Add Sump + Cheato = Hair Algae!!! (long)

[bigbris1]

As many of you know I recently drilled my Oceanic 40 long & added a 13.3 gal acrylic sump. In the refugium section I have a 3" sandbed, some LR rubble & cheato. It is lit w/5700K screw in CF bulb.

I recently noticed my rocks looking fuzzier than with my former undrilled, Remora skimmed tank. I assumed that since I went skimmerless, this was the problem. So I added a Won Brothers CU-75 to the mix. Skims just as well as the Remora but hair algae is still abundant.

I scrubbed all of the rocks inside the tank with a toothbrush then did a 35 gallon WC while siphoning all the loose kelp, to reveal beautiful pink, purple & maroon colored rocks to my amazement!! I'd never seen them so colorful.

A week later, guess what? Major green pasturage! :screama:

Yesterday I added:

9 zebra hermits
3 black turbos
3 Nerite snails

to the already 3 Nassarius, 2 black turbos, 4 asst hermits, 1 redfoot conch, 1 fighting conch.

I feed frozen Formula 1, 2, frozen mysis & frozen plankton once a day, careful to strain off all the packing "juice" before feeding, and careful not to overfeed. Light bulbs were changed a month ago. Light cycle is the same as before the outbreak.

Today, I started running PhosPure again. Then I took all of the cheato & water out of the sump, vigorously shook the cheato. O..M..G..! The water was black! The cheato was harboring a ton of crap! Hopefully I can score some pods soon so that they can help dispose of what gets caught in the cheato.

Will keep an eye on the cheato & see if anything changes as far as the hair algae. Thanks for reading.

 

[rbtwo4]

feeding everyday? isnt this a major no no? and the reasun u have HA

 

[Tonyscoots84]

feeding everyday when did that become a no no? i as many others do not want there tanks inhabitants to starve.. i feed everyday and dont have hair algae. yea and that cheato can store alot of crap in them...

try not to make to many changes at once.. do a little at a time...

 

[NYreefNoob]

i feed my fish twice a day with a smaller tank, it isnt a no no if they are eating all of what you feed

 

[bigbris1]

Here's my plan:

Run only actinics for a week.
Resume weekly wc's
Run PhosPure
I've "dialed up" the skimmer
Get a seahare if all else fails

Anyone have any experience with seahares? I only see them as Large. Can I get a smaller one anywhere? None of my corals are glued down (except the ones naturally attached to the LR) so I'm worried about them getting knocked over.

I've had more than a few corals disappear because of getting knocked over & forgotten.

 

[kenske]

me too i feed everyday. i change my water 1-2 times a month. I only had a green slime algae problem with my frag tank, which is fairly new. 2 weeks ago, i added a in tank fuge (made out of 2 specimen containers). I have 2 types of macro growing in it. I also have a small light above the fuge that i leave on 24/7. In less than 2 weeks, all...yep..all hair and slime algae is gone. I did add a few more snails and 3 fighting conches during that period though. Past week or so, ive been feeding everyday, still no algae problem in both of my tanks.

 

[qckwzrd]

I feed my tank mysis, formula one and/or cyclops (frozen/flaked) just about everyday. I started to get HA pretty bad. I did the whole toothbrush thing and lights, but didn't work. I do 30% water changes every week anyway but reduced my light time to about 3-4 hrs a day and got an urchin. Seems to be working pretty good so far. I have tons of pods in my fuge with hermits and a pistol shrimp. Nitrates stay low but I know its time to change the bulbs.

 

[autoponicz]

looks like feeding those frozen food can be the problem.....

 

[Tonyscoots84]

something i forgot to mention is that i rinse the frozen mysis in a fish net...

 

[Domboski]

something i forgot to mention is that i rinse the frozen mysis in a fish net...

Me too. I overfeed my tank everyday with no problems.

bigbris1,

Make sure the water is flowing at a nice rate through the chaeto to avoid build up of Detritus. If possiblle, try to create a tumbling effect. In my sump, I use a maxi jet to create water flow that keeps the chaeto tumbling. Give this a try.

What kind of CF are you using? I'm asking because I used the one from Melev's reef that you can buy at SOME Home Depots or order online. I used it and I developed a hair algae problem. I had to remove all sand from my sump, remove as much of the hair algae as possible, conduct a lot of water changes (50% each) and use a 40 watt CF made by current usa. The light is on 24/7 and the algae has not come back at all after two weeks (2 water changes/week).

 

[drperetz]

...

I battled hair algae in my 45 gallon for the longest....

Something a little sea bunny cant handle.

 

[Bikinisalt]

I tend to overfeed my fish, morning and night. I feed a mixture of flakes, pellets, nori, mysis, formula 1 and 2, prime reef, angel cubes, plankton, and others. I do this everyday for the past 2 years in my 120. I do about 50G water change every month and I never had hair algae.

One more thing I don't even rinse the frozen food and my lights sometimes stay on for about 14 hours a day. I have no sump what so ever. I run no phosphate reactor or carbon.

Onething I do have is a very very large protein skimmer running of a Iwaki 40 pump. That might be why, don't know...

 

[Awibrandy]

I would never not feed my fish! To me that would just be cruelty. Fish have food available to them 24/7 in the Ocean.
My 155 bow front reef has no fuge, but I do have a very small bunch of chaeto(fist size) in my sump. Run the HD bulb 12hrs alternate to the tank lights in the sump. Turboflotor Multi 1000, phozar in reactor, carbon in the other reactor. No socks. Something like 30 fish, an assortment of mixed corals, 3 cleaner shrimps, 2 blood shrimps, nassarius, turbo, fighting conch, a couple of hermits, clams. I feed daily tons of food; frozen mysis, cyclopeeze, rod's food, formula 1&2, sometimes prawn(for the betta), formula 1 pellets,Omega One super veggies, seaweed sheets most soaked in garlicke & selcon or vitamins. All frozen foods are thawed in tap water, then rinsed 3 or 4 times through a brine shrimp net. I do weekly w/c of about 35g of ro/di. The only place I've gotten any hair algea has been in my overflows which I remove by simply pulling it out when it gets so thick it interfear the flow of water.

 

[bigbris1]

Dom, I bought the bulb from HD. It's not the one from Melev's site but the spiral one, that is a daytime 5700K? rating & is like 14W useage, 60W output. The cheato grows nicely, & I initially left the light on 24/7 but now have switched to opposing cycle since algae was growing in there like crazy.

I just cleaned out my sump, added Phospure, removed filter sock. The cheato gets a nice flow of water, I can even redirect my return pump to give some flow back to the fuge.

I do not rinse the frozen food, as I feel I may be washing away some nutrients something in my tank might need. I thaw it in a teacup, then holding the teacup sideways I roll my finger over the food, sqeezing out "the juice". Then I add a little tank water & feed with the baster.

 

[Wes]

a combination of getting rid of the chaeto, running a clean sump w/ no refuge, and GFO worked wonders for me. For me a refugium in the sump did more harm than good. It sounds like u may have the same issue.

Feeding everyday a big no no? lol, i feed 2 times a day

 

[Domboski]

Dom, I bought the bulb from HD. It's not the one from Melev's site but the spiral one, that is a daytime 5700K? rating & is like 14W useage, 60W output. The cheato grows nicely, & I initially left the light on 24/7 but now have switched to opposing cycle since algae was growing in there like crazy.

I just cleaned out my sump, added Phospure, removed filter sock. The cheato gets a nice flow of water, I can even redirect my return pump to give some flow back to the fuge.

I do not rinse the frozen food, as I feel I may be washing away some nutrients something in my tank might need. I thaw it in a teacup, then holding the teacup sideways I roll my finger over the food, sqeezing out "the juice". Then I add a little tank water & feed with the baster.

Maybe you should go with the quick rinse. You wont wash away the nutrients. In fact, your current method may be helping release bio into the water stream causing the algae. It's hard to say cause I assume you were doing this before too

Maybe the light is just due to be replaced. I'm not sure how long the CF's from Home Depot retain there best levels. Its funny because When I used the light from HD that didn't have its own reflector (the one I believe you are using) I developed the algae problem. If your in the neighborhood soon, I have a couple extra of the CFs mentioned on Melev's site that have their own reflector. You can have one and see if it helps.

Dom

 

[bigbris1]

I forgot to mention & pour "the juice" out into the sink

I just set up the sump so the bulb is pretty new, but I'll be in your area on Sunday afternoon so maybe I can stop by then. Please PM me your number again & thanks!

 

[Domboski]

I forgot to mention & pour "the juice" out into the sink

I just set up the sump so the bulb is pretty new, but I'll be in your area on Sunday afternoon so maybe I can stop by then. Please PM me your number again & thanks!

No prob. Your PM is full.

 

[meschaefer]

I am absolutely amazed that this thread has hit two solid pages, and there is not a single question regarding his water parameters.

If you have hair algae you have excess nutrients in your system, Nitrate and Phosphate are probably the worst offenders.

IMO Cheato does more harm than good in terms of nutrient removal, at best it only keeps up with the nutrients its trapping in your system. (look what happened when you shook it out.

What type of food are you feeding, most of the frozen cubes that I have tested have such high levels of phosphate in them that I have stopped using cubes all together, even when rinsing them out they significantly raised the phosphate level in my tank. I would need to go look at my notes for specifics, but most of the frozen foods I tested (rinsed) raised the phosphate in my system by .04 per cube in a 65gallon display/20 gallon sump.

 

[Bikinisalt]

The only place I've gotten any hair algea has been in my overflows which I remove by simply pulling it out when it gets so thick it interfear the flow of water.

Me too...

I am really bad when it comes to water changes and I don't use RO water. I have alot of big fish in the tank like big angels and tangs. Sometimes when I am home all day I feed them alot maybe even 6 times because they come up to the front glass and I feel bad.