How else to do battle with hair algae - Page 2

michika · #1 07-10-2007, 08:53 PM

Okguy

To answer your questions:
1) fish are the orange shoulder (~1"), who is leaving in the next few weeks, and a six line wrasse.
2) Off the top of my head I don't know what the flow rate is. The return pump is a mag 7, and I'm using a hydor koralia 1 in the display for additional flow. The returns, which come through spray bars, are on a SCWD.
3) I'm using Red Sea Coral Pro.
4) I guess around 30lbs in the display, ~5lbs in the sump, but really its just a pile of frag plugs for pods to propagate in.
5) The tank is actually parts from my 230g, so everything in the tank (aside from new SPS additions and a clam) is around 2-3 years old. The rock has been with me since I started in 2003, so its certainly not new rock.

If its a right of passage, shouldn't this have happened in one of my first tanks? This is like my 5th tank, and I've never had to deal with this stuff before. Sometimes I wonder if its the PC bulbs, because before this system I never used supplimental lighting... This is so frustrating.

The strangest thing is that this tank used to be set up in the basement of my house while I was preparing to move, and while the 230g tank was dismantled, I didn't have any algae problems before. The only things that changed between then and now are that I used tap water for a few weeks, I added a chiller, added the hydor powerhead (to combat the algae), and some SPS frags.

I have to say GHA is worse then getting your tank wiped out by red bugs.

Okguy · #2 07-10-2007, 09:36 PM

1) good
2) flow is about 800 gph or 33 times which is Ok
3) did a quick search on another site and found most people felt it had phosphates in it and also messed with Alk and Calcium levels. I can't confirm this personally but maybe worth investigating
4) personally think it's a little low but close enough not to worry about (I like 1.5 x 2 times the volume)
5) a new tank is a new tank, even if it's part of an old tank. It takes time for a new setup to find its equilibrium. Everytime you make a change a new equiliqrium needs to be reached.