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Help - green algae out of control!
OK, so I've already reduced the photoperiod of my tank to around 8
hours a day (night lamps on the rest of the time)...and as those who've read my stuff before know, this is a relatively new tank (I think its about 2 months running now). The only animal type stuff in the tank are about 8 turbo snails, 6 hermit crabs, and one lil' ol clownfish (plus a small coral piece). The issue that I'm having is that the algae growth seems to be absolutely out of control, coating the overflow box, and walls of the tank with thick, green, hairy algae. I've added phosphate remover in a sack to the sump, at the recommendation of my LFS...but am somewhat at a loss as to what else can be done. Is it, perhaps, time to add some kind of grazer, i.e. a yellow tang? This stuff is growing UNBELIEVABLY quickly...I scrubbed the tank sides last night, and came down this morning to new growth springing up all over. The live rock seems to be kept pretty clean, but it seems like the stuff is growing MUCH faster than anything the snails can keep up with... Thoughts? Mitch |
Help - green algae out of control!
It was too soon to buy any fish... feeding the fish you are fueling algae.
Hold on buying other fish or any other "grazer" until you identify the alga. Tangs do not particularly eat green hair algae - it does not taste good. They prefer eating more ornamental macroalgae, the ones you would not mind having in the tank... The best grazer for hair algae I find tuxedo urchin, but the problem with them is that they die of starvation when the algae is gone... Other urchin - black long spine one should eat it, too but I am not sure - never had one - they grow too big for my tank... The best way to get rid of green hair algae is to starve the new tank to let all the result of cycling processed to nitrogen by DSB. To speed up starvation mechanically scrub algae from time to time by removing rocks outside of tank - this way you do not let scrubbed algae pieces go back to the system... Also, make sure you have sump sock to catch all the pieces your hermits will cut from the rock and not eat... I would keep the tank unfed for a long time before buing a fish, but you have already got one, so it will be tough... What are your current levels of nitrates, phosphates, alkalinity and pH? |
Help - green algae out of control!
"Pszemol" wrote in message ... It was too soon to buy any fish... feeding the fish you are fueling algae. Hold on buying other fish or any other "grazer" until you identify the alga. Tangs do not particularly eat green hair algae - it does not taste good. Man! You are really dedicated! They prefer eating more ornamental macroalgae, the ones you would not mind having in the tank... The best grazer for hair algae I find tuxedo urchin, but the problem with them is that they die of starvation when the algae is gone... Other urchin - black long spine one should eat it, too but I am not sure - never had one - they grow too big for my tank... The best way to get rid of green hair algae is to starve the new tank to let all the result of cycling processed to nitrogen by DSB. To speed up starvation mechanically scrub algae from time to time by removing rocks outside of tank - this way you do not let scrubbed algae pieces go back to the system... Also, make sure you have sump sock to catch all the pieces your hermits will cut from the rock and not eat... I would keep the tank unfed for a long time before buing a fish, but you have already got one, so it will be tough... What are your current levels of nitrates, phosphates, alkalinity and pH? |
Help - green algae out of control!
On Nov 5, 11:04 am, "Pszemol" wrote:
It was too soon to buy any fish... feeding the fish you are fueling algae. Hold on buying other fish or any other "grazer" until you identify the alga. Tangs do not particularly eat green hair algae - it does not taste good. You tasted it? j/k They prefer eating more ornamental macroalgae, the ones you would not mind having in the tank... The best grazer for hair algae I find tuxedo urchin, but the problem with them is that they die of starvation when the algae is gone... Other urchin - black long spine one should eat it, too but I am not sure - never had one - they grow too big for my tank... Definitely not ready to add any kind of urchin...trying to take this slowly. The best way to get rid of green hair algae is to starve the new tank to let all the result of cycling processed to nitrogen by DSB. To speed up starvation mechanically scrub algae from time to time by removing rocks outside of tank - this way you do not let scrubbed algae pieces go back to the system... Also, make sure you have sump sock to catch all the pieces your hermits will cut from the rock and not eat... Yup, I have a sock on the sump. I would keep the tank unfed for a long time before buing a fish, but you have already got one, so it will be tough... What are your current levels of nitrates, phosphates, alkalinity and pH? Dont have the numbers on me unfortunately. LFS confirmed testing wiht me and said that nitrates were at 0, phosphates were a bit high as was alkalinity, while PH was fine.. (hence the addition of the phosphate removing pebble thingiemabobbers) Mitch |
Help - green algae out of control!
"Big Habeeb" wrote in message ups.com...
On Nov 5, 11:04 am, "Pszemol" wrote: It was too soon to buy any fish... feeding the fish you are fueling algae. Hold on buying other fish or any other "grazer" until you identify the alga. Tangs do not particularly eat green hair algae - it does not taste good. You tasted it? j/k No, my fish did and did not like it :-) They prefer eating more ornamental macroalgae, the ones you would not mind having in the tank... The best grazer for hair algae I find tuxedo urchin, but the problem with them is that they die of starvation when the algae is gone... Other urchin - black long spine one should eat it, too but I am not sure - never had one - they grow too big for my tank... Definitely not ready to add any kind of urchin...trying to take this slowly. If you took it slow you would not have any fish yet... The best way to get rid of green hair algae is to starve the new tank to let all the result of cycling processed to nitrogen by DSB. To speed up starvation mechanically scrub algae from time to time by removing rocks outside of tank - this way you do not let scrubbed algae pieces go back to the system... Also, make sure you have sump sock to catch all the pieces your hermits will cut from the rock and not eat... Yup, I have a sock on the sump. I would keep the tank unfed for a long time before buing a fish, but you have already got one, so it will be tough... What are your current levels of nitrates, phosphates, alkalinity and pH? Dont have the numbers on me unfortunately. LFS confirmed testing wiht me and said that nitrates were at 0, phosphates were a bit high as was alkalinity, while PH was fine.. (hence the addition of the phosphate removing pebble thingiemabobbers) So now what is left is just patience... Feed only minimal quantities every couple of days noting if all food is eaten by fish. Fish will eat some planktonic organism taking off the live rock so it will not be that hungry anyway... Have you read this? http://www.melevsreef.com/gha.html |
Help - green algae out of control!
I actually thought I was being patient with just the one fish...LFS
said tank was ready for it - clearly not the case. So now what is left is just patience... Feed only minimal quantities every couple of days noting if all food is eaten by fish. Fish will eat some planktonic organism taking off the live rock so it will not be that hungry anyway... I usually drop in something like 3 flakes, and the clown grabs them right away...dont believe there's bene more than a crumb or two of 'excess' Have you read this?http://www.melevsreef.com/gha.html- Hide quoted text - I hadn't read it, but I'm going to give that a whirl tonight...my reef tank is starting to look like a grassy field. - Show quoted text - |
Help - green algae out of control!
i have had my share of this,
sparing us having to read other posts to keep up with your new tank, it would be better on each post if you post the pertinent info. sorry about that, you may have posted this info already, i dont feel like scrubbing the posts to find out. :-) what type of lights do you have? i forgot, but may hav easked already. are they NO's? it may be the phosphates currently. can you buy a bunch of turbos? its not unheard of to buy 1 snail per gallon of water, and hermits to MINIMAL cleaning of GHA. since its on teh glass, a few good mow downs from snails may be your best bet while you starve your nutrients which can be a slow process. bristle worms, or may be a different species, will decimate that hair algae if you keep it unstirred. let them lay their eggs on it, and they will chop it all at the roots, but that is a few week process and will get real ugly. then a slime coat covers it and starves it. if you see the slime coat growing over, dont disturb it, cause its almost gone, but took me weeks for that to happen once. of course thats when i was using OLD NO's. hopefully you wont have to go that route. |
Help - green algae out of control!
On Nov 5, 3:05 pm, wolfdogg wrote:
i have had my share of this, sparing us having to read other posts to keep up with your new tank, it would be better on each post if you post the pertinent info. sorry about that, you may have posted this info already, i dont feel like scrubbing the posts to find out. :-) what type of lights do you have? i forgot, but may hav easked already. are they NO's? it may be the phosphates currently. can you buy a bunch of turbos? its not unheard of to buy 1 snail per gallon of water, and hermits to MINIMAL cleaning of GHA. since its on teh glass, a few good mow downs from snails may be your best bet while you starve your nutrients which can be a slow process. bristle worms, or may be a different species, will decimate that hair algae if you keep it unstirred. let them lay their eggs on it, and they will chop it all at the roots, but that is a few week process and will get real ugly. then a slime coat covers it and starves it. if you see the slime coat growing over, dont disturb it, cause its almost gone, but took me weeks for that to happen once. of course thats when i was using OLD NO's. hopefully you wont have to go that route. I try not to put in all the background stuff too often because I seem to get responses from the same 3 or so people each time...but in the future I'll try to give a basic background :) Well, right now I've got about 8 turbos in there...half dozen hermits. As for the lighting its your typical newbie aquarist stuff...nothing fancy, day/night flourescents I believe. Have the box at home so can clarify that later on. Clearly strong enough that it's generating a hell of a lot of the algae. I dont mind the tank getting scummy, as long as I know that it will pass a 'breaking point' where it will start clearing up. My first instinct, stemming from my freshwater days, is to get something in there to eat the crap...and lord knows, the pleco I had in my cichlid tank did one hell of a bangup job...I still clearly have a lot to learn about the workings of a reef tank and the fact that the thing is supposed to be its own ecosystem without my screwing it up! Mitch |
Help - green algae out of control!
Big Habeeb wrote:
OK, so I've already reduced the photoperiod of my tank to around 8 hours a day (night lamps on the rest of the time)...and as those who've read my stuff before know, this is a relatively new tank (I think its about 2 months running now). The only animal type stuff in the tank are about 8 turbo snails, 6 hermit crabs, and one lil' ol clownfish (plus a small coral piece). The issue that I'm having is that the algae growth seems to be absolutely out of control, coating the overflow box, and walls of the tank with thick, green, hairy algae. I've added phosphate remover in a sack to the sump, at the recommendation of my LFS...but am somewhat at a loss as to what else can be done. Is it, perhaps, time to add some kind of grazer, i.e. a yellow tang? This stuff is growing UNBELIEVABLY quickly...I scrubbed the tank sides last night, and came down this morning to new growth springing up all over. The live rock seems to be kept pretty clean, but it seems like the stuff is growing MUCH faster than anything the snails can keep up with... Sounds like hair algae. Your LFS is giving you good advice. This stuff lives off light, phosphates, and nitrates. With the type of setup you've described having, your nitrates will become negligible in six months to a year. Until then, water changes will keep them down. Phosphates frequently come in in your tap water and normal decay products add to this in the tank. A good phosphate remover can help, but many people buy a reverse-osmosis filter to treat the tap water used for water changes. There are a number of animals that eat hair algae. Blue-leg hermit crabs, Foxface Rabbitfish, some sea urchins, and one sea slug all have good reputations. I have a hair algae problem and have had no luck with hermit crabs or rabbitfish. Kurt G of this group had such great results from his sea slug that the poor thing is in danger of starving, so I intend to get one of those soon. In the meantime, I just scrub the glass and rock and filter out the debris. George Patterson If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess to anything. |
Help - green algae out of control!
Big Habeeb wrote:
I dont mind the tank getting scummy, as long as I know that it will pass a 'breaking point' where it will start clearing up. My first instinct, stemming from my freshwater days, is to get something in there to eat the crap... Do that. It won't hit a breaking point, and it may smother stuff you really would like to have. Any filter feeders are likely to be history soon. George Patterson If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess to anything. |
Help - green algae out of control!
One way I have found to help keep hair algae under some control is to take
the rock out and scrub it off as much as possible and then turn the rock over in the tank so the hair algae that didn't come off is under the rock and not on top so the light doesn't hit it. Keep turning the rock as much as possible. It doesn't like not having light. Also works for macro algae your trying to get rid off on rocks Susan :). "George Patterson" wrote in message news:a1RXi.6623$Zz.2716@trnddc07... Big Habeeb wrote: OK, so I've already reduced the photoperiod of my tank to around 8 hours a day (night lamps on the rest of the time)...and as those who've read my stuff before know, this is a relatively new tank (I think its about 2 months running now). The only animal type stuff in the tank are about 8 turbo snails, 6 hermit crabs, and one lil' ol clownfish (plus a small coral piece). The issue that I'm having is that the algae growth seems to be absolutely out of control, coating the overflow box, and walls of the tank with thick, green, hairy algae. I've added phosphate remover in a sack to the sump, at the recommendation of my LFS...but am somewhat at a loss as to what else can be done. Is it, perhaps, time to add some kind of grazer, i.e. a yellow tang? This stuff is growing UNBELIEVABLY quickly...I scrubbed the tank sides last night, and came down this morning to new growth springing up all over. The live rock seems to be kept pretty clean, but it seems like the stuff is growing MUCH faster than anything the snails can keep up with... Sounds like hair algae. Your LFS is giving you good advice. This stuff lives off light, phosphates, and nitrates. With the type of setup you've described having, your nitrates will become negligible in six months to a year. Until then, water changes will keep them down. Phosphates frequently come in in your tap water and normal decay products add to this in the tank. A good phosphate remover can help, but many people buy a reverse-osmosis filter to treat the tap water used for water changes. There are a number of animals that eat hair algae. Blue-leg hermit crabs, Foxface Rabbitfish, some sea urchins, and one sea slug all have good reputations. I have a hair algae problem and have had no luck with hermit crabs or rabbitfish. Kurt G of this group had such great results from his sea slug that the poor thing is in danger of starving, so I intend to get one of those soon. In the meantime, I just scrub the glass and rock and filter out the debris. George Patterson If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess to anything. |
Help - green algae out of control!
On Nov 5, 10:31 pm, "Susan" wrote:
One way I have found to help keep hair algae under some control is to take the rock out and scrub it off as much as possible and then turn the rock over in the tank so the hair algae that didn't come off is under the rock and not on top so the light doesn't hit it. Keep turning the rock as much as possible. It doesn't like not having light. Also works for macro algae your trying to get rid off on rocks Susan :)."George Patterson" wrote in message news:a1RXi.6623$Zz.2716@trnddc07... Big Habeeb wrote: OK, so I've already reduced the photoperiod of my tank to around 8 hours a day (night lamps on the rest of the time)...and as those who've read my stuff before know, this is a relatively new tank (I think its about 2 months running now). The only animal type stuff in the tank are about 8 turbo snails, 6 hermit crabs, and one lil' ol clownfish (plus a small coral piece). The issue that I'm having is that the algae growth seems to be absolutely out of control, coating the overflow box, and walls of the tank with thick, green, hairy algae. I've added phosphate remover in a sack to the sump, at the recommendation of my LFS...but am somewhat at a loss as to what else can be done. Is it, perhaps, time to add some kind of grazer, i.e. a yellow tang? This stuff is growing UNBELIEVABLY quickly...I scrubbed the tank sides last night, and came down this morning to new growth springing up all over. The live rock seems to be kept pretty clean, but it seems like the stuff is growing MUCH faster than anything the snails can keep up with... Sounds like hair algae. Your LFS is giving you good advice. This stuff lives off light, phosphates, and nitrates. With the type of setup you've described having, your nitrates will become negligible in six months to a year. Until then, water changes will keep them down. Phosphates frequently come in in your tap water and normal decay products add to this in the tank. A good phosphate remover can help, but many people buy a reverse-osmosis filter to treat the tap water used for water changes. There are a number of animals that eat hair algae. Blue-leg hermit crabs, Foxface Rabbitfish, some sea urchins, and one sea slug all have good reputations. I have a hair algae problem and have had no luck with hermit crabs or rabbitfish. Kurt G of this group had such great results from his sea slug that the poor thing is in danger of starving, so I intend to get one of those soon. In the meantime, I just scrub the glass and rock and filter out the debris. George Patterson If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess to anything.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Actually the rock isn't the problem...the snails, crabs and the like are keeping the rocks relatively free and clear. Its everything else: the glass, the overflow box, the hoses etc. Mitch |
Help - green algae out of control!
On Nov 5, 10:21 pm, George Patterson wrote:
Big Habeeb wrote: I dont mind the tank getting scummy, as long as I know that it will pass a 'breaking point' where it will start clearing up. My first instinct, stemming from my freshwater days, is to get something in there to eat the crap... Do that. It won't hit a breaking point, and it may smother stuff you really would like to have. Any filter feeders are likely to be history soon. George Patterson If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess to anything. George, When you say 'do that' you mean, get something to eat the crap? Any recommendations apart from what I already have in there (snails and hermits)? Not sure what you mean by filter feeders are likely to be history soon either, can you possibly clarify? Thanks, Mitch |
Help - green algae out of control!
On Nov 5, 1:00 pm, Big Habeeb wrote:
As for the lighting its your typical newbie aquarist stuff...nothing fancy, day/night flourescents I believe. Have the box at home so can clarify that later on. Clearly strong enough that it's generating a hell of a lot of the algae. personally, i would look no further to the source of your problem. if you get your nitrates and phosphates down to 0, the algae may or may not disappear. even 1ppm may keep it healthy. it could be your lights. i had teh same problem. NO means Normal Output flourescent bulbs with standard ballasts. NO fluorescents cause algae growth when they are older than about 6 mos to a year old. i found this out the hard way, and never wanted to believe it, so didn't replace the bulbs, and payed the price a couple years back. if your running old 4ft 40w fluorescents, or similar, then they are likely the cause of the growth due to shifting spectrum bulbs, or even worse, if they are daylight flourescents not for fish, then that IS the cause for sure, but im not sure since i haven't been following your tank background. take a look at them, if they say daylight(non reef), or full spectrum, or cool white, warm white, they are the wrong type of bulbs. if they say 50/50, actinic, or 10k, or vitalite, or similar, then they would be the right bulbs but could be old and have shifted spectrum. proper light spectrum for a reef will not grow hair algae under normal conditions unless nitrates are high. the worst thing you can do is let the algae spread. try to keep it under control by picking the long shafts per the article on marc's melevs reef website, so that none of the long hairs get so long that they will transplant themselves. this way once you get the nitrates and phos down, then the algae will just stop growing so much at best. it may take months to starve it out, i have even shut out teh lights on my previous NO tank for a week at a time, twice, only to find out i killed some hermits and a scooter blenny. i finally gave up and tried the biological approach of letting it overgrow int eh entire tank in which worms and other bio activity decimated the lot of it, but it wasnt a pretty sight. i lost my mushrooms that time too, as George Patterson mentioned other stuff can be smothered, and will be smothered from light, nutrients, and gas exchange. so check your lights right away to see the spectrum and type to make sure that its not the cause, if it is, you would want to change out teh bulbs right away. assuming its regular flourescent lights, you would want to get either a couple 50/50's which is 50% actinic and 50% reef spectrum, or an actinic and a 10k. if you wanted to save a bit of money first you could just buy the 10k if you have a way to run one bulb by itself, and wait to buy the actinic the next week or two after. either way, be sure its not the lights, cause if it is, the problem will compound daily no matter WHAT you do. good luck on this, i feel for you, alot of us have been thru this before and its un-nerving to say the least. |
Help - green algae out of control!
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Help - green algae out of control!
either way, be sure its not the lights, cause if it is, the problem will compound daily no matter WHAT you do. good luck on this, i feel for you, alot of us have been thru this before and its un-nerving to say the least. The lights I have are of the 10k variety, bulbs are about 2 months old. Mitch |
Help - green algae out of control!
Big Habeeb wrote:
When you say 'do that' you mean, get something to eat the crap? Yep. Any recommendations apart from what I already have in there (snails and hermits)? There's a sea slug that loves hair algae. Foxface Rabbitfish like it. Blue-leg hermit crabs like it, but you would need a lot of them to make a dent in it. Not sure what you mean by filter feeders are likely to be history soon either, can you possibly clarify? Any you have will probably be hitchhikers at this stage, but hair algae can smother things like clams, mussels, feather dusters, and the like. Anything that can't escape can get buried. George Patterson If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess to anything. |
Help - green algae out of control!
Big Habeeb wrote:
Actually the rock isn't the problem...the snails, crabs and the like are keeping the rocks relatively free and clear. Its everything else: the glass, the overflow box, the hoses etc. Ah! Then the problem is not as damaging as I had supposed. One solution is to scrape the algae off everything you can reach every few days. You may want to buy a filter like a Hot Magnum to pull the stuff out of the water after you scrape it. As long as the rock is staying fairly clear, your livestock will be ok, and that's the main thing (to me at least). Some time back, Wayne recommended using a toothbrush to get this stuff off of areas that larger scrapers can't handle (like the live rock). I find this to also work well in the corners and seams of the glass. George Patterson If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess to anything. |
Help - green algae out of control!
On Nov 6, 10:44 pm, George Patterson wrote:
Big Habeeb wrote: Actually the rock isn't the problem...the snails, crabs and the like are keeping the rocks relatively free and clear. Its everything else: the glass, the overflow box, the hoses etc. Ah! Then the problem is not as damaging as I had supposed. One solution is to scrape the algae off everything you can reach every few days. You may want to buy a filter like a Hot Magnum to pull the stuff out of the water after you scrape it. As long as the rock is staying fairly clear, your livestock will be ok, and that's the main thing (to me at least). Some time back, Wayne recommended using a toothbrush to get this stuff off of areas that larger scrapers can't handle (like the live rock). I find this to also work well in the corners and seams of the glass. George Patterson If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess to anything. George, Whew...you had me worried there! Yeah, there's one spot on the rock that seems to be a hot bed for the stuff, some thick green viscuous algae there...but I was able to take care of that with a rubber glove and a turkey baster (man, taken out of context that just sounds BAD). It's mostly just the glass, overflow box etc. The snails are doing the durndest and making a decent dent, but the stuff just seems to grow incredibly fast...and I don't really want to end up with 200 snails running around :p I'll go with the scrape it clean method, but I do have to ask: is this something that will stop as the tank ages or is this going to be a constant process? If it's going to be ongoing, that sea slug idea might start to sppeal to me... Mitch |
Help - green algae out of control!
Big Habeeb wrote:
I'll go with the scrape it clean method, but I do have to ask: is this something that will stop as the tank ages or is this going to be a constant process? You may get a variety of opinions on that. The most prevalent opinion is that, if you take steps to make sure your nitrates and phosphates stay near 0, this algae will disappear. With the usual setup, the bacteria in the live rock will eventually keep your nitrates at 0, especially with monthly water changes of 20% or more. Phosphates will be produced as a fish and food waste product, and are frequently present in tap water. One of the most common methods of handling this level is to buy a "phosphate reactor" and use compounds that reduce the level. Using an RO/DI filter to purify your tap water will prevent introduction of phosphates in the first place. With one of these, weekly water changes will bring the level down and you won't need to buy a phosphate reactor. After the level is down, you can go back to monthly water changes. Yet another method is to buy an animal that eats the algae. The most effective one is reported to be a sea slug. The problem with these is that they eat only hair algae. When the algae is gone, the slug starves. I'm not sure how well they work at keeping the stuff off the glass. You might want to take a look at this - http://saltaquarium.about.com/b/2007...hair-algae.htm George Patterson If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess to anything. |
Help - green algae out of control!
Yea, foxface do the best job of eating algae over
all of the herbivorous, but they also do the best job of eating corals, and starfish, over all of the herbivorous. Wayne Sallee George Patterson wrote on 11/6/2007 10:38 PM: Big Habeeb wrote: When you say 'do that' you mean, get something to eat the crap? Yep. Any recommendations apart from what I already have in there (snails and hermits)? There's a sea slug that loves hair algae. Foxface Rabbitfish like it. Blue-leg hermit crabs like it, but you would need a lot of them to make a dent in it. Not sure what you mean by filter feeders are likely to be history soon either, can you possibly clarify? Any you have will probably be hitchhikers at this stage, but hair algae can smother things like clams, mussels, feather dusters, and the like. Anything that can't escape can get buried. George Patterson If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess to anything. |
Help - green algae out of control!
On Nov 7, 8:57 pm, George Patterson wrote:
Big Habeeb wrote: I'll go with the scrape it clean method, but I do have to ask: is this something that will stop as the tank ages or is this going to be a constant process? You may get a variety of opinions on that. The most prevalent opinion is that, if you take steps to make sure your nitrates and phosphates stay near 0, this algae will disappear. With the usual setup, the bacteria in the live rock will eventually keep your nitrates at 0, especially with monthly water changes of 20% or more. Phosphates will be produced as a fish and food waste product, and are frequently present in tap water. One of the most common methods of handling this level is to buy a "phosphate reactor" and use compounds that reduce the level. Using an RO/DI filter to purify your tap water will prevent introduction of phosphates in the first place. With one of these, weekly water changes will bring the level down and you won't need to buy a phosphate reactor. After the level is down, you can go back to monthly water changes. Yet another method is to buy an animal that eats the algae. The most effective one is reported to be a sea slug. The problem with these is that they eat only hair algae. When the algae is gone, the slug starves. I'm not sure how well they work at keeping the stuff off the glass. You might want to take a look at this -http://saltaquarium.about.com/b/2007/10/07/simple-cure-for-green-hair... George Patterson If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess to anything. I do use ro/di water already...the algae production, thankfully, seems to be slowing down since adding the phosphate remover. Hopefully in a couple more days it will continue to slow and the snails can make some good headway. Judging by the next post, I'd say I really, REALLY don't want ot add a foxface, since I'm quite partial to the corals and whatnot that I hope to be adding in the near future :p Mitch |
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