Algae Question

[ReefMan75-20-15]

OK. I really appreciate all of the feedback everyone has submitted. The water I use is RO/DI/DI. I change 20 gallons a week. First pulling as much as possible of the algea out then siphoning. I have tested it many times and it is fine. SO that is not the problem. I only feed about once a week now but before was feeding every other day. I have a Prizm skimmer that seems to work well. I drip Kalkwasser 24/7. The lights have been replaced about 2 months ago, and are only on for about 8 hrs/day. The live rock is all Fiji. About 80 lbs or so. And I have a 2 1/2 - 4 inch sand bed. All Carib Sea Arigalive sand.

 

[Lifer]

Not to overwhelm you with ideas but, check your alkalinity. Hair algae does not appreciate higher alkalinity. 2.5 to 3 meq/l or I believe 10-12 dkh is where you want it. The kalkwasser will achieve this. ROWAphos is a great product for diminishing P04 levels. Remember...not much happens overnight in an aquarium. More aptly put, nothing GOOD happens quickly in an aquarium. Bottom line, hair algae (Bryopsis) is methodical in it's growth. You must be methodical in it's decline. Be patient and try one thing at a time. What would 200 more snails do that 200 snails were not able to accomplish. Kole tang (yellow eye tang), queen conch, Mithrax crabs (emerald crabs), Zebrasoma tang, urchins all eat different types and lengths of algae. It is not good to have hundreds of creatures that only eat particular types of algae...DIVERSIFY. Good luck to you. We have all seen it many times over. Don't let it get the best of you!

 

[ReefMan75-20-15]

It ha already gotten the best of me and all but 2 corals. I have been at it for almost 4 months now, and it just keeps getting worse. I have been trying to bring up my alkalinity too. It is just now starting to come up since I switched to a powder for instead of the Kent liquid I was using. It is about 9 dKh now. I am shooting for 10-13 range. I think I am going to take the couple pieces of coral out that I have and turn the lights off. What do you think of this? Will it help or am I just wasting my time? Also I am going to remove soe snails since I am now being told it is not necessary to have so many.

 

[oimate84]

What worked for me is upgrading my skimmer, I had a way underrated skimmer (a sealife systems) and my hair algae was terrible, I upgraded to a euro-reef ES5-2 and about 2 weeks after my hair algae was gone...Your skimmer might not be pulling enough organics out of the water..this might be a possibility, also the suggestions for a refugium is also very good idea

 

[ChrisRD]

I'll second Oimate84's suggestion about upgrading the skimmer.

 

[fishfanatic2]

I'm telling you, you should really get those hermits, they pick at it 24/7. Like 50 should do it in a little bit. The blue-legged ones are 100% reef safe.