sen5241b March 9, 2013 March 9, 2013 Someone told me: "hair algae is using up available phosphates/nitrates at the same rate as they are being produced thus creating the zero reading on the kit". Is this possible? There's 'trates in my tank feeding algae yet the kits register zero?
hypertech March 9, 2013 March 9, 2013 I think it's true. Lowest readings I've ever had we're when I had nuisance algae. It's the basic idea behind turf scrubbers.
trockafella March 9, 2013 March 9, 2013 Agree with the above statement. Its a great source of nutrient export, but ugly in a tank, hints the use of the scrubber.
jaddc March 9, 2013 March 9, 2013 That is true. In our tanks and water ways, nitrogen and phosphorous are limiting growth nutrients. Algae get oxygen and hydrogen from the water. Carbon from carbon dioxide which is plentiful thanks to respirating fish. So as soon as nitrogen (as nitrates) and phosphorous enter the column it is immediately consumed. Ideally your nutrient exporter grabs to nitrate and phosphorus before nuisance algae does. We only detect nitrate and phosphorous if the rate that it is produced if greater than the rate is consumed.
sen5241b March 9, 2013 Author March 9, 2013 I got a 3 gallon fuge on a 20G with strong flow and light which I think constitutes excellent export and yet I got green hair algae everywhere. And yes my cheato grows like crazy.
jaddc March 9, 2013 March 9, 2013 I got a 3 gallon fuge on a 20G with strong flow and light which I think constitutes excellent export and yet I got green hair algae everywhere. And yes my cheato grows like crazy. If it the system had excellent export, then you would not have hair algae.
Steve175 March 10, 2013 March 10, 2013 Cut your feeding in half. Double frequency of water exchanges. Research turf scrubbers and/or GFO reactors.
sen5241b March 10, 2013 Author March 10, 2013 Cut your feeding in half. Double frequency of water exchanges. Research turf scrubbers and/or GFO reactors. what kind of GFO reactors would you put on a 20G?
hypertech March 10, 2013 March 10, 2013 A very very small one. Do you have a sump or a HOB you could put a filter bag in?
sen5241b March 10, 2013 Author March 10, 2013 A very very small one. Do you have a sump or a HOB you could put a filter bag in? I already have.
basser9 March 10, 2013 March 10, 2013 First get a seachem low range nitrate kit ......about 20 bucks. Any other kit is useless for a reef tank. Even with nitrates levels lower then any reef tank a natural reef has massive algea growth of all types. Thats what feeds the billions of fish/inverts/etc that inhabit a reef. A study was done on a covered patch of reef they put a screen on a area that stopped fish and inverts from getting to the area in a matter of no time it was covered with slime/hair algae. Even with very low levels of phos/nitrates you still need a large pop of tangs and inverts to mow algea down.
sen5241b March 10, 2013 Author March 10, 2013 First get a seachem low range nitrate kit ......about 20 bucks. Any other kit is useless for a reef tank. Even with nitrates levels lower then any reef tank a natural reef has massive algea growth of all types. Thats what feeds the billions of fish/inverts/etc that inhabit a reef. A study was done on a covered patch of reef they put a screen on a area that stopped fish and inverts from getting to the area in a matter of no time it was covered with slime/hair algae. Even with very low levels of phos/nitrates you still need a large pop of tangs and inverts to mow algea down. Very interesting. What eats green hair algae more so than anything else?
basser9 March 10, 2013 March 10, 2013 Hungry tangs.....large turbos.....red mitrax crabs. People overfeed there tangs if you only feed 1 time a day you will find your tangs stripping your rocks clean of any algae but feed alot and they will tend to avoid it. You still need very low nutrients levels or no amount of cleaners can keep up.
Coral Hind March 10, 2013 March 10, 2013 He only has a 20g tank so the tangs would grow out of the system pretty fast. Placing a filter bag of well rinsed GFO into the system via a HOB filter is his best bet. Manual remove as much as you can. Add some hermits and mitrax crabs. How old is the tank? Do you have picture you can post? What kind of skimmer do you have?
sen5241b March 10, 2013 Author March 10, 2013 No skimmer. The tank is a couple year old But converted it to reef system a couple months ago. Ran my BC29 fr years with no skimmer and never had any algae. HOB is a good idea. I have a bag of phosban in a high flow area now but maybe putting it in a HOB is better. Right now it looks like a lot of water goes around the bag. Put the bag in HOB and force water thru it? I'm thinking of removing the top rocks that are covered with the hair algae and have no corals, spraying them with H2O2, wait 1 minute, rinse with tank water and then put them back.
Coral Hind March 10, 2013 March 10, 2013 I would not use the H2O2 as it will kill more then just the algae. I would give the rock a good scubbing an rinse in saltwater only. Better not to kill any beneficial bacteria or anything else living in the rocks such as pods or worms as that will add to the problem.
paul b March 11, 2013 March 11, 2013 (edited) Quote: Even with nitrates levels lower then any reef tank a natural reef has massive algea growth of all types. Thats what feeds the billions of fish/inverts/etc that inhabit a reef. A study was done on a covered patch of reef they put a screen on a area that stopped fish and inverts from getting to the area in a matter of no time it was covered with slime/hair algae. Even with very low levels of phos/nitrates you still need a large pop of tangs and inverts to mow algea down. End quote This is true, algae grows on healthy reefs all over the world. If no algae is growing, there is something wrong with that reef. If the reef has tangs, urchins, slugs, rabbitfish, algae bleenies, coweries etc, algae is growing. If it were not growing, those animals would not be there. If you dive the tropics at night you will see the rocks covered in urchins, guess what they are eating? Those animals will not work in a tank unless you can get them to poop outside the tank. An algae scrubber is the best bet. I want algae in my system, the more the better, but I only want it to grow where I want it to grow and not on my corals. I made myself a promise never to get into these hair algae threads again, and I know it is going to be a mistake. Edited March 11, 2013 by paul b
jaddc March 11, 2013 March 11, 2013 This is true, algae grows on healthy reefs all over the world. If no algae is growing, there is something wrong with that reef. If the reef has tangs, urchins, slugs, rabbitfish, algae bleenies, coweries etc, algae is growing. If it were not growing, those animals would not be there. If you dive the tropics at night you will see the rocks covered in urchins, guess what they are eating? Those animals will not work in a tank unless you can get them to poop outside the tank. An algae scrubber is the best bet. I want algae in my system, the more the better, but I only want it to grow where I want it to grow and not on my corals. I made myself a promise never to get into these hair algae threads again, and I know it is going to be a mistake. +1 It is next to impossible to maintain the algae grazers that exist in the ocean. While you may think that you have a lot of algae, the grazers can strip rocks clean in hours. In the ocean, they'll just move on to the next patch. But in our closed tanks, the food will run out and won't grow back fast enough to feed them. Plus they generate enormous amounts of waste because they eat all the time -- that waste is not nutrient export.
sen5241b March 11, 2013 Author March 11, 2013 Quote: Even with nitrates levels lower then any reef tank a natural reef has massive algea growth of all types. Thats what feeds the billions of fish/inverts/etc that inhabit a reef. A study was done on a covered patch of reef they put a screen on a area that stopped fish and inverts from getting to the area in a matter of no time it was covered with slime/hair algae. Even with very low levels of phos/nitrates you still need a large pop of tangs and inverts to mow algea down. End quote This is true, algae grows on healthy reefs all over the world. If no algae is growing, there is something wrong with that reef. If the reef has tangs, urchins, slugs, rabbitfish, algae bleenies, coweries etc, algae is growing. If it were not growing, those animals would not be there. If you dive the tropics at night you will see the rocks covered in urchins, guess what they are eating? Those animals will not work in a tank unless you can get them to poop outside the tank. An algae scrubber is the best bet. I want algae in my system, the more the better, but I only want it to grow where I want it to grow and not on my corals. I made myself a promise never to get into these hair algae threads again, and I know it is going to be a mistake. Very interesting but I still don't want green hair algae growing all over my tank. I seriously wonder i an algae scrubber is better than a good sized fuge full of cheato with strong light and flow on it.
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