I've had it !!!!!!!!!!!!!

by **snowboss** » Sun May 31, 2009 1:09 am

this friggin hair algae is driving me nuts!!!!!!!!!!! two months ago i moved the tank from our rental to the new house, i torn it completely down and scrubbed every inch of rock and set it back up and it was beautiful. now it's worse than before. i read somewhere that raiseing the salinity level of the tank would kill it off, basically sterilizing the tank.

what im thinking about doing is setting up a 7 gallon tank i have with a regular HOB filter and regular flourensent light with tank water from the display and putting the 2 clowns {small ones} and few crabs i have in it, then filling the display with "hot" salt water and adding a big UV sterilizer to it for a week or so and see what happens. question is should i take some of the sand from the display and put it in the 7 gallon for the crabs or will they be ok on a glass bottom?

i know if this works i will basically have to recycle the tan completely so the clowns and crabs could be in the 7G for a while - - -anybody see problems with this thought process? am i acting to drastically?

why isnt any one in the gomez or jweb chat rooms anymore.....would be nice to talk in real time once in a while

Boss

by **jweb** » Sun May 31, 2009 1:32 am

That little 7 gallon is gonna have to cycle before you do that, or you risk some problems. Check out these solutions.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showt ... did=167632
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthrea ... genumber=1
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showt ... id=1529695

by **snowboss** » Sun May 31, 2009 2:20 am

holy shit man !!!!!!!! great articles.....im gonna try boosting my magneasium levels through the roof and see if i cant vaporize this crap - - -who would have thought that after all the high dollar "fixes" that dont work that something as simple as a chem change would obliterate this stuff

if this works ill be sending you my first born my friend - - -aw hell i might just send her to ya anyway .............lmao

Boss

by **gdeeber** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 12:04 am

Boss:

My tank had just hit the one year mark and I have been dealing with hair algea for the last month. I know what you are going through. I have been testing my magnesium and it is low (1140) at 1.025 SG. it should be 1350 ppm and this has been the problem with keeping my calcium above 400. I have been talking to my local fish store and be said most of my problem is magnesium and he suggested raising my magnesium level to 1300 or above. He said to use Epsom salts and put it in my top off tank. The problem with Epson salt is it also raises your acid so you need to do a water change once per week. Do you have a magnesium test kit? If so what are your readings?

by **snowboss** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:01 am

did you read that post that jweb posted about the magnesium? it said shoot for 1550 and that killed all hair algae in a matter of weeks, theres also a post on API algefix marine that looks promising - - im going to try one of them as soon as i can scrape up some extra money

thanks for the support i too feel your pain bud, let me know if you do something and it works or doesnt and ill post the same -

"together we can beat hair algae" lol

Boss

by **gdeeber** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:23 am

Good luck Boss. I did read about a guy who was in the same boat as us and re broke his tank down and power washed all his rock and cleaned his sand and tank. That pretty much sounds like starting over and I do not want to do that. I'll let you know how I make out.

by **newbie916** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:38 am

Increasing your magnesium really works. I also started adding Iodide, and Strontium and my corals and macro algae are doing great. I've been green hair algae free for 6 months now. I also change my phospate media in my phos reactor every two months. Good luck guys, that shit was driving me insane.

By the way, I picked up a 24 gallon with 150 watt HH Sunpod. It came with some rock and a few killer corals. It started growing some diatom algae on the sand, so I've been doing daily small water changes.

by **fihsboy** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:42 am

be careful with the iodine. If you OD on it, you could lead to invertebre distress and RED SLIME. which imo is worse than hair algae. :(

We talked about hair algae in depth at the local reef clubs meeting two months ago. Theres more info on top of theres. You should try vodka. :)

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f190/ ... 30177.html

by **barnsey** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:17 am

Ok guys for what its worth i had a similar problem after 1 year,my tank has been hair algae free for 3 years,here are the changes i made,not sure which one was the killer change but probably all of them worked together,i maintain this routine to this day:)

1.Restocked Turbo's/Hermits i have 120 gal i maintain 50 turbo's at all times near as damn it and 25 crabs,scrubbed all liverock:D

2.Magnesium/Calcium are important because they promote higher forms of algae eg cancerous..Hence i started using C-Balance which is a daily dose as oppose to one weekly hit.

3.Started using Poly filters and changed my Rowaphos more often,usually 2-3 weekly

4.Halides and Actinic s get changed after 8 months.

5.Went from 20% water change every 2 weeks to 10% per week.

6.Added a 4th 1200lph powerhead,if you have scrubbed rocks before you will notice hair algae seems to grow in area where detritus collect.

Hope this helps.

by **snowboss** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 11:10 am

all good points thanks man

I've had it !!!!!!!!!!!!!

38 posts • Page 1 of 4

I've had it !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've had it !!!!!!!!!!!!!

38 posts • Page 1 of 4