What Causes Hair Algae?

[dannybradley]

Replace them for new 5000k bulbs. I'm not sure of the useful life of those bulbs compared to standard PCs. It can't be that great.

If you run Phosgaurd by Seachem, be sure to remove it after a few days. It can release phosphate back into the water. You're better with an iron oxide product like Rowaphos. Aluminum oxide(Phosguard) works really well as long as you don't run it past it's useful life.

 

[dakota9]

Danny, I am having an issue with phosphates. The only thing I could find at petsmart was ClearMax by fluval, which is a reddish brown media. Can IO assume this is iron oxide based? It certainly seems to look the way I'd expect iron oxide to look. How long can it be left in a tank?

 

[jgoal55]

Yeah...ill go ahead and replace them...they really are not expesive.....

as for the phosguard....when I used to run it i changed it out about 1x week I guess now I can chnage it more. Never heard of that other stuff.is it sold locally?

I've al;so been wanting to try the lights off for three days thing but Im worried about the corals.

 

[dannybradley]

Dakota- You're correct. The high end fluval phosphate remover is iron oxide and will work just as well as rowaphos.

Jorge- You're probably okay with running the phosguard a week, but being that it's less expensive than iron oxide, you'll probably come out the same in the end if you change it more often.

Regarding the lights. It's fine to leave them off for 3 days, but phase them back it. I believe the technique calls for running the just the flourenscent lamps for a whole day, and then turning the halides on the next, so it's less shock to your coral. It you want it to be ubereffective, cover the tank with a blanket so no outside light gets in and don't feed for 3 days, as long as your specimens are fat enough to endure that.