Do you run lights in your refugium on a reverse cycle? In other words, does your PH remain constant?

I know that the higher the PH, the lower the levels of dissolved Co2, which would help (in theory) to reduce algae growth.

the only other thing that I could think of is iron. Is there somehow excess iron entering your tank? The algaes feed on this as well. I've seen this algae and it's very weird. Not the same color or consistency as much of the hair algae I've encountered. Good luck catherine!

I don't run my lights on my refugium on a reverse cycle, because of how my tank is set up. My apartment is one big room, and the 'fuge light is quite bright, thus making it hard to sleep. I only see a slight pH drop though from say the middle of the day with MH & actinics, to just the moonlights at say midnight. Day is 8.2, and night is about 7.9.


argileh,

Unfortunately lowering my salinity is not a viable option. For starters it would probably kill my tank, clams, inverts, etc.

Would you be able to show me, or point me to the literature that you read on a lower salinity?

Don't know what your Alk is at,but you can try raising it to around 10-12.Algea doesn't like the high Alk.Also take a small piece of algea covered rock and clean it off.Then put it in a bowl with fresh made salt water.Let it sit a couple days and test for nitrates.It seems that everything you have done so far should have had at least some effect,so maybe your rock is whats causing the problem.

:twised: I had it a few years back...good old foxface to the rescue, he was like a lawnmore,never had it since...he now is helping another reefer.

Sorry if I missed it, but where exactly is the algea growing?

Is it on the rocks, the sand?

Is it possible that where it grows, there is an excess of nutrients?

Could the live rock or sand be leaching nutrients?

Something has to be fueling it's growth.

Could you pull out the rock and put them in a quarantine tank? Where does the algae grow then?

i'm not sure if this would work but there's a thread on RC that pertains to getting rid of bryopsis with elevated Mg levels. for some reason it all just dies off within a very short period of time, might just work for GHA and give you a leg up. i haven't read the thread for a few months so i'm not 100% sure what new but it might be worth taking a look, it is a very long thread.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...light=bryopsis
good luck and hope this might help...

bristletooth tangs and lots of snails , done

I battled hair algae for many MONTHS. It was the toughest thing...whew. When I see a strand now I just freak....I did all of the above as you did...some of the snails I used were amazing...I don't remember their name, but they were not turbos, J&L was out and they gave me these large snails instead (Rene at J&L's) and man do they clean up, PLUS they are too large for the hermits to kill easily, and when they fall over they can right themselves unlike turbos, mine in large part was a nutrient issue, plus poor lighting, a new tank and just about every other thing you can imagine....among many many others, I did beat it but it wasn't easy.... it does take MUCH patience, perseverence and hope!

I do agree that you most likely are on the winning side now...with switching to RO, new bulbs, plucking it out, CUC, etc etc, I think it will just take time, and drive you nuts but I bet you have the start of the end!

I can't say that I dropped the temp or salinity...I figured there was enough of a battle going on to add that to my mix...

Hey Darryl....I remembered this thread, too, and searched for it when Catherine posted this again. They did discuss whether or not the elevated Mg levels would be effective against other algaes, but mentioned that it only seemed to affect the Bryopsis.

Damn, eh?