Sk8r
11/21/2014, 12:11 PM
Hair algae loves it so much that it will sop up any it can get. Removing it will kill hair algae completely...without bothering your refugium algae, which is nice and convenient for us.
It is a SHAME hair is tightly attached to rock, because it is a really excellent phosphate up-taker; but it just takes over. So once you've got it, getting rid of it becomes a priority.
Dry rock and sand may come in with a slowly-delivered phosphate load that just goes on and on for months---it leaks out slowly, and takes a while for water to penetrate all the way to the heart of the rock.
After my own experience, I think if setting up with a significant amount of dry rock with phosphate, just start a GFO reactor running right along with the cycle, and plan to keep it going. No need to change the media until you spot your first significant algae growth, but once you get a thick hair algae growth, change it, and keep changing it monthly until the algae goes away.
I removed my reactor after a finally successful 5 month run with it (it was that bad: usually it's 3 months) and lo, I'm getting just here and there a little bit of hair algae, which is because the rock, while now pretty depleted of phosphate, is finding some deep reserves to leach out. I'm not certain I'll bother, because ultimately it will go away due to a couple of urchins (crabs and snails don't make a significant dent in it. The tank is 102 gallons.)
But if it gets much beyond the 2" patch or two I've got, I will fire up the reactor again until it's all gone.
It is a SHAME hair is tightly attached to rock, because it is a really excellent phosphate up-taker; but it just takes over. So once you've got it, getting rid of it becomes a priority.
Dry rock and sand may come in with a slowly-delivered phosphate load that just goes on and on for months---it leaks out slowly, and takes a while for water to penetrate all the way to the heart of the rock.
After my own experience, I think if setting up with a significant amount of dry rock with phosphate, just start a GFO reactor running right along with the cycle, and plan to keep it going. No need to change the media until you spot your first significant algae growth, but once you get a thick hair algae growth, change it, and keep changing it monthly until the algae goes away.
I removed my reactor after a finally successful 5 month run with it (it was that bad: usually it's 3 months) and lo, I'm getting just here and there a little bit of hair algae, which is because the rock, while now pretty depleted of phosphate, is finding some deep reserves to leach out. I'm not certain I'll bother, because ultimately it will go away due to a couple of urchins (crabs and snails don't make a significant dent in it. The tank is 102 gallons.)
But if it gets much beyond the 2" patch or two I've got, I will fire up the reactor again until it's all gone.