Battling Cyano and Hair Algae

[tripper]

I have read many posts about how people fight off different algaes and I feel that I have done many of the right things to battle cyano and hair algae, but I can't seem to win the fight. I am going to list what I have done so far and would appreciate anyone's insight into what I have done right/wrong and what else I should try.

1) Bought an RO/DI unit. Have had this for 3-4 months now and have been doing weekly 10% water changes to help reduce phosphates

2) Bought HOB fuge which has chaeto in it. I have tried running this just during the day and also for 24 hours. The chaeto seems to sit on the surface, is this normal? I thought it typically sank to the bottom.

3) Dosed with Chemi-clean. Was a temporary fix but didn't wipe it out completely. Cyano is definitely less than before, but not gone.

4) Feeding only every 2-3 days. I only have 2 fish in the tank right now and they eat everything I put in.

5) Bought 100 Nassarius snails. I already had some snails and a few hermits, but tried to go with a lot of snails to help out.

So, as you can see, I have tried a lot of things. I should mention that this is a 72G Bowfront with 2X150 MH and 2X96W actinic lighting. I have a Aqua C Urchin Pro skimmer and 4 powerheads (2 Maxi Jet 900s, 1 Maxi Jet 1200 and 1 Aqua Clear 401).

My next thought was to buy some blue-leg hermits. I heard they will go after the hair algae. I would also be happy to try and algae eating fish.

Please give me some advice!!!!!

tripper

 

[juskeepswiming]

perhaps some tangs, how old is your live rock? maybe some sea hares

 

[tripper]

My live rock is about 8 months old. The tank itself has been cycled for just under a year. I figure I should also show my water parameters:

Ammo: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <5
pH: 8.1
Ca: 450
Temp: 81-83

 

[Phyl]

What are you feeding? Are you putting anything else into your system? Dosing anything? Running carbon? Do you have measurable phosphates?

The things that I've heard that you don't list are:

drain food because the water in froz foods is typically packed with phos
run a phosban reactor
if you're running carbon what kind? Some are phos factories.
Pull out what you can grab syphon out everything else
Try a UV filter
What is your skimmer pulling out? (run it wet)

Larger water changes. 10% weekly water changes aren't as effective as 20% every other week water changes. With a 10% you're changing over 10% first week 9% second week... the third week you're at 8.1% (of your original water). Try 15-20% per week or even 25% every 2 weeks and see how your tank handles that.

Salt? Some people have bad luck with Oceanic. If I were having problems and using Oceanic I'd switch.

Good luck. That's been a battle I have yet to fight and I'm not looking forward to it!

 

[morphviper]

you could try rock blenny or lawn mower blenny (same thing)

I hate using chemicals, but www.aquaplumbers.com sells a phosphate remover pad that was awsome! I was a big protester to pads and chemicals, but when my corals where in danger, I gave it a try and I couldn't believe the results. amazing! killed all the red algea and stoped the hair aglea from growing. Then a few rock blennies and mexican turbo snails and I am algea free even though I run my lights way too long

good luck

 

[tripper]

Phyl,

I do drain my food before feeding, and i rinse with RO/DI water, so i don't think that is the issue.

I do run carbon, i believe it's Chemi-Pure.

I'll try running my skimmer wet, see how that works. I will look into a UV filter as a last resort.

You mention Oceanic salt as a possible issue. That is the salt that I use now and switched over from Instant Ocean a few months ago. That happened about the same time I got my MH so I blamed the algae growth on the lights, didn't think of the salt as a culprit. Could that really be the cause? My phosphates read at 0.1, about as close to 0 as I can get. If swithing salts is the answer, i'll buy something new this weekend!

Thanks for all your posts so far, please keep them coming.

tripper

 

[Thumper]

Take the carbon your running and ditch it. I had the same issues when running it, tons of po4. Try Kents reef carbon instead, buy a phosban reactor and watch your algae fade away. I had the same issues less than 3 weeks ago and today my tank looks totally dofferent since adding, enough snails,hermits and a reactor to do the job, I believe with everything you have tried you will see dramatic results quickly., I'm a believer.

 

[Meola]

Buy a tang and a blenny for the hair algae - that combo worked really well for me
(specifically a scopas tang and bi-color blenny)

as far as the red algae goes, I have yet to find a solution

 

[MT79]

One tip I have for you, besides eliminating po4 etc., is to get out ALL the cyano in the tank you possibly can. It tends to collect allot of nutrients on the surface of the "slime", and then releases them back into the water leading to a never ending circle . FWIW, I have also heard of people having cyano problems after switching to oceanic salt. Have you checked your water source for po4? Try testing the water before and after adding the saltmix. Good luck Tripper.

 

[Phyl]

Well you have two easy targets. That carbon (probably the one I heard all the bad things about) and the salt. Hopefully changing the carbon will get you close; I'd do that first. I've seen people who have great success with Oceanic and I've seen others complain about an algae problem just after adding it to their tank. Getting that all changed over is a long process. It would be interesting to see what your freshly mixed SW is giving you in terms of phos.

Good luck! Let us know how you make out!

 

[Thumper]

For the record whats the best way to remove cyno from lr. I have one small spot that hasnt went away yet but all the other spots are completly cleared up.

 

[Smo]

You can siphon it off. Use the toothbrush attached to the end of your siphon hose and scrub as you siphon. If you can reach it, carefully remove it from the LR with your finger tips. It's kinda slimy, especially after you get it out of the tank.

Speaking from current experience here.

 

[tripper]

Thanks everyone for your advice.

This weekend I picked up a Phosban reactor and hooked it up Saturday afternoon. I also ditched the carbon I was using. I also picked up a bucket of Instant Ocean salt and have it mixing currently. Tonight I am going to do a 20G water change with the new salt.

Hopefully all these things together will help and I will soon be algae free.

I will send another update when the algae is gone!!!!

tripper

 

[Boxster]

Phyl,

You mention Oceanic salt as a possible issue. That is the salt that I use now and switched over from Instant Ocean a few months ago. That happened about the same time I got my MH so I blamed the algae growth on the lights, didn't think of the salt as a culprit. Could that really be the cause? My phosphates read at 0.1, about as close to 0 as I can get. If swithing salts is the answer, i'll buy something new this weekend!

tripper

Changing salts can cause some chemical imbalance and thus potentially cause some Algae. It will eventually disappear if you continue your good husbanry. Just my observation of my tank. I did switch to Oceanic at one time and did not like it. Strangely, the container that hold my Oceanic Salt water for water change have diatoms even though it is sealed and kept in the dark. It never happened for me using IO or TM. Anyway, I switch back to IO.