long stringy green macro alge problem

[meathelmet75]

tank is full of green alge that i cant get rid of. I have tried multiple water changes(with ro water) phosphate remover, new lights (vho actinic/5050 with new icecap 660 balast). i have a yellow tang and a lawnmower blenny who eat all day but cant keep up with the alge.

75gal setup one percula clown one mandiarian gobi one yellow tang one lawnmower blenny. any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[liquid]

Are you running a skimmer? Please post your equipment and any testing parameters you might have as this will help us deduce the problem.

Shane

 

[danmhippo]

Try manually remove as much as you could to serve as nutrient export. I am guessing it maybe a nutritional issue........ What are you feeding to your tank and how much, how often? What is your main nutrient export "device"?

 

[meathelmet75]

I am running a sea clone skimmer. I feed mysis shrimp but only a small piece every 3 or 4 days, to feed the clown. The rest usualy eat off the rocks.
i do have a refugium under the tank that has culerepa but the alge in the tank looks a lot different than culerepa.
i am thinking of getting a better skimmer, but this one did fine so far my tank has been setup for about 3 years.

 

[Anonymous]

You need a better skimmer. Plus, do you use RO/DI water for make up and water changes?

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry, I missed that you use RO water. Did you test it with a TDS meter?

 

[meathelmet75]

i will try a better skimmer.
where can i get my ro water tested or perhaps get a tds meter?

 

[cdeakle]

I am running a sea clone skimmer.

Noooooooooo!!!! New skimmer needed friend.

 

[fishfanatic2]

Here is 420 Puff's method for dealing with SEaclone skimmers:

Shine it up real good, then drop-kick it out a window. Repeat.

Maybe it was Hwarang's method. Im not sure. :roll:

 

[Anonymous]

Look quick there is a group buy for an inline TDS meter going on as we speak.

 

[cdeakle]

Here is 420 Puff's method for dealing with SEaclone skimmers:

Shine it up real good, then drop-kick it out a window. Repeat.

Thats mine, LOL

Come join the group buy, we have room for a few more!

 

[kim]

Test your RO/DI for phosphate...at the levels which can cause your tank problems, it won't necessarily show up on a simple TDS meter.

Maybe increase light on the refugium to encourage the caulerpa to compete for nutrients. And if this stringy stuff is so vigourous, maybe you should be using it, rather than caulerpa, in the refugium !

kim

 

[Ben1]

Sounds like typical hair algea. Has to be from nutrients from somewhere, feeding, make up water, bad detritus build up in the sand or in the sump where ever, ect..

Increasing the flow in the tank can't hurt, what do you have in the tank to move the water around? High flow in the tank keeps thing suspended much better leading to more effective filtration.

The skimmer is pretty bad ut if you cant afford a new one yet modify it by cutting the inner pipe. The fact that the bubbles in the chamber form a cyclone means less air to water mixing is happening and less contact time. For these two reasons the skimmer is very uneffective. I am sure you can find the instructions for the mods on RDO. When you can afford one I recommend a becket driven like PM bullets or a www.myreefcreations.com skimmer.

Manual removal which was also already mentioned will also help in short term.
Hair algea can be nasty but once the water levels are in check it should be an easy fix. Using a toothbrush after manual removal helps get the harder to remove spots clean. Also making sure your CA and ALK levels are good will help coraline grow.

HTH

 

[ufans]

I have green hair algae on the top of my sand and it doesn't seem to go away. It has been there for almost two weeks now. I use RO/DI and my phosophates are at 0. I think it is just because of the snails that ran over the top of the sand and left some nutrients behind in their tracks. Could that be it?

 

[Ben1]

I think it is just because of the snails that ran over the top of the sand and left some nutrients behind in their tracks. Could that be it?

No, it is not possible for snails to leave this kind of nutrients behind. Beside snails help eliminate nutrients more then produce them. I would bet you are either using a bad P02 kit or your GHA is using the P02 that becomes available so fast it isnt messurable even though it is there. What type of test kit are you using?

 

[ufans]

I was using the PO2 test out of the RedSeaFish ReefMaster kit. Is there a better one?

I guess I should just continue to remove the algae from the sand and do some more water changes.

 

[Ben1]

Red Sea est kits are useless. Get a salifert or Lamotte. Salifert is the more affordable of the two and much much more accurate then the red sea ones.