UV sterilizer questions

[egriesner]

Will a UV sterilizer help with an existing hair algae outbreak? or is it only preventative? Thanks.

 

[Aquadicted]

it will help control it to some degree by killing the free floating hair algae. But the question really should be whats causing the hair algae. U use RODI? maybe overfeed?

 

[egriesner]

I use rodi, run a gfo, and have a refugium....

 

[MikeC]

Is your refugium trapping detritus ? Causing it to brake down and making phosphates(food for your algae)?

 

[egriesner]

Yes.

 

[MikeC]

Yes.

Ok then my suggestion would be try and fix that problem first

 

[egriesner]

Isn't that what feeds my chaeto and pods?

 

[MikeC]

Why are you feeding chato? If it's because you like the look of it fine but if your keeping a refugium to trap detritus to feed chato does that not sound counter productive to you?
Chato will absorb some phosphates but if your not cultivating ( removing ) it how do you expect the phosphates to be removed from the tank? Especially if the phosphates become limiting and can't feed that amount of chato any more and it starts to die thus releasing phosphates back into the water as food for more nuisance algie.

What I'm saying is if you can remove detritus threw siphoning/skimming and not having a place for it to collect and rot (your refugium) and before it is given a chance to brake down your a head of the game because you are removing potential phosphates (food for your hair algie)

Pods shmods they will be in a tank wether you have a sewer (refugium) or not.
Worrying about pods IMOP is ridiculous when you have a tank loaded with hair algae.

A UV is a after the fact fix it ...maybe?
Why not try and prevent the problem before it happens.
It's not to late to start fixing it now.

 

[egriesner]

So what do you recommend in the place of my refugium?

 

[skene]

A vacuum in the fuge/sump anywhere you see detritus build up.

 

[MikeC]

So what do you recommend in the place of my refugium?

A sump
A place to keep your skimmer and return pump so you don't have to keep it in the DT.
Siphon out detritus that settles in the DT and sump regularly removing detritus any way possible before it gets a chance to brake down.

Check my signature and use Google :wink1:

 

[Dre]

Detritus is not a big problem we all have some behind rockwork in the sand bed etc. for years. In fact some corals benefit from detritus. Unsightly yes but not the cause of hair algae. Most of us panic when we see a little build up, I don't. Hair algae need food, light and warm water, take one away, it crashes or don't grow anymore. I would remove it by hand and put it in the refuge on 24/7 lighting let it use up the nutrience beneficial for it to survive out of sight. Well that's what i do...

 

[FlyPenFly]

Hair algae grows in natural reefs too.

 

[MikeC]

Hair algae grows in natural reefs too.

Yup you can very well choose to not do water changes and have hair algae in your tank if it makes you feel better comparing your glass box to a natural reef.
The great thing about this hobby is we can choose what appeals to us and justify how we keep our tanks if it makes us feel good

It always amazes me when I see other reefers tanks and what they conceive as
A great reef or a health reef:scratch:

To each his own:spin:

Just trying to offer help and suggestions to the OP

 

[Aquadicted]

Detritus is not a big problem we all have some behind rockwork in the sand bed etc. for years. In fact some corals benefit from detritus. Unsightly yes but not the cause of hair algae. Most of us panic when we see a little build up, I don't. Hair algae need food, light and warm water, take one away, it crashes or don't grow anymore. I would remove it by hand and put it in the refuge on 24/7 lighting let it use up the nutrience beneficial for it to survive out of sight. Well that's what i do...

I second this notion. Don't change your fuge to a sump..... You want your plants in the fuge to eat all the nutrients so the tank does not have any more for the algae to feed on. So try lowering the nutrients you're putting into the tank.