Hair Algae in a Fallow Tank.

seedless reefer · Apr 17, 2009

I'll check params tommorow.

lilrobb · Apr 17, 2009

Since you had the steaks in the overflow - did you shut off the grill underneath?
'member higher temps cause shorter life cycles = more growth...

ralph atl · Apr 17, 2009

Linda Lee;328882 wrote:
TDS is still 0, so there wouldn't be phospates, right?

sorry, but food has high levels of phosphates as does waste.

seedless reefer · Apr 17, 2009

Well I wanted to run it hot to increase the lifecycle of the ich!

Smoke detector won't shut up though.

You hook up that skimmer yet?

linda lee · Apr 17, 2009

mysterybox;328896 said:
Linda Lee;328882 said:

TDS is still 0, so there wouldn't be phospates, right?

sorry, but food has high levels of phosphates as do waste.

Click to expand...

food=nitrates
nitrates=hair

gotta wonder why Loren is losing his....

Click to expand...

lilrobb · Apr 17, 2009

I had it running with a mag7 for like 30 secs - seems a little overpowering.
But Barry is gonna be the guinea pig now - he said he already talked to you?

linda lee · Apr 17, 2009

LilRobb;328902 wrote: I had it running with a mag7 for like 30 secs - seems a little overpowering.
But Barry is gonna be the guinea pig now - he said he already talked to you?

Sorry, he talked to me at the cardinal pick-up. Loren was inside the truck and missed the convo and then I walked on into the school to go to a meeting. Completely forgot to tell Loren after.

ralph atl · Apr 17, 2009

here's my everything you ever wanted and more (well, way more........) about phates post.

You must export the same or more nutrients than you put in. Overfeeding, tap water, high phosphate foods, etc. 
 
 
Phosphate reduction/ removal and high trates could be the answer. Wet skimming with a skimmer that is rated at least double your water volume. If you cannot get a fuge or sump (you can maybe make a "Rubbermaid sump with cheato in it for a few bucks) you can get a $35.00 hang on phosphate reactor for your tank and put some GFO in there. In the future, you'll most likely need a refugium with Macro algae. If you choose GFO, you’ll need to start VERY SLOWLY! Use 25% of the recommended media, slowly increasing every 2-4 weeks. You need to acclimate your tank inhabitants over at least a 2 month period especially is you have any stony corals. Once acclimated you’ll need to change your Iron based media in the phosphate reactor more often. Your media will get saturated in 2 weeks or so depending upon how much is bound up in your rocks, tank, algae, etc. Use less media, change every 2 weeks. Use a great test kit like DD Merck, Hack, or colormeter or send to AWT. If you already have a fuge & reactor, be aggressive & change the media every 2 weeks.
 
When you do your water change, take the end of the hose and suck all the algae down like a vacuum. It'll take a few water changes, but it works (especially after the phosphate remover kicks in)
 
Use a phosphate reactor with some phosar or ROWA or whatever, and something to lower nitrates like a fuge, AZNO3, Vodka, VSV or other carbon source. 
 
 
check out:
 
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-11/rhf/index.php">http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-11/rhf/index.php</a>
 
[IMG]http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php">http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php</a>
 
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/july2003/chem.htm
 
[IMG]http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php">http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php</a>
 
[IMG]http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/eb/index.php">http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/eb/index.php</a>
 
[IMG]http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/august2003/chem.htm">http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/august2003/chem.htm</a>
 
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1349443
 
[IMG]http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2002/chem.htm">http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2002/chem.htm</a>
 
 
 
VSV:
[IMG]http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php">http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...nftt/index.php</a>

[IMG]http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1225324">http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1225324</a>
 
 
[IMG]http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=22849&highlight=vodka">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forum...ighlight=vodka</a>

dakota9 · Apr 17, 2009

hm...... There has to be nutrient feeding the algae. Phosphate is the best place to start looking at this particular situation.

What's your PH like? I've not really seen a bad hair algae problem when the PH was on target.

Is your live rock encrusted or still white/denuded of all or most coraline?

I'm not a huge believer that flow has anything to do with green algae growth, so wont address that here.

Natural light will aid in any algae out break. I faught that in my last tank when I had it on the sun porch, but the nutrient has to be there for the algae to grow.

Which brings us back to phosphates.

Please post all your parameters.

linda lee · Apr 17, 2009

Dakota9;328929 wrote: I'm not a huge believer that flow has anything to do with green algae growth, so wont address that here.

Agree, if you mean that lower flow or dead spots don't promote algae growth. I see so much hair algae on powerheads and overflows, etc. I think the stuff thrives best in higher flow.

cr500_af · Apr 17, 2009

Linda Lee;328877 wrote: It could be that one is the male and it was the female that died. The male may have just come off of a 3-week fast while carrying young.

Last thread hijack:

Here he/she is trying to blend in with a piece of flex hose that used to be on my overflow drain (which is not inside the tank btw):

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dakota9 · Apr 17, 2009

Linda Lee;328934 wrote: Agree, if you mean that lower flow or dead spots don't promote algae growth. I see so much hair algae on powerheads and overflows, etc. I think the stuff thrives best in higher flow.

I do however believe thar flow may play a part in cyino and slime algae, but the green turf algaes seem to actually start on powerheads and returns first.

rededge2k1 · Apr 17, 2009

*Good luck* with your *scenario*. I know it can be *annoying* to deal with *ich* and a *royal pain* to quarantine and *cure*. Just think of it this way, in the *end* you will be *much* better off.

-Dustin

glxtrix · Apr 17, 2009

I say just stop feeding the tank in general till you get things on the up side (or significantly reduce it to every 3 or so days). There are no fish, so no food shold be going into the system. Inverts will survive just fine...it's not like they get food daily in the wild....or if they do, it's from what they can find in the sand bed and on the rocks. Turn the lights off for a few days...I'd do no more than three though. I ran a good fight with HA, turf and cotton candy algae over the past 2 months. I turned lights off for 3 days, lowered feedings to every other day and added 3 turbo snails. Granted it's not going to be an overnight change....time will tell. I also made sure I was doing water changes every week...sometimes 2x a week. I also upped the skimmer a bit to skim a little wetter than usual. This will skim out more DOCs and make it better for removing the gunk. Unfortunately if phosphates hit the system, they most likely soaked into your rocks..or that nasty pile of crud on the bottom of the tank I call poop....errr, I mean sand. lol. Just get back to a nice routine of husbandry and give it a little time. Things will turn around. My tank has come a looooong way over the past 2 months.

jesspete · Apr 17, 2009

Reading Mark Levenson regarding lights out, he said it's not beneficial for hair algae. It can help get a foot hold on cyano as long as the causes are also being addressed. The only benefit I've heard of for hair algae is it makes it a little easier to pull out.

drnecropolis · Apr 17, 2009

Dakota9;328929 wrote:
Natural light will aid in any algae out break. I faught that in my last tank when I had it on the sun porch, but the nutrient has to be there for the algae to grow.

.

I agree with this..

But as a counterpoint I got blasted the other day for saying this..

The other persons reasoning was that people use Solar Tubes and dont have massive algae problems..
Any insight to that?
I know about .03% of anything about ST

linda lee · Apr 17, 2009

I think we'll just shorten the light cycle, stop feeding the tank (except for target feeding the 'nems and duncans) and coninue the WC's. Loren has been doing WC's at least every other day since the fish have been out of the tank. It's been getting really old.

I also think I should take my frags off the frag rack and tweeze as much hair algae off of them as possible. Those are my primary concern -- I'm afraid they're getting choked.

coolsurf · Apr 17, 2009

I think that would start you in the right direction. I would still consider adding a few additional snails to help you mow the lawn. If you can find a couple conchs, they do wonders for your sand bed and keep it pruned nicely.

linda lee · Apr 17, 2009

coolsurf;329083 wrote: I would still consider adding a few additional snails to help you mow the lawn. If you can find a couple conchs, they do wonders for your sand bed and keep it pruned nicely.

We'll see what Jenn has in the way of snails/conchs this weekend.

seedless reefer · Apr 17, 2009

Ok here are the params....

TDS 0
Alk - right at the normal range. Kit only tells me low, normal, high
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate 20 ppm

wth? I'm only putting in a few pellets a couple times a week
Nitrite .05 ppm
PH 8.1
Salinity - 1.026

Hair Algae in a *Fallow* Tank.

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Hair Algae in a Fallow Tank.