Hair algae maintinence

[Mrc8858]

Trust me you aren't alone. Most people (including myself) have/had a difficult time grasping all the information involved in keeping a reef tank at first until you start dealing with it all first hand. Reefing wouldn't be so satisfying if it were easy right?

 

[JJ-MIK]

Ya. My girlfriend bought me the po4 checker for Xmas. I will be getting the other ones shortly. I usually don't dose much since I do weekly water changes.

 

[Mrc8858]

Sounds like you are on the right track then. Just don't get impatient with your tech-m treatment and you'll be back to normal in no time at all. Keep us updated and if you have any other questions we'll be here

 

[JJ-MIK]

Thank you very much!! I've been in this for a year now. And still read new things daily.. Never had any issues.. Loved getting new things. Finding new hitchhikers.. But then I get one frag with all kinds of algae in the rock and been battling it since.. Defeat one. Find another.. Haha

 

[mr_X]

Take pictures of the tank now and after the kent product is used. I think a lot of people will benefit from this thread once all is said and done.

 

[JJ-MIK]

Well. The only thing is mr X. I only left one rock in there with a few patches of hair algae. I suppose I could focus on the rock. But the hair algae has all been whiped out by hand.

 

[mr_X]

You were able to manually remove all hair algae from your display? What about the roots that are left in the rock and sand?

 

[JJ-MIK]

Well I turned over and sucked out the top 2-3" of the dsb.. The only thing I'm seeing now in the sand from the glass is those red hairy worms.. The other thing is. I'm assuming this is normal! Under the first layer of sand the aragonite is brown in color..







Here is the same spot just up close.. You can still see some of the rooting.. Why is it so deep? That's 2" under .. I can't imagine what the rest looks like.. Will the mag work its way down in the sand?

 

[Sniperhank]

The red worms are most likely peanut worms and harmless. In terms of the roots your pointing out, I see more hair algae just growing against the glass.

 

[JJ-MIK]

My sandbed was 100% hair algae. And was pulling it up in mats. The glass was green under the sand.. And those roots were all along the front of the tank

 

[mr_X]

I wouldn't be disrupting the sand bed at all. I think you are adding to the problem exposing those low oxygen zones. Do not disturb your sand bed. Especially the lower part where it's changed color.

 

[Mrc8858]

True but if he's starting over for the most part it might be a good idea to just go ahead and get all the sand cleaned up. Could become a nutrient issue down the road.

 

[mr_X]

Detritus is not going to reach down that low in the bed. Turning that bed over is going to cause a spike.
If you are afraid of a dsb becoming a nutrient issue, you shouldn't have a dsb in your tank.

 

[Mrc8858]

I meant more due to his algae having so much time to root into the sand I'd imagine he has quite a bit of dying algae happening now especially since the tanks been torn apart essentially. The tank has pretty much already been disrupted past any point you would wanna allow anyways.

 

[mr_X]

No livestock left in it? I really think the OP should just kill off the hair algae. I do not think you can defeat it by vacuuming out the sand. I believe no matter how much you turn that bed it will come back. Actually, I think it will come back faster if the bed is disrupted.

 

[Mrc8858]

I thought he said something about the livestock being in another tank and all the rock but one piece in a tub. With everything being treated with the tech-m then the bryopsis won't be able to take advantage of the nutrient spike. Yeah, you'll see some other algae bloom but I would put all the focus 110% on irradicating the bryopsis first and foremost.

 

[mr_X]

Well, if that's the case I would just continue running the tank with tech-m and nothing but ambient light over it until it's all gone.

 

[JJ-MIK]

Ya . All corals and fish ate in another tank. The only think left is the dsb and 3 rocks. Plus what clean up crew I have. 10 snails 10 crabs. And one emerald crab. I started with a dsb. Because that's what my lfs swears by. I knew nothing about anything when I started

 

[mr_X]

DSB's are ok. I never had a bed deeper than 2" long enough to be able to comment on the effectiveness though. Some say they are great nitrate reducers, and others say "show me a 10 year old tank with a DSB.....you can't, because their aren't any". I dunno.

 

[JJ-MIK]

I thought I'd give it one more shot. Get a massive clean up crew. A diamond goby.. Tangs.. But if it goes bad. It's all coming out and getting only 2 ".. I'd take it out now. But i want to replace it with new.. Not use any old