HA problem

[reefereef]

so i have this gnarly hair algae problem and it has been going on for about 6 weeks now. it is about 1/2 - 3/8 long and light brown. My gfo reactor needs refilling and havent done it for about 4-5 weeks because i wanted to see if my system could run without it. So for the last two weeks i have been dosing vodka and am up to 1.4ml twice a day in my 200g system. I added some chetomorhpa to a section in my sump and placed a light over it for 16hrs this weekend. So i am wondering if the LR i got from a local reefer is just loaded with po4 since my nitrates measure zero. havent tested po4.

ok so up in arms about what to do. i makes tons of stinky skimmate and only feed my fish once a day and a very light feeding. I am going to start weekly water changes of 20g and going to get some more GFO for the reactor and stop dosing vodka. i understand about keeping a plan and running with it, i only tried the vodka to see if it would rid me of my hair algae but three weeks into it it has only given me slightly cloudy water. my last system was very successful and was ran just like this one except no carbon.

[mrbncal]

You have a pm

[Kabuto]

Algae usually grows from nitrates or phosphates and light. Vodka, from what I have read, will reduce mainly nitrates. GFO will mainly reduce phosphates. If you already have HA usually nitrate or phosphates tests won't work since the HA is using up what is there.

To clear you have to find what the problem is. Test your change water for TDS (before salt of course), and phosphates. I got some HA from the drinking water I was using once and found it had phosphates. GFO will help remove phosphates in the sand bed and rock. Vodka if nitrates is high (usually in systems with lots of fish). You can also look into peroxide. Either dipping rocks or at the worst dosing. Also "cooking" (light depriving) your rocks can help.

[reefereef]

well i will have to get a po4 test kit on friday to see what my top off water and system test at. SO will GFO take the po4 out of my water or just what in the sand bed. I run a BB tank with a very large skimmer and as of last weekend some macro in the sump.

[bertoni]

GFO takes phosphate out of the water column. If the sand is leaching phosphate, that might take some time to clear up, but GFO should keep the phosphate level down, if enough is used.