowest to get away with without making this stuff grow like it is. maybe i should get a different test kit something that has less ppm on it's card can you get digital phosphate testers ?

 

[brad3314]

well i'm about ready to give up this hobby really not happy :x

i spent $250 aus dollars on a new MH to what i thought would help this little problem of hair algae but now my tank looks like a damn forest and to make it worse i've had a massive diatom algae outbreak so that mixed with masses of hair algae doesn't look good and the 10,000k bulb has no colour in it so it looks a greeny yellow colour which makes it look 10 times worse.

stupid thing is the test results

when i started this thread my phosphate was at 0.1 which is the lowest reading my test kit will give me
NOW : the test barely shows any sign of phosphate at all the water comes up almost clear so it has actually gone down since last time

ammonia again 0
nitrate again 0
ph 8.2

and corals are absolutely thriving and as for over feeding well i haven't been home to feed them at the right time so they get fed probably 3 times a week and they get hardly any food at all.

i really have had it i've always had a struggle with this tank with hair algae but this time it's just go the better of me and i want to give up

so can someone please tell me what i'm doing wrong and why it is like it is i'm willing to have one last crack if not then it's finished.

 

[Ziggy953]

What are you running in your canister filter?

Don't be discouraged and don't give up. We all go through problems with our tanks. We will be able to help you out but you will have to give us the chance to do so.

 

[brad3314]

yeah that's why i come on here because if anyone can help it's you guys

canister filter consists of

top basket
- bio chemical foam ( blue stuff )
- filter foam

2nd basket
- bio chemical ceramics ( round tubes )
- filter foam

3rd basket
- fine ceramics
- filter foam

now the 4th basket used to have activated carbon in it but the lfs told me to remove it alltogether rather than replacing it.
also another layer of filter foam so the last basket has just got the one layer of foam.


see here is the problem and trust me when i say it looks worse in person than it does in the photos.

it is so depressing when you spend so much money and effort trying to maintain these things and this is what i get to look at for it

 

[Ziggy953]

That is kinda what I expected. I am not a fan of the canister filters for this reason. If you keep the "foam" or sponge in them they create little nitrate factories! If you are getting a Phosphate reading on your test the you have too much phosphate. The algea is getting food from somewhere and that is it. I would recomend buying some saltmix and get some RO/DI water and make your own SW. I would also get rid of the sponges and add more LR to your tank. LR with a good skimmer will filter your tank better then a canister ever dreamed of. PWCs I would do them once a week with new SW that you mix up with RO/DI water. If you want to keep using the cansiter just use it as extra water flow.

 

[Hara]

this may sound silly, but I dont see where you have been removing it manually at all...It wont just "disappear". You need to manually pull out as much as you can, as well as doing the other things. You also need to just shut down the lights. Doing a black out on your tank for a few days, followed by limited lighting of just 3-4 hours will not hurt anything in the tank. You can then get it down to managability while improving the water situation.

 

[melosu58]

When you do your PWC`s as Ziggy said try to siphon as much of the hair algea as you can. When you get to the rock just rubberband a toothbrush to the end of your siphon hose and gently scrob the hair algea off and siphon it up. If you do this with weekly PWC`s you should knock alot of it out.

 

[brad3314]

i was manually removing it but it just had no effect but i will do that now aswell as what you have suggested

i'm thinking more rock would be to much or do you think there isn't enough wouldn't of thought i could have any more and if you say the foam is producing nitrate wouldn't that mean i'd have a nitrate reading exept i don't

will try with mixing my own water and cutting back lights more for a start to see how i go

 

[vsnsofadrgn]

when you do your pwc's, take the rock out, and scrub it in the old salt water. this way you arent releasing it back in the tank. its best to have 1.5-2lbs of lr per gallon. this will help ALOT; a decent skimmer will too. once you get your water in check, you can add a sump/fuge and it will help. making your own water is the best way to go also, if you dont have have an ro/di unit, using distilled water is fine. its much better because you know exactly whats going in it, who knows if the lfs is using ro, ro/di, tap, which salt brand...etc. with patience and some diligence; it will go away.

 

[Ziggy953]

I know you have said that you have 0 nitrates but the hair algae is feeding on something in your system. You may want to get a new test kit for nitates as yours may be showing false results. I'm just offering things that I would do if this were my tank and I was having these problems. Vsnsofadrgn is right, 1.5-2lbs of LR per gallon of water is what you need for good biological filtration.

 

[JM]

Emerald crabs will get rid of that stuff quick. Get two and watcht the stuff disapear. Of course you are going to have to figure out the cause so that its managable, but the crabs work wonders.

 

[brad3314]

well here's he plan


going to start with distilled water that's if i can find were to get it from my girlfriends work does it but it's $1.10 a litre 8O

lfs is ordering in 6 or so hermit crabs or a cucumber to help

dropping lighting back more

i still have to find out how much live rock i actually have to see if i need more

look at getting a higher flow power head

and change filter media to bio balls or something instead of all the fliter foam would it be still ok to leave 1 layer to catch the stuff that the other media doesn't ?

is all this right anything else i can do ?

 

[rwing]

I have been having similar issues with my 125 g tank. The guys at my lfs swear by a product called SAT. It is a natural bacteria that eats the same food as the algea. The guys told me they were skepticle at first, but the results spoke for themselves. He has ordered me some which should be here any day. I am anxious to try it for myself. I will let you know if it works.

 

[roka64]

I just rechecked this thread. I think I must have been at work (can't see some pics there). Looking at the hair aglae, it doesn't look like there is any flow there. I run a canister, but I have already removed my sponges. I fought cyano and hair algea and finally went with the suggestion of running Purigen http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1 and phosban. I really didn't notice a huge difference until I added the purigen to my filter.

 

[brad3314]

yeah i definatly know there isn't enough flow there have known for a while but funds just haven't allowed for a new one yet the one i currenly have is only a pond pump not a an actual power head

i will ask if my lfs can get this purigen stuff it's that really tiny ball stuff isn't it ? i think he may aready have some there but i'll check so take out the filter wool and replace it with this you say ?

 

[roka64]

Click on my link above and it will take you there. Also, check on the price vs. your LFS....

 

[brad3314]

well time to update so far i have only manually cleaned all the rocks took me a good four hours but it was worth it rocks are great for the minute but diatom has taken it's place it's back thicker and browner than ever i can't win still yet to change filter media haven't had a chance to yet

was thinking would it be worth getting a sump made up instead

so back to the diatom stuff that is wrecking my substrate it's so hard to break up it just sticks to it like glue why is this still happening i thought that these outbreaks were only suppose to be short lived

 

[Devilishturtles]

It's possible that all the hair algae was providing a lot of nutrient export and removing it all at once caused a slight imbalance with the diatoms. If you have proper flow and balance in the tank the diatoms should go away in a few days time. That's my guess anyways. Have you tried the blackout suggested above?

 

[MT79]

I would really think about buying a phoshate reactor in addition to the other suggestions- ie Kent marine phos reactor. They are not that much and really make a difference w/ nuisance algaes from what I've heard. I've been very pleased by the results Rowaphos has produced for me. I've been using it passively, a reactor will give much better results and waste less media.

 

[roka64]

I have the PhosBan Reactor http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1 on my 55 and it is kind of big, not sure what it would look like in a 39. If you have a sump, that would be a great place to put it, where it is out of sight. I have a maji jet 400 ph attached to (required) and the valve barely letting any water in. I found out if there is too much movement, the phosban breaks up and ends up in the tank. I also run Purigen http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1 running in my canister filter.