I am new to this forum but have been a reefer for about 10years.
I also battled HA... long clumps on just about everything but the fish! I am very meticulous with my tank and take great pride in it. I got to the point that I ALMOST gave up... but in the end... I WON THE BATTLE!!!!
The process will be slow... took me 5 months to finally say that I am algae free... or at least 99%.
Your phosphates are low, but checking when you have HA will give you false hope because your HA is absorbing (and thriving) by consuming your phosphate.
I will give you what worked for me:
Regular water changes BUT NOT TOO FREQUENT. I was at the point of doing water changes every 2-3 days... but all those good 'extras' in the salt mix will actually feed the algae too. Weekly should be good.
Suck up as much HA with your tubing when going water changes. In between water changes regularly pull out HA. I had a bowl of cold tap water that I would put it into, dipping my fingers in it too before going back into the tank to pull out more. Once HA starts to die off, it will release more phosphates if you keep in in the tank... and that just keeps
the cycle going.
I used a toothbrush on tough-to-reach areas that were dying off... or areas where the HA was short and almost gone.
Make sure to keep your sump (and other areas you may have separate from your display) clean and not building up debris.
A long-spine urchin.
Regularly blasting the rocks
Strawberry hats... found them to be better than Mexican turbos
A phosban reactor with ROWAPHAS
A really good skimmer... and empty it often
Feed sparingly. I did not add any selcon/garlic etc to frozen food. I rinsed any frozen food in RO water
I did not feed any LPS or SPS (and they continued to thrive and grow). Enough from the water, frequent changes, fish waste etc.
No additives to water... ie amino acids
I do vodka dose
Coral Snow added twice a week when lights out
Below is my tank today.
20140913_132739 (2) (800x450).jpg
Have patience and you will conquer
