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We did some upgrades to our lightning system changed to a 6 lamp T5 nova pro fixture from a hagen 2 lamp T5 system. In addition we added CPR HOB refugium and top off system. Corals are looking great under new lights. Colors are great. Seeing lots of new growth in corals. Salinity has been rock solid. I think that is due mostly to the top off system.

However can't seem to get the nitrates and phosphates under control. That is why we added the refugium. We still have from time to time diatom, brown algae, green hairy algae and red cyano blooms. Right now in the middle of an algae bloom.

For the past 3 weeks have been doing 10% water changes every 3 to 4 days, physically removing the algae from the walls and rocks, siphoning, up the changing of the filter material which is full of black brown material and reducing the photo period to 5-6 hrs. Going to try another 2 or 3 day period of no lights at all. We have ordered a clean up crew package online to see if we can get ahead of this. In my research it seems that we were a little light on total number of snails, crabs, etc. in our tank.

One positive thing during this period is our apatasia problem is vastly under control. The amazing thing is corals seem to be doing well except for our bubble coral that we added. I have moved that one to another tank to see if we can get back on track.

Any other suggestions that we can try? We have added carbon, GFO?
 
Keep doing water changes, that should make an impact on the algae (except cyano), along with a few more snails you should see a difference.
 
As suggest by Jeremy (Tuberider) we tried Algaefix from API to try to control the hair algae. The water changes, etc. just did not seems to get it under control. We are only on the second course of dosing the product so far everything looks good. There appears to be a major change in the amount of hair aglae. The tank skimmer is going crazy in removing brown water. I have had to empty out the collection cup daily since we started using this product. I don't like chemical treatments but I was not getting anywhere in controling the hair algae. So far this product seems to be doing its job.

Mike
 
Still have not gotten hair algae and diatoms under control. Tried Algaefix from API along with 15-20% water changes weekly using salinity salt mix. Initially looked like it was working but still have the problem. The skimmer is pulling out lots of junk as we need to clean the cup every 3-4 days. Still have trace levels of diatoms on sand but that seems to have gotten better since we changed to phosguard from seachem instead of GFO. Note we use RO/DI water. Tested the water source did not found any phosphates or nitrates. .

Just tested the Nitrate and phosphate levels tonight. Nitrates are less than 5 using API test kit, phosphates
 
Hair algae IMO is best removed during water changes using the hose to suck it out as you manualy pull it off the rocks, go slow and be very careful and it will go away with time. Most ppl I know that had bad cases had rocks litered with PO4 and by finding those rocks and removing them they cut a lot of the root cause.
 
Thanks for suggestions.

We have been manually removing what we can during water changes. It is very slow process. The only negative is we don't seem to be getting ahead of it. I guess it is going to take a long time to get this under control.

Mike
 
Is your fuge underneath your tank? My friend has a ton of hair algae on walls and rocks, and to have infinite time to siphon, we siphon into a filter sock into the sump/fuge. While siphoning, he plucks the hair algae and places into hose, and then uses scraper with hose right next to it for glass. Then just tosses the filter sock. However, he is having algae problems like you still and having a difficult time keeping it under control.

Roc, how can you tell if a rock has PO4 or not? Will PO4 rocks always have it, or will it go away after cycle?
 
yellojello said:
Is your fuge underneath your tank? My friend has a ton of hair algae on walls and rocks, and to have infinite time to siphon, we siphon into a filter sock into the sump/fuge. While siphoning, he plucks the hair algae and places into hose, and then uses scraper with hose right next to it for glass. Then just tosses the filter sock. However, he is having algae problems like you still and having a difficult time keeping it under control.

Roc, how can you tell if a rock has PO4 or not? Will PO4 rocks always have it, or will it go away after cycle?
Click to expand...



Rocks don't and can't 'have' PO4's... However, they can have things that break down and give off PO4s. Anything decaying in a tank will give off phosphates. Excess food, LR that is now dead, dying algae etc. Rocks that 'have' phosphates won't always 'have' them - They''ll go away once the cycle is complete. Manual removal, siphoning and water changes! You'll get it taken care of I'm sure! I'd avoid chemicals if possible. What are you using for food and buffers? A huge clean-up crew might help. Nassarius/trochus/turbos would be my picks. hth

Another thought - What type of lights are you running?
 
I beg to differ, the surface of the live rock can become impacted with organic matter and slowly leach PO4, if HA gets a foothold, it is able to utilize the PO4 as it is leeched out leading to a very low PO4 reading via hobby test kits.
 
tuberider said:
I beg to differ, the surface of the live rock can become impacted with organic matter and slowly leach PO4, if HA gets a foothold, it is able to utilize the PO4 as it is leeched out leading to a very low PO4 reading via hobby test kits.
Click to expand...


Hmmm..So the organic matter 'has' the PO4s or the rock 'has' the PO4s? =P
 
iCon said:
yellojello said:
Is your fuge underneath your tank? My friend has a ton of hair algae on walls and rocks, and to have infinite time to siphon, we siphon into a filter sock into the sump/fuge. While siphoning, he plucks the hair algae and places into hose, and then uses scraper with hose right next to it for glass. Then just tosses the filter sock. However, he is having algae problems like you still and having a difficult time keeping it under control.

Roc, how can you tell if a rock has PO4 or not? Will PO4 rocks always have it, or will it go away after cycle?
Click to expand...



Rocks don't and can't 'have' PO4's... However, they can have things that break down and give off PO4s. Anything decaying in a tank will give off phosphates. Excess food, LR that is now dead, dying algae etc. Rocks that 'have' phosphates won't always 'have' them - They''ll go away once the cycle is complete. Manual removal, siphoning and water changes! You'll get it taken care of I'm sure! I'd avoid chemicals if possible. What are you using for food and buffers? A huge clean-up crew might help. Nassarius/trochus/turbos would be my picks. hth

Another thought - What type of lights are you running?
Click to expand...


We have added a number of clean crew members a few weeks ago. We don't seem to have luck with inverts lasting a few weeks at most. The nassarius come out when we feed the fish and reef. The trochus don't seem to be very hardy. Turbo's seem to be okay. We have six lamp T5 setup. Photo period is 4 pm to 10 pm. Corals seem to be growing well except when hair algae fragment gets near them. We spend a lot time every day with turkey baster cleaning. We feed many different types of food. Myrsis, rods food, oyster feast, roti feast etc. We do a lot of target feeding favias have been grow well, acans, etc.

Mike
 
weather its the actual rock or organic matter trapped in the rock makes little to no difference, the point is that the HA can have a constant food source which you are not dealing with while doing WC or while pulling the Algae off the rockwork.

A way to test is to make some fresh SW and remove a rock and add it to the SW, then test for PO4, if it has it theres a good chance the rock is leaching it out, this is very common in lava rocks and clay pots which ppl have used in their tanks.....
 
I periodically blast the rocks with a powerhead or other strong water current just before or during during a water change to keep them From getting too clogged up...
Also if you just use a vaster to blow the algae off it will help it spread. You gotta pull or suck it out
 
iCon said:
tuberider said:
I beg to differ, the surface of the live rock can become impacted with organic matter and slowly leach PO4, if HA gets a foothold, it is able to utilize the PO4 as it is leeched out leading to a very low PO4 reading via hobby test kits.
Click to expand...


Hmmm..So the organic matter 'has' the PO4s or the rock 'has' the PO4s? =P
Click to expand...


By default the rock can acquire PO4 by not being able to shed organic matter, therefore becoming impacted with it.
 
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