caferacermike Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 My sand bed is about 3.5 inches and had absolutely nothing to do with my problem. What I do feel was the problem was inattention to the water parameters before adding the tainted frags, and a lack of understanding of how bad it was going to be. Basically I rinsed the tank to an almost sterile state to cure my GHA. I had gotten lazy prior to the outbreak since everything in the tank looked great. I had been doing water changes of 10g every other month. When I noticed the problem it was to late to really get back the tank as it had been. I should have cut my losses earlier and stopped trying to find a magic cure for it. I tried using 3 phosban reactors all tied together with phosphate remover, carbon and Seachem Matrix all being replaced weekly. I added about 100 small snails and 6 turbo snails, as well as 50 hermits. I tried to skim wet. I added an ozone reactor. Increased my flow to 4,500GPH in a 75g. I replaced all my bulbs. Some sea hares. On and on. You name it I tried it. What I now feel happened is that I was constantly stresing the tank by swinging from one extreme to another. I feel that the critters were adding a bio-load to the tank that only helped fed the algae. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Daniel Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Hey guys, This may have just been lucky on my part, but every bit of hair algae in my tank was eaten by 3 hungry Mexican Turbo Snails. I had entire rocks covered with GHA, but everything was spotless when they were done. They're only a few dollars at Aquadome. I've seen them devour hair algae in a friend's tank as well-- so this might not be complete snake oil. Mike-- hearing that makes my lazy heart want to cry. I can't imagine doing 50G water changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Daniel Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Of course, even snails represent just a band aid to what might be deeper issues with a person's tank... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Did a 15g water change after writing that yesterday. Just thinking about it all again had me dashing to the garage for my Brute can and hoses. I've simplified my water changes and up to 50g only takes me 5 minutes to get it going and a quick 5 minutes to do the water change after the salt mixes. I only wait 1 hour. I have 2 identical Brute cans so as I drain the tank I can keep an eye on exactly how much is in the other can. Takes all the guess work out. I use a Tunze 6060 Stream pump to mix my water and an Eheim 1262 to push it from the new water can to the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted March 25, 2009 Author Share Posted March 25, 2009 That is definitely what I need. The reason I was able to initiate the tank build was convincing my wife we need a RO/DI for our water, so I bought the Buckeye with drinking water attachment kit. Thus this had to go under our kitchen sink. Even though this allowed me to kick off the tank idea with ease, it has also created a headache related to refilling top off container and water changes. I ultimately want to get a stand alone unit so I can hang it in the garage as I already have plumbing visible in order to add a water softener. This gives me the input and drain and also allows me to keep two Brutes right under it to use for water changes / top off refill. It also gets me out of the kitchen, using 5 gallon buckets to transport, and the occasional stretch of 25ft of 1/4 tubing from the kitchen when I get lazy. If only I can convince her to spend more money! Good luck to myself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 I have a 300GPD unit hooked to a 150g storage tank 4' off the ground. I then have a 3/4" valve plumbed to another Eheim 1262 pump with 50' of vinyl hose attached to it. I can reach all the way into the back bedroom that has our 125g tank and refill 100g of water in about 8 minutes. One of the bathtubs is about 12' feet from that tank so it's easy to drain it. The easier it is to perform a water change, the more apt you are to do them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted March 27, 2009 Author Share Posted March 27, 2009 Ok, got my test kits in today. Results from first round tests: Tank: Nitrate between 0 and .2, Phosphate 0 RO / DI Water: Both basically zero. Both test kits are brand new Salifert. I also purchased a refractometer as I've always wanted one and tests salinity. To my surprise it was at 1.021 when all my swing arms measure 1.026. I will check the calibration on it tomorrow when I get some free time and re test. Now what? I'm guessing the levels are low due to the fields of GHA I have flourishing and utilizing it all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Yup. Basically, if you have GHA it's because you have N/P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 Phosphate test kits are very inaccurate. Seems most of them always say 0. The Merk tests are extremely accurate down into the decimals which is usually where the phosphates show up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted March 29, 2009 Author Share Posted March 29, 2009 Well the wife and I stopped by Petsmart to buy a replacement coralife digital temperature gauge and what do you know, they had the AlgaeFix Marine. I went ahead and picked up a bottle and put the first dose in today. We will see how it goes. This was the last ditch effort otherwise I think I would have broke the entire thing down. If this helps put a dent into it, I will be purchasing some large tubs and will try to ease my water change routine. With this, I think I can keep up with large frequent water changes and hopefully never have this problem again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Daniel Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 (edited) I still think you should consider trying out the mexican turbo snails from Aqua Dome. I recently started a new tank and everything was covered in GHA. Six medium/large snails, and now guess what, almost everything is gone in less than a week. Don't break your tank down on account of some algae. You can overcome it. Edited March 30, 2009 by Daniel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 I did buy 6 of them just over a week ago. I couldn't see an improvement thus far. I ended up doing a 40 gallon water change yesterday just because I already had it prepped prior to purchasing the AlgaeFix. I manually removed as much as I could get out through the siphoning. It looks like the AlgaeFix doesn't have a slight impact on SPS. It seems they're closed up more than usual and seems to be turning whitesh. We will see. No major impact to the algae that I can tell. The next dose is tomorrow evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 Correction as it won't let me edit previous thread. Doesn't = DOES. I did buy 6 of them just over a week ago. I couldn't see an improvement thus far. I ended up doing a 40 gallon water change yesterday just because I already had it prepped prior to purchasing the AlgaeFix. I manually removed as much as I could get out through the siphoning. It looks like the AlgaeFix DOES have a slight impact on SPS. It seems they're closed up more than usual and seems to be turning whitesh. We will see. No major impact to the algae that I can tell. The next dose is tomorrow evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosslonghorns Posted April 26, 2009 Author Share Posted April 26, 2009 Well an update. I'm on my fourth dose of AlgaeFix and it seems to be making an impact now. I just did a water change and pulled out as much as I can. It was easier to pull off so that is a good sign. I have also seem much more loose in the water column and it looks like the growth has slowed / stopped and the color is changing to a darker color, so I hope it is dying. It looks like I lost two SPS frags but everything else seems to be doing okay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragin22 Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 Okay, here is a little background.180 gallon aquarium, running Euro-Reef CS 8-1 Skimmer. It was setup early November 2008. I have a few test kits: PH, KH, Cal, and Mg but everything is normal. I continue to have green hair algae multiplying. I'm looking for some assistance to identify the culprit and beat it. I'm assuming I need to get a nitrate and phosphate test kit first. What else? yo i maintain tanks for AT i see this every day of my life its caused buy not enough flow and high nutrients also sunlight, a scribble rabbit, fox face,or other rabbit fish will take it out the quickest also if you have a turbo snail take it and put it directly on the algae and repeat. also try to refrain from staking to much rock against the glass this will trap tridus and other crappy nutrients that fuel it. also blue leeg hermits and emerald crabs will mow it down fast. so if you pluck it out first then try my methods i promise it will go away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 I've had some nice progress with my Blue Leg hermits eating it, as well as my Lawnmower Blenny and apparently my Foxface developed an appetite for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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