still fighting algae ......................

by **Snowboss4492** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 5:48 pm

yep still fighting with this crap.............

i got 4 turbo snails and they went crazy for a day and died, scrubbed every rock in the tank and got 4 more and they were ok for a few days and i only see one moveing around on occasion . im doing 25% water changes weekly instead of my regular 20% bi-weekly. I bought a PO4 test kit and i have 0 phosphates, 0 amonia, 0 nitites, 8.0 ph, 78 degrees and 20-40 nitrate, yes i know there is probably my problem, question is..........just regular water changes enough to dilute this out? ive cut my feeding back to 1 frozen cube every three days and i just changed out the PC bulbs. My water is RO/DI and my TDS meter reads less than 9ppm from 217ppm which is straight tap water.

without dumping chems..............any other ideas are welcome

i only have 2 small clowns and few tiny hermits in there so 3 days between feedings should be fine

Boss

by **fihsboy** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 7:21 pm

have you tested for copper? I know it sounds stupid.......but why else would your turbo snails be dying left and right.......I would test that out....and then test out a sea hare. :) Those are AWESOME at eating HA. :) if that doesnt work........Two Little Fishies Phosban Reactor.........run it for three months along with small feedings. It will be gone. :)

by **Snowboss4492** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 12:42 am

0 phosphates

no i havent checked for copper, but where would it be comming from ive never dosed it - -i was how ever doseing magnesium to kill this shit, according to RC forums

by **fihsboy** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 1:02 am

hmmmmmmmm. that could be the reasoning for the die off of the snails. My lfs has a 125 predator tank.......with MAJOR hair algae....threw a phosban reactor on it.....low feedings.....as low as you can get with a predator tank.......and it took three months, but its gone.

by **fishchum** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:35 am

Do you use an algae scrubber? If not look them up. I had GHA problems then I added a ATS (algae turf scrubber) and my GHA is mostly gone. I have 0 nitrates as well. You would not believe the stuff I clean from my scrubber every week. Its amazing.

by **blueshoes2208** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:44 am

boss my nitrates have never been below 20 ppm and im sure have reached 45 somewhere since i started the tank and ive never had a major algae problem, actually ive never had an algae problem at all, knock on wood, unless you have a weird strand of algae i would rule out the nitrates, however idk if this helps any but what does algae need to survive? water and light? What if you had someone baby sit your fish and since you dont have corals, to my knowledge, black out the outside of your tank and leave your clean up crew in it.

by **barnsey** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:06 am

Hi,

Zero phosphates does not mean no phosphate problem as i am sure you can see.
Hair algae and indeed any other undesirable algae will feed of nutrients in the water namely phosphate.
You can achieve zero phosphate readings with a standard phos kit and have masses of hair algae mainly due to the fact that the mass of algae is using the phosphate available as it is introduced.
Use Rowaphos or Phosban in a reactor or an external filter if you have no sump,i use about 50% more than the stated dose and have had no problems in over 4 years.

Personally i dont rate sea hares,their lifespan isnt great and once the algae is gone they need feeding,plus dead seahares are a very large pollutant if you dont notice them.
My experience with turbos is they need serious acclimatising if you want success with them,i will drip line turbos for 2 hours before they goin the the tank.
I have found that Astria Turbos seem to do better,but that may just be coincidence.
I not sure of your tank size but my 120g has 60 turbos and 30 hermits which i constantly try to maintain at those numbers.

I worry less these days about nitrates,my tank has run at 25-40 ppm for over 4 years.

Lastly you may want to try increasing your circulation substantially you will probably notice that hair algae grows well in areas where detritus has collected,

by **Snowboss4492** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:35 pm

thanks Barnsey,

i have a 20 long for now and am setting up a 120 in the wall................i have 700gph in the wetdry tom aquatics filter and a sieo 320gph power head in there, the tom aquatics skimmer is junk and i dont even use it and the prizm HOB i have is dieing as we speak so im sure i need a new skimmer for it, ive tried chemipure and other drop in filter type phos media all to no avail, is a reaqctor going to be that much better? i completely understand the algae consumeing the phosphates and giving me a 0 reading. also im sure i didnt aclimate the turbos correctly, as i have nasarious snails in there that aren't affected at all by any changes ive meade thus far, could also be my only LFS with stock right now is a piece of crap and they have pretty poor looking tanks to begin with, the snails prolly died in a happier place than there...........unfortunately

ill start looking for a phosban reactor

Boss

by **fihsboy** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 9:27 pm

The problem with turbos.....they CRAP. its just like adding a tang to your tank......60 turbos is like adding 3 tangs to your tank. sure they eat the algae....but the crap they expel just grows it right back for them to eat. I dont really believe in a huge cleanup crew.....sure they eat it....then what. The nutrients are still there. Two Little Fishies makes a great reactor for the money. It will pass your water through the media...not around it. Its a lot better than just ploping it in your tank. I agree with the Sea hare....they make a big difference fast and they are cool to look at. BUT, if they die..... well damn big water change in store. Have you considered Vodka. :)

by **blueshoes2208** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:42 pm

humm.... i just dropped all 12 of my turbos in, have every single one of them too, that was about 5 months ago.... took them strait from the fish shop, no floating, drip method or anything, jus tossed um in and theyre bad ass to say the least

still fighting algae ......................

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