tired fustrated and algae

[intarsiabox]

I guess it might just need thinning out a bit then. The stuff under the top layer looks green. The algae absorbs phosphates and pollutants so the only way to permanently get rid rid of it is by taking out some of the algae any way and then repeat the process as it grows back. All those water changes should have removed most of the phosphates that hair algae love so it should start to starve and die off. Are you using RO/DI water?

[Myka]

If the algae is allowed to die in the tank and thus rot, it will release those phosphates and nitrates back into the tank creating the cycle over again. It will still work, the process it much slower.

A couple other things I didn't mention is when you do a water change instead of trying to rip the hair algae out which is difficult, use scissors and give it a brush cut. The use of a turkey baster to blow the detritus off the rocks will really help too.

You may need to add a powerhead or two to get more water blasting towards the rocks. I'm not sure what you have going on with all those Loc Lines.

[e46er]

ok ill try the sissors because i was just ripping and tearing whatever i dropped generally made it to my overflow boxes or my CL intake which id clean in an hour or so after

the loc lines are a long story

i ordered the tank from a store which was in finincial distress and i actually ordered and paid for a dual corner overflow and he said he would drill 4 holes
1 intake and 3 exits
but when i got to the store it was a dual center overflow and just the 2 holes drilled but my gut told me to take it becuase i got the run around for a month or so saying oh the tank is at my house drilled blah blah so when i saw it i said screw it im taking it as is becuase i just had a feeling he was going under and soon.................couple days later the doors shut so im glad i took it. so i put the 4 loc lines in to kinda disperse the flow becuase i was really trying to stay away from powerheads in the tank.

i would like an acrylic tank made with the bottom drilled about 10 times for a CL and herbie style overflows which i may get if i can get this tank under control before i lose my mind and lose intrest in the hobby

[e46er]

this is my fuge light reflector


maybe ill try IO at 39.95 vs 79.95 i figure even after dosing anything thats low will still be half the price of the H20

i didnt realize seachem wasnt a "good" salt
i only used it because i had planted tanks before i got into salt and was very happy with all their planted tank products

ill try switching when i finish off the bucket i bought 4 days ago..............

is there any special way to switch should i mix the 2 salts together for a few water changes.............i see the plus side to that but also seems to spell trouble.............

[Myka]

I wouldn't say there are "bad" salts, but personally I dislike both Seachem and Kent (and a couple others) just because they are a pain in the butt. Some people like to keep their calcium high, so Seachem would be great for them (although I can't reason with keeping calcium that high lol).

I have worked my fair share of retail LFS jobs, and I can tell you that Seachem doesn't sell very well. If it was that great it would be more popular.

When changing salts you should mix them. I have always just done:

Water change 1 (assuming 15% water changes): 100% Old salt
#2: 75% old, 25% new
#3: 50/50
#4: 75% new, 25% old
#5: 100% new

If you're doing big water changes, like 25-50% you should change the salt slower since you will be introducing a larger amount at a time. Make sense?

I use the same fuge reflector. I have used the same bulb you have except I used the 23w version. How big is the fuge anyway?

[Myka]

Raising magnesium won't work for the hair algae you have, that only works for Bryopsis which is a specie of hair algae, but not the one you have.

[e46er]

thanks for all the advice everyone

the fuge holds about 8 G of water

[chandigz]

Seachem salt will often cause inaccurate kh readings because of the high levels of borate. Most test kits read the combined total of borate hardness and carbonate hardness giving a higher reading than what the actually carbonate hardness is. When I used the seachem test kit and subtracted the borate I found that my actual carbonate hardness was about 2 dkh lower. So your kh is probably a lot lower then your already low reading.

[Cookieman888]

Once you get an acurrate reading for mg punch it up to between 1500 and 1600 ppm. Hair hates mg.

[intarsiabox]

I am on my second pail of Seachem Reef salt and have no hair algae problems but I also have a Lawnmower Blenny who does an excellent job keeping things clean. It also eats pellet food which is good as there is no visible algae left in my tank anymore. They are not the prettiest fish but they do have a lot of personality and will sit on the rocks and stare at you for hours. (A bit creepy)