Vodka or Vinegar?

[saltyvixen]

SO im still battling hair algae like nobodys business, My water params are fine, 0 ammonia, 0 trites, 0 trates, alk 8, ph 8.1, calc 380, phos 0. And I have manually removed as much of it as possible atleast once a week, and im doing water changes. And nothing, no reduction, nothing just continued growth of ugly HA. So my question is, can carbon dosing help starve out the algae? And which is better Vodka or Vinegar? And before we get into this let me try to answer any question i may get about my setup


Lighting chinese led 120w run from 9am to 6pm.
Stock: pair of clowns, hawkfish, orchid dotty back.
65g tank with 29g sump
I have chaeto, and other macros
plenty of flow.
feed every other day sometimes seachem flakes, sometimes frozen mysis, and sometimes pellets.
I have CuC. some trochus, nerites, nassarius, and hermits.
i use a skimmer that pulls nearly half a cup a day

 

[ringo®]

If you have a hair algae explosion, parameters aren't fine. Either nitrates or phosphates are just being taken up by the algae resulting in the levels testing as zero.

Any chance it's bryopsis?

 

[saltyvixen]

no its def HA. WHen i say they are fine i mean there is no free phos or trates. I know its binded in the HA. the question is how to find something that can take them out faster than the HA is consuming them

 

[jrhunter0000]

Add a couple of Lettuce nudibranchs these guys love hair algea. Not saying they will solve the issue but they will dent it.

 

[saltyvixen]

If they are sensitive i rather not. i tried a seabunny before died the next day. Im goin to try running my fuge light for 20hrs a day shutting off for 4hrs when dt lights come on. Bt back to the main question... which is better Vodka or Vinegar?

 

[ringo®]

I use a 50/50 mix. What kind of skimmer are you running?

 

[saltyvixen]

Cpr bak pak2 hob

 

[mcphock]

Hmmmm. I use vodka. Never tried vinegar.

Have you done much reading on the topic? The discipline to follow the instructions?

 

[snowmansnow]

the only way i keep HA out is w a yellow tang. he kills it… all the time… all of it

 

[ringo®]

I think those are rated to 60 gallons if I remember right. I'm not sure I would do it with 80-90 gallons of total water volume. A strong skimmer is a must have for carbon dosing.

 

[saltyvixen]

SnowManSnow;971322 wrote: the only way i keep HA out is w a yellow tang. he kills it… all the time… all of it

Got one you want to donate to the cause lol? JK And i have read up on it. if uing vinegar i would start dosing 3ml /day for the first 3 days then 6ml for days4-7 then add 4ml per week until i find a balance that works, i also read about things to watch for, like a whitish slime, stress etc and f any bad signs are noticed to ct does by 50% and that vinegar has a negative affect on ph, and can lower it slightly for short period of time. I havent read much about vodka cause i dont have any, but if its superior to vinegar or if a mix of the two is better i could easily get some and research it

 

[tbub1221]

Ringo®;971323 wrote: I think those are rated to 60 gallons if I remember right. I'm not sure I would do it with 80-90 gallons of total water volume. A strong skimmer is a must have for carbon dosing.

Agreed , your skimming will produce thick sludge as a result of the carbon dose , if the skimmer isnt oversized it wont be removable. Have you tried turbo snails there pretty effective ime also check to see if sun light might be causing it by chance , a little can do a great deal of damage in the algae department.

 

[marquiseo]

Don't do either. Vodka and vinegar requires another task to maintain and can be dreadful if done incorrectly. You more than likely have an algae problem due to poor maintenance, no offense.

-First, which test kit are you using because those are false readings? If API, get a better test kit like salifert or Redsea. If you are using one or both, then the algae is sucking all the nutrients which means you have a s***load of it.

-Next, continue to manually remove as much as possible.

-Next, keep lights off for 3 days and do not feed the tank.
-Next, on day 4 do about 45% water change to remove the dead free floating algae and dissolved matter in the water because your tank should have booming nitrates from die off.
-Inspect your tank and you should see 75-99.99% of the algae gone and resume a shorter lighting period for while with reduced feedings to the tank.

If that doesn't work, repeat till 100%.

 

[saltyvixen]

will keeping lights off for 3 days hurt coral? and i do have a crapload of HA... its growing off the rocks, overflow box, powerheads, sand, glass everything

 

[marquiseo]

SaltyVixen;971360 wrote: will keeping lights off for 3 days hurt coral? and i do have a crapload of HA... its growing off the rocks, overflow box, powerheads, sand, glass everything

No. I have done this several times. The longest I have had corals gone without direct light was 1week 4 days and they all were fine. They were sps. Do you have an image? Then you definitely have some manual removing to do. Don't use an algae magnet. Use a credit card and scrape away then use the steps I have told you. I would recommend to do a water change after the manual removal as well.

 

[saltyvixen]

I just did a manual removal of the glass and powerheads. i use my arc card lol. i can atleast run my fuge light during the dt lights out though correct?

 

[marquiseo]

SaltyVixen;971368 wrote: I just did a manual removal of the glass and powerheads. i use my arc card lol. i can atleast run my fuge light during the dt lights out though correct?

I would recommend no lights at all. You are trying to starve the algae by not giving it a food source. Corals get nutrients from zooxanthellae(photosynthetic) but also from suspended particles in the water columns. Algae on the other hand is just photosynthetic so it will starve.

 

[saltyvixen]

there is no HA in my sump, just chaeto etc. Wouldnt leaving the lights on the refugium help combat ph issues and the spike in nutrients as the HA dies off in the DT?

 

[marquiseo]

SaltyVixen;971397 wrote: there is no HA in my sump, just chaeto etc. Wouldnt leaving the lights on the refugium help combat ph issues and the spike in nutrients as the HA dies off in the DT?

As the hair algae dies off in the display, the nutrient level will rise in the sump as well. either the chaeto will grow or hair algae will grow. PH is not really an issue to chase. Just open a window or door for a little air exchange in your home and your ph will be fine.

 

[ralph atl]

Vodka & vinegar are fine, but after 9 years I only dose vodka...

Change GFO & Carbon weekly


Large weekly water changes


any rock that you can remove, cover with H2O2 for 10-15 minutes OUTSIDE tank insuring no corals were touched (use a syringe near live stuff).