Greetings, all.
New to BAR. I upgraded from a 110g to a 190g about a year ago when the wife wanted the tank moved out of the office and into a new location built into a wall, with a "fish room" in the adjacent garage to eliminate junk in the house. When moving the tank, why not get a larger one?
Things were going well, until about three months ago, when I experienced an explosion of long hair algae.
Here's a pic from a corner of the tank for illustration:
Naturally, I first went to water parameters, testing everything, as well as taking a sample to Neptune Aquatics to ensure that I did not have a bad test kit. All water parameters are near ideal. I wet skim, and run GFO in a reactor, with no measurable phosphates.
I have tried every kind of snail, my tang and lawnmower blenny won't touch it, and I have been pulling it out and scrubbing it out with a toothbrush on a pole. It is a losing battle.
An so, it is time for a little science experiment. After researching a number of boards, there have been several like me with the same problem, who have attempted all predatory means (including sea hares) and have gone on to chemistry solutions.
First was to assess environmentals. A borrowed CO2 meter revealed a surprising level of CO2 within the house (it's December, so all the doors and windows remain shut, and the house is well sealed. Finding this, I ran an outside line to my skimmer air intake. the tank pH increased by 0.15 within 24 hours. Clearly, the abundance of CO2 had to be fueling growth.
Next up is dosing H2O2 aka hydrogen peroxide. I went to the health food store and secured food grade H2O2, which avoids all the additives found in drug store offerings. The food grade version is a 35% concentrate, so dosing is 1ml/10 gallons (23 ml for my system) per day. H2O2 is not highly stable and rapidy degrades, creating 2 H2O and 1 O2. The theory is that the greatly increased oxygen levels within the tank interrupts algae photosynthesis processes, and causes it to die within a few days. I will report back within a week or so with pics and progress.
Failing the H2O2 dosing, next up is the big guns; Fauna Marin Ultra Algae X, also used to treat dinoflagellate issues. Some using the product report impact to corals, but there may be some relationship with not using the product accurately, or as instructed.
I'll keep you posted on progress and results, but if there is anybody experienced with successfully dealing with this issue, I would appreciate the additional insights and expertise.
Thanks!
New to BAR. I upgraded from a 110g to a 190g about a year ago when the wife wanted the tank moved out of the office and into a new location built into a wall, with a "fish room" in the adjacent garage to eliminate junk in the house. When moving the tank, why not get a larger one?
Things were going well, until about three months ago, when I experienced an explosion of long hair algae.
Here's a pic from a corner of the tank for illustration:
Naturally, I first went to water parameters, testing everything, as well as taking a sample to Neptune Aquatics to ensure that I did not have a bad test kit. All water parameters are near ideal. I wet skim, and run GFO in a reactor, with no measurable phosphates.
I have tried every kind of snail, my tang and lawnmower blenny won't touch it, and I have been pulling it out and scrubbing it out with a toothbrush on a pole. It is a losing battle.
An so, it is time for a little science experiment. After researching a number of boards, there have been several like me with the same problem, who have attempted all predatory means (including sea hares) and have gone on to chemistry solutions.
First was to assess environmentals. A borrowed CO2 meter revealed a surprising level of CO2 within the house (it's December, so all the doors and windows remain shut, and the house is well sealed. Finding this, I ran an outside line to my skimmer air intake. the tank pH increased by 0.15 within 24 hours. Clearly, the abundance of CO2 had to be fueling growth.
Next up is dosing H2O2 aka hydrogen peroxide. I went to the health food store and secured food grade H2O2, which avoids all the additives found in drug store offerings. The food grade version is a 35% concentrate, so dosing is 1ml/10 gallons (23 ml for my system) per day. H2O2 is not highly stable and rapidy degrades, creating 2 H2O and 1 O2. The theory is that the greatly increased oxygen levels within the tank interrupts algae photosynthesis processes, and causes it to die within a few days. I will report back within a week or so with pics and progress.
Failing the H2O2 dosing, next up is the big guns; Fauna Marin Ultra Algae X, also used to treat dinoflagellate issues. Some using the product report impact to corals, but there may be some relationship with not using the product accurately, or as instructed.
I'll keep you posted on progress and results, but if there is anybody experienced with successfully dealing with this issue, I would appreciate the additional insights and expertise.
Thanks!