AlgaeFix Marine to control Hair Algae

[nrannalli]

HighlandReefer

Sorry about that I dosed 6 tsp for 3 weeks and am now in maintenance mode 6 tsp once a week. It took a little over a week to start to see a difference but in the end it killed the HA like I wanted.

My phosphates read 0 on my test and my nitrates are a 20ppm. I am more focused on getting my nitrates down then fighting the algae right now. So I will be starting the Algaefix process again once my nitrates are down to bellow 5ppm.

The problem started because I had my tank running in the garage for over a year with no water changes. I had a chiller on it to keep it at 81 and a protein skimmer but that was not enough to keep the nutrients under control. I also had a 6 stage RO/DI unit with bad filters pumping nitrates into the tank from my float switch. But I wasn't willing to get rid 400lbs of live rock to have to buy it again the next year when I moved it to its permanent home. At one point I was about to give up the hobby when I lost 7 years worth of fish and corals (besides a few plys and a galaxea coral) moving to our new home. Mostly my fault in not tanking all the necessary precautions when transporting fish this won't happen again. But since one of the reasons I bought this house was because it had a 14ft wall with the garage on the other side perfect for an in wall unit. It has been running for about a year in its permanent home now with over 40 water changes and controlled feeding schedule my nitrates are down from over 200ppm which I didn't notice until 4 months ago when the algae started to take hold because of a bad test. I also just instatuted a sulfur reactor to get the last of the nitrates because it was cheaper than doing 5 150 gallon water changes. I also have very little room to get to the North East corner of the tank because I had limited space for my fish room on that side.

I will try the turkey baster trick and see if that works.

Once again thanks for the help
Nick

[nrannalli]

Originally posted by HighlandReefer
nrannalli,

Pulling rocks out and scrubbing them down will certainly help the AlgaeFix work also.

Done that twice.. now my rocks are in there permanent spot and I will live with what I can't get rid of. But I haven't given up yet so that algae still has a long fight ahead if it wants to stay in my tank.

[iFisch]

Highlandreefer :


Here's my beautiful rock.

And that purple has encrusted and is starting to "shelf" out. VERY neat. The best rock I have ever seen, from LFS.

BTW, the piece under the left outlet, was bare rock. Lots of coraline growth in about two weeks.



No lights on the tank today (JUST received my new T5's).

[HighlandReefer]

nrannalli,

Thanks for bringing us up to date. Sounds like you have a good plan.


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iFisch,

Tank is looking great. Your starfish looks like a Fromia. Great starfish even if it isn't.

[iFisch]

Originally posted by HighlandReefer
nrannalli,

Thanks for bringing us up to date. Sounds like you have a good plan.


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iFisch,

Tank is looking great. Your starfish looks like a Fromia. Great starfish even if it isn't.

You are correct. I supplement a tiny rockful of seaweed twice a week. I place him ontop of the rock so I know he eats.

Otherwise, he grazes the rocks, glass and sand bed 24/7.

[HighlandReefer]

I had one for the longest time. Great starfish and neat to watch. They move fast from one end of the tank to the other. I had a nasty fish that for some reason kept picking on him and finally the starfish met his demise before I had time to react. May he rest in peace.

[iFisch]

Originally posted by HighlandReefer
I had one for the longest time. Great starfish and neat to watch. They move fast from one end of the tank to the other. I had a nasty fish that for some reason kept picking on him and finally the starfish met his demise before I had time to react. May he rest in peace.

They are. Mine's not that big, about 1.5". My Mom LOVES to watch him for some reason.

I find every animal in my tank fascinating, in one way or the other.

[capture]

I'm joining the AlgaeFix Marine Club! I think we should add that to all of our signatures... Rimless Club, T5 Club, AFM Club

I'll give you all a rundown and even some photos for comparison in a sec.

I had a serious nitrate and phosphate problem a while back. I battled with some cyano and started seeing traces of HA in spots. I started dosing MicroBacter 7 and Vodka with great results. I currently have no cyano but my HA is out of control.

I've cut back my dosing of vodka and yesterday I picked up a bottle of AlgaeFix at Petsmart... Yup, they had the 'Marine' version there. I was reluctant to go the 'non-marine' route, so I turned the corner and there it was with two, pretty Petsmart Girls, it was a sign from the reef gods.

I added my first dose yesterday and have included some photos for later reference. I purposely didn't clean the glass so you can see what happens to it in a matter of about two days. So far, so good. If you'd like more info click on my red house. I will be updating here and on my blog when I have time.

[bshumake]

Originally posted by capture
[B [/B]

Gee, that looks really familiar.
So I am making a batch of fresh Saltwater to do a 20% change. My HA is returning slowly. One of my corals is showing signs of RTN. Could this be a sign of overdose, along with a couple faded monti caps and digitatas? No knowing. Thus the waterchange. And I will follow manufacturer recommended doses and time tables.

[iFisch]

Looking forward to the results. Some don't see results until the third or fourth dose, so don't loose your patience with it.

[PhreeBYrd]

Originally posted by kingsland
I have a 60 gal frag tank... I have hair algae growing on the frag plugs and the egg crate. I have scrubed, used a razor blade, and used a brush to scrub the holes in the eggcrate. After reading this thread, I isolated the water supply to the frag tank and added the first dose of Algaefix yesterday. I did not think it necessary to dose the rest of the system. The frag plugs are ceramic so I would not think they would contain any phosphate.

Kingsland:
I would also not treat the main tank if it's not showing any signs of the problem hair algae (appears to be a derbesia sp., from what I can see, but it's almost impossible to positively ID). What a great frag tank, btw. I find it interesting that the hair algae appears to be starting at the bottom of the plugs.

I also had a bloom of brown hair algae (kind of looked like small tufts of brown cotton candy) on my frag tank's eggcrate. Algaefix took care of that quite easily. In fact in my case it was much more effective on that than on the longer green hair algae.

In any case, here is a suggestion: Place a saturated solution of kalkwasser in a shallow pan or dish. Then, one at a time, place the frag plugs upright into the pan, making sure that the coral itself is not allowed to contact the solution. Ideally, all your frag plugs will be identical, and the depth of the kalkwasser can be such that only the stem of the plug and the underside of the plug face can be in contact with the solution. Keep the frag there for 1 to 2 minutes (as long as you think the frag can stand to be out of the water). Then place the frag back in the tank. The high pH and caustic nature of the kalk will cause the algal cells to burst and die almost immediately.

I have used this method many times on both frags and items like return pipes and powerheads. It adds nothing harmful or undesirable to the water and is very effective wherever it comes into contact. It may give you the upper hand against the pest and allow the Algaefix to attack what's left. You could also remove the frags from the racks and treat the bare racks outside the tank the same way. With kalkwasser about as cheap as dirt and basically harmless once diluted in the tank water, I find this a means of attack impossible to accomplish by scraping or other means.

[dazed]

Update for me the 4th dose went in yesterday and it does appear to be starting to make a difference in even some of the worst areas, last week i removed a bunch of the ha that i could get to, i hope to do some more removal over this weekend. so far so good, nothing out of the ordinary to report as far as the tank goes.

[dazed]

Originally posted by PhreeBYrd
Kingsland:
I would also not treat the main tank if it's not showing any signs of the problem hair algae (appears to be a derbesia sp., from what I can see, but it's almost impossible to positively ID). What a great frag tank, btw. I find it interesting that the hair algae appears to be starting at the bottom of the plugs.

I also had a bloom of brown hair algae (kind of looked like small tufts of brown cotton candy) on my frag tank's eggcrate. Algaefix took care of that quite easily. In fact in my case it was much more effective on that than on the longer green hair algae.

In any case, here is a suggestion: Place a saturated solution of kalkwasser in a shallow pan or dish. Then, one at a time, place the frag plugs upright into the pan, making sure that the coral itself is not allowed to contact the solution. Ideally, all your frag plugs will be identical, and the depth of the kalkwasser can be such that only the stem of the plug and the underside of the plug face can be in contact with the solution. Keep the frag there for 1 to 2 minutes (as long as you think the frag can stand to be out of the water). Then place the frag back in the tank. The high pH and caustic nature of the kalk will cause the algal cells to burst and die almost immediately.

I have used this method many times on both frags and items like return pipes and powerheads. It adds nothing harmful or undesirable to the water and is very effective wherever it comes into contact. It may give you the upper hand against the pest and allow the Algaefix to attack what's left. You could also remove the frags from the racks and treat the bare racks outside the tank the same way. With kalkwasser about as cheap as dirt and basically harmless once diluted in the tank water, I find this a means of attack impossible to accomplish by scraping or other means.

interesting i am going to have to give your suggestion a try, thanks for sharing.

[HighlandReefer]

Originally posted by bshumake
I have scaled back AlgaeFix dosing because I have noticed 2 of my caps fading. I will not attribute this to anything other than my eagerness to kill off algae. I did not follow the manufacturers recommendations and dosed every other day, and on occasion every day. On the up side, I have noticed a decrease in algae. Lets see what the future brings.

I had previously discussed with Randy in another thread about the possibility of increasing the dose of AlgaeFix and/or the frequency of the dosing. Randy set me straight in a polite way, that I should not do that without possible bad effects. IMHO, the manufacturer has worked with their product for quite a long period of time, which included quite a bit of testing to acquire the EPA label for marine tanks. The active ingredient is a broad spectrum biocide and at higher doses (not that much higher) it is labeled as a sterilant. One should remember that coral have a symbiotic relationship with different types of algae & bacteria which is in their mucal layer. We don't want to kill these good guys.

[HighlandReefer]

capture,

Thanks for sharing your experience with AlgaeFix. Great pictures too, this helps us see whats going on in your aquarium and the type of algae you are fighting.

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Thanks for the updates guys.

[HighlandReefer]

I'm curious if any hobbyists have used AlgaeFix to fight some of the tougher pests, like cyano (not necessarily the red cyano, but perhaps some of the green cyano), bryopsis or dinoflagellates?

[32flavors]

Originally posted by HighlandReefer
The active ingredient is a broad spectrum biocide and at higher doses (not that much higher) it is labeled as a sterilant. One should remember that coral have a symbiotic relationship with different types of algae & bacteria which is in their mucal layer. We don't want to kill these good guys.

Excellent info, and a point I hadn't considered before. I was using it a while back to treat a weird algae prob.... have a 65 and a 75 piggybacked off of one big system, and from a nitrate issue (I think), I got a really back algae sit in the 65--to the point where you couldn't see any rock. I was totally jammed with school at the time and didn't have a weekend to devote to taking it all out and scrubbing (full of marshall and tonga rock), but I didn't have any issues in the 75. Never figured that one out.

I used the MAr Alg Fix as per instructions re frequency, but I did ramp up the amount a bit. My acros in the 75 browned out really quickly. I discontinued use immediately--and got my skimmer back online (had air intake issues). The acros colored back up, and even though I stopped before the algae (a "soft" kind of HA looking strain that peeled off pretty easily) was gone, the Alg Fix definitely impacted it, as it continued to die off as me acros colored back up.

my 65 and 75 now (sorry, don't have a good cam)

You can see a little of what's left on the back/right glass and at the top of the arch in the middle of the tank.

The weird part is--I never had any of it in the 75.

[32flavors]

Sorry the image came out so small... First time posting an image. Can't figure out how to maintain image size and quality and still fit in the 50k requirement for uploading.

[HighlandReefer]

32flavors,

If you upload your picture to your Photo Album, the size restriction is larger and then you can post the link to your photo album picture surrounded by brakets on both sides [img ..your link.. /img] without any spaces. You can do the same if you upload a picture to one of the online sites like PhotoBucket.

Yes, I would say that either increasing the dosage rate and/or frequency would only be appropriate if you were to remove anything you did not want it to kill and then overdose it. This might be a tool to try if you are ready to brake down your system anyway and start over. It may save some time and headache. Other than that I would not recommend it.

[kingsland]

I am very pleased that the Algaefix seems to be working. I have completed three treatments and will add the forth tonight. I decided not to use GAC and I am not running the GFO reactor, nor the skimmer during the treatments. I did do a water change today as the coral are aclimated to weekly water changes and the frag tank has not had the benefit of the cal reactor for the last week. I plan to complete a total of 5 treatments before putting the frag tank back in line with the display and refugium. There is still some remenants on some of the frag plugs but it is quite clear in color.

For comparison, this is a picture before starting treatments:



The same two frags after the third treatment:



And another frag plug with some transparent algae remaining.

[HighlandReefer]

kingsland,

Thanks for sharing. Great photos. I am happy that it has worked for you.


The remaining algae does not look to good at all. It appears to have lost all of its chlorophyll.

[HighlandReefer]

I take it that none of your corals in the frag tank have suffered any damage?

[kingsland]

They all seem to be doing fine.

[HighlandReefer]

You have a not selection of coral frags.

[iFisch]

Originally posted by HighlandReefer
You have a NICE selection of coral frags.