hair algae

evelyn80 said:
i was using bottled water and i think another big contributer would be its in direct sunlight with 2 CFL screw in 3500k bulbs at 15 watts a peice... i think that may be the problem. ill get some RO water its its like 3$ for a 15 gallon jug at the super market in town
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Ah... 3500K bulbs are very good at promoting algal growth. You may want to consider switching to these if you're limited to screw-in bulbs. I would pick the 50/50 bulb of the two listed there. Otherwise, you'll be better off with switching from 3500K to something that is 10,000K or higher. While the higher K bulbs will still grow algae to some extent, they don't encourage it as much as a bulb that is less than 10,000K.

Don't get discouraged... you can get past these hair algae issues in time. As suggested above, ripping out as much of it as possible is definitely a good thing, even if it feels like an endless battle. With every handful you rip out and throw away, you're removing all the nutrients that hair algae took up to grow, ultimately reducing the amount of nutrients your tank.
 
Ace has a suggestion I think is something that should only be done in a tank that is already in good condition. Ace already has a good background and knows his tank well to apply Vodka..this is not for the novice and I wouldn't recommend it unless you really really research on vodka dosing more.

Over at Reeffrontiers.com we had one long mother of threads over this. And Boomer a chemist chimed in on this matter to.

The only thing I am wondering is Ace is Phosphate is only used by plant life ..hence fuges being a help on phosphate removal. But the bacterial boom ? Do you have any articles supporting that the bacteria in our tanks eat up phosphate?? I just wanted to know cause I never heard of this ever.


Now what I do know from the very advanced tank users on the other site is that those with very good parameters and great looking systems dose vodka to feed there corals more. I was in that thread asking why they did it and that was the answer. The bacteria boom basically puts the biofiltering on max so you can really feed the hell out of your corals.

It may be simpler and safer on that 10gallon to just rip out the algae by hand. Use a phosphate removing media. And phosphate test that water you have been using. If that is Nitrate phosphate free ..you can ignore my suggestion for RO water. Since that bottled water is good. Test it first.

That would mean your source of phosphate is coming from feeding. Frozen foods like Krill cubes will have lots of phosphate and rinsing them first is a good idea before putting some in the tank.

My water chem book says that Phosphate is harmless to our tank it just really pushes the growth of algae up a lot. Way more than nitrate can. The combination of high nitrate and phosphate means ideal situation for a lot of algae.

My 72 sits by a window and I have 250w MH bulbs 14k. I dont have an algae problem. And the rare times it pops its head up is because I let something go sideways ...(like not changing out my phosban reactor). Its crazy annoying but its how i know when to change it. Boom hair algae patches form.

I Swear by it man. Phosban reactor is the way to go. A year without one in a previous tank was always battles with algae. Now its just battling that damned reactor to clean it and put more stuff in it.
 
There are many articles about Phosphate reduction via Vodka dosing. Just google "Reef Central Vodka Dosing".

Here is the Reefkeeping Article on it.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php

Small quote:
The main purpose to dose organic carbon is the reduction of excess nutrients in the reef aquaria. The two main nutrients reduced from organic carbon addition are nitrate and phosphate molecules (NO3 and PO4 respectfully). The reduction of phosphates, in turn, allows for enhanced calcification and growth of corals. Additionally, lower NO3 and PO4 have the added benefit of reduced nuisance algae, both bubble and hair. This observation has been reported numerous times by vodka users. The reduction in algae is the result of lower NO3 and PO4 within the water column and not a direct effect of ethanol addition. These potential benefits have lead some to add foreign organic carbon sources not usually found in the reef ecosystem to their tank. The organic compound most frequently used is ethanol (sold in stores as vodka).

The addition of vodka/ethanol is thought to increase bacterial biomass. For this, vodka addition would result in bacterial growth and reproduction. During this process nutrients in the water (including NO3 and PO4) are taken up for the formation of new macromolecules that are needed in cell synthesis and viability. Due to this rapid growth and reproduction, NO3 and PO4 can drop quickly from detectable levels by most test kits on the market. The increased biomass of the bacteria leads to a notable increase in skimmate production, removing more waste than without vodka addition. The increased skimmate is thought to remove the bacteria or bacterial biproducts that have assimilated the NO3 and PO4 within the water column leading to NO3 and PO4 depletion.
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For me, Nitrates were zero on a salifert test, and Phosphates were 0.00 using a Hanna digital phosphate spectrometer, but I still had a odd red algae problem. I suspected the algae was consuming things before my tests could detect them, but I still went ahead and chose the vodka method to see if it works. In the past year I have almost tried it twice previously, but after the first day got scared. A little voice in my head kept telling me it was not a good thing to do and I listened to it. On the 3rd attempt I stuck with it and was amazed with the results. You MUST follow instructions carefully for it to work. I agree with ToeJam, it is not really a beginner tip, but it is good information none the less. :)
 
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Phosphate utilization in bacteria has been known for ages.

 Janson, Mats. Phosphate uptake and utilization by bacteria and algae. Hydrobiologia 170(1): 177-189 1988.

On the other hand, I am not so sure carbon limitation has been proven. I do know that inorganic carbon is limiting, but that is easily supplied via alkalinity (-HCO3). Beyond that, lots of organisms exude organic carbon, including corals and coral slime. Slime is especially carbon rich. I don't think organic carbon itself is actually limiting, but readily utilizable carbon may very well be. But that hasn't proven to necessarily be a bad thing. There have been studies that show that readily utilized carbon sources (such as photosynthates released by macroalgae) possibly contribute to coral disease by indiscriminately fostering bacterial growth (i.e. pathogenic and benign flora). None of this is 100% conclusive, but I simply didn't like the fact that I couldn't have a raised alkalinity. Raised alkalinity has been shown on a number of occasions to greatly increase growth rates (i.e. inorganic carbon limited)--it just strikes me as odd that something that is beneficial under any other circumstance is harmful in this particular one. After my old corals became damaged from higher alkalinity levels, I stopped organic carbon dosing.
 
Very good point. When one decides to organic carbon dose, you must maintain your alk at around 7DKH, if you push it like Amphiprion mentioned to the upper ends of the scale, 10-12DKH, you are highly likely to cause damage to your corals. One of those "You can't have your cake and eat it too" moments I call it. Either you get slower growth of corals having your alk lower but the benefit of reduced algae in your tank via vodka, or you don't dose vodka, find other means to control your algae problem, and push your alk to get the most growth. No right or wrong way, it is all about what you want to get out of your aquarium.
 
i dont have any corals at the moment luckily. should i buy some phosphate remover? they have a paste looking thing at the lfs that supposedely removes phosphates
 
Depending on your filtration setup, if your using a HOB or canister filter I would just get the smallest container or Rowaphos media, pour it into a media bag (I believe it comes with a bag), rinse the media good in the sink and then put it in your filter. If you have a sump setup then I would recommend a media reactor to put the rowaphos in. Rowaphos is great phosphate and silicate remover media.

Keep forgetting to mention, FSN77 is right on with the light spectrum. I would definately replace the bulbs with something like he suggested. That will greatly reduce the algae as well.
 
Rowaphos is a high end GFO (Granular Ferric Oxide Iron Based Phosphate Media is designed to effectively remove PO4 / phosphate, silicates, organic compounds and heavy metals) and not all LFS carry that brand. Most do carry Phosban though, which I don't think is as good as Rowaphos, but it is also 1/2 the cost and is definately better than nothing. Chemi-Pure Elite is also a good product for small tanks, high end carbon + GFO in one bag, but also pricey.
 
k ill look for that. i got a sweet algae scrubber for my bday today and man it works good! did a little rock rearranging to get at the algae i could reach ill have to update u guys soon
 
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