You do not want to bump to 1600 all in one day. Follow the instructions on what ever additive you are using and raise slowly over period of time. I am in the process of doing it myself.

my point is the same with algae fix slow and steady

Just an update, my tank is looking great. 9 days after the last algaefix treatment, and so far no GHA or other pests. I've added no "maintenance" doses... I wanted to get my tank off AF marine entirely, and see if my corals respond positively.

My frogspawn is looking better. The green stripe mushrooms are still hurting and are the size of nickels, and I'm not sure if they'll ever go back to their former 4 inch diameters. All other LPS, zoas, GSP, are looking great. :)

Will this work for turf algae as well? I might actually feel kind of bad for my inverts if it actually works and they run out of food. :lmao:

I think it would, if your turf algae is all micro algae. If it's macro, it may die as well if you dose heavily. All my chaeto (not a lot) eventually died and was eaten by emerald crabs

cut your rates back my mushrooms have never been better no damage at all

There have been several hobbyists in this thread who have tried AF on bryopsis without success.

Many hobbyists have reported success killing bryopsis using Tech M to elevate their tank magnesium level to around 1600. I suspect that the contaminates (heavy metals such as copper and lead) are responsible for actually killing the algae. I have read several studies which indicated that the combination of some heavy metals, particularly copper and lead act synergistically together to kill algae. Tech M lists these heavy metals on the label.

Well isn't hair algae considered to be macro?

The definition of macroalgae is rather vague. Personally, I would not consider hair algae in the same category as Halimeda or other macroalgae grown in refugiums and planted aquariums. Hair algae is a chain of microscopic algae. Many macroalgae consist of just a few giant cells. An example would be kelp which is a true macroalgae.

This article makes an attempt to define the difference between micro and macro algae but is somewhat vague also:

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/alg...microalgae.htm

I tried this stuff for 3 weeks and even increased the recommended dosage. After the first few days the hair algae went for green to a grayish color but never died off. After the initial progress the product stopped working for me.

Rickyrooz1,

Were you able to remove the algae once it turned colors?

gday cliff it looks like hard work trying to convince some of these guys hehe

I didn't scrub the algae, I was expecting it to die off.

It is important to remove as much algae as possible before you dose AF. This includes removing the algae (dead or alive) just before each dose.

If your algae turned a lighter color, then most likely it was dieing, which would indicate the AF was working.

Also, dieing, dead or decaying algae will absorb some of the AF, taking away from its total potential. ;)

Cliff, I have two patches, about 1"x.5", and a little HA, tiny - tiny pieces on the substrate. The two patches are just "green" in color. I'm thinking it's just common algae from upgrading lights, went to 2x as strong lighting. But I now have multiple layers of screen material to prevent it from being blasted full onto the tank.

Anyways, those two tiny patches I can't get to, unless I rework my rock work. Is it worth it, or will the doses of AF kill it off without me reworking my whole tank for those two little spots. And they haven't seem to grow over the past 3-4 days. (2 doses so far).

And would vacuuming up my sand bed disturb it, releasing nitrates, etc.?

The HA seems to be in little tiny balls, but they're hairy, so I'm going to assume it's HA. It' like HA, just not growing on rocks/glass.

And thankfully, I only have a little bit of it. It's nothing to be "concerned" with, but I've seen what HA can do to tanks, so I want to beat it before it really gets out of control.



Any insight?

iFisch,

I have a 31" tall aquarium with rock stacked close to the top. I can't get to some areas of the glass and rock where the Derbesia algae is growing mixed with Cyano.

Since my back operation, bending over in this tank has been periodically difficult and extended periods of time would elapse before I could clean the dead or dieing algae away. Needless to say, the control I have gained using AF on Derbesia took much longer than it should have. After a many month battle, I now have control of both the Derbesia and green cyano mixed in with it, but it did take 1 1/2 large bottles of the AF total. Not really good.

The areas of the glass and rock which can't be easily cleaned appear to be partially dead (discolored to a large degree). I believe the green specie of cyanobacteria still survives in these areas feeding on the dead algae and thus gives a mottled green color to the masses in these areas. I am still dosing the AF at about once or twice a week to keep the cyano and algae under control until the algae completely brakes down. At least that's my theory. :D

The bottom-line, is removing all the dead or dieing algae is the best way to go, if at all possible. ;)

Many hobbyists do not realize that the dead or dieing algae is a food source for many types of algae as well as cyanobacteria. Kind of like letting a dead fish remain in your tank. :eek1:

As far as cleaning your sand, it will release nitrates and phosphates into your tank water. I would only lightly clean the very top layer. This has repeated happened when I decided to clean my substrate.

Would you recommend vacuuming the sand? The particles of HA, kind of float around on the substrate. The only algae in the tank are those two tiny patches, that I am pretty sure came from too much light - they're not growing, and then the tiny HA particles on the sand.

I'm just afraid of vacuuming too much of the sand bed, and causing further problems.


What do you think I should do? Neither is very bad, extremely manageable, but the two patches I can get to, if I remove some of my rock. What about the HA particles on the sand?



Thanks for your help Cliff. :beer:

I have been lightly siphoning the top layer of my substrate, to collect any debris, algae or whatever.

I am convinced that maintaining the cleanest possible aquarium, including decaying matter, live algae, dead algae & any other unwanted floating debris in one's aquarium is very important when fighting any type of algae, cyano, dino or diatoms.

Plus keeping the water column free of as much dissolved organic matter is also very important. This includes proper skimming, running GAC, water changes and perhaps running ozone. Ozone is next on my list. ;)

I will be picking up a Tunze nano skimmer for X-Mas. It's not too far away. I feel it's one of the best for nano's, and instead of buying a cheap one now, and delaying the time until I get one of the better one's, I'm just going to wait for the Tunze.

Sounds like a good plan to me. ;)

Hi all,

I just dosed my first dose of Algaefix today. I've been battling this HA and reddish-brownish cyano/algae hybrid since Feb. My tank had been pristine until I introduced a harem of anthias in the winter. The anthias wrecked havoc in my system because they introduced an internal parasite that pretty much killed off half the livestock in my tank :( And in trying to get them to eat, I added waayy to much food to the system in desperation. Well, the anthias all died and I'm still left with this horrible case of HA and cyano.

I have tried the black out method (5 days), tried chemi clean red slime remover and Ultralife red slime remover. It didn't make a dent in this red/brown hair algae. So this is the last resort.

I'll let everyone know how it goes. :)

Well I took a chance and bump my Magnesium from 1280 to 1600 in one day and my PPE closed up, pink elephant closed up and my mohawks closed up too. So within 2 days I changed water twice and mohawks and pink elephants are slowing coming back but looks like my PPE is dead not sure.

I was going to use algaefix to take care of GHA but I stressed my whole tank by bumping up magnesium to 1600 from 1280 hoping to kill byropsis. So I think I will wait till the corals get settled.

jamirlima,

Sorry to hear about your losses. :(

As stated above, increasing magnesium quicker than 100 ppm per day can lead to problems, due to the contaminates in the mag. mix. I am curious as to whether this increase in mag. has had any effects on your algae problem. It may take some time for the effects to appear on your algae, possibly a week or so. Which mag. supplement did you use?

Day 2-tank doesn't look any different except maybe a tad worst. Looking forward to dosing again on Day 3.

chaungo,

Most hobbyists start to see results when using AF at around the 5th dose. ;)

I've been told that I have maiden's hair in my tank...not regular hair. Is that macro and would algaefix work on it?

Maiden's hair is a macro, or sold as one. It is a "beneficial" macro, and I'm not sure you want to kill it, unless you bought it, and it's out of control.


Why would you want to kill it off?

Maidens Hair algae can be toxic to some fish I believe.

I haven't heard of it killing them though. I am under the assumption there is very little toxicity, to the plant, but enough to deter fish from eating it.

I didn't buy it...it just kind of showed up on its own...I have some red coraline that is growing over parts of it right now trying to compete with it. I just get tired of pruning it...I liked the look of my tank better without it or at least some variety instead of a whole bunch of fuzz boulder action.

Did you buy LR within the past few months?

I'm pretty sure this stuff just doesn't grow on it's own. It must have been a hitchhiker on some LR or some LR rubble.


Do you have any pictures?

It did not come on live rock...I've had the same rock for 2 years and it just started growing a few months ago. I have a couple random recent pictures that happen to have it in them.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...y/IMG_3316.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...y/IMG_3319.jpg

The picture is not focused enough. It could be a Bryopsis.


Maiden's Hair

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/other/maidens_hair.jpg


Bryopsis

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/bryopsis.jpg

highlandreefer, i just purchased some of this product. i have had this silly a*& hair algae for about a year. i'm sick and tired of it! i have seen alot of posts on alagefix from you. are you affiliated with this product?

thanks

Nope, I'm not affiliated in any way. I have been using it myself and have researched this product fairly extensively. Like many products used to kill organisms in a reef system, AF can be dangerous if not used properly. I would only recommend its use as a last resort and follow the directions. ;)

Do you have a pic of your pest (preferably a focused close-up)?

McSassy:
Although it's impossible to be certain from the photographs, I'm quite certain that your algae is not maiden's hair. Cliff posted some excellent pictures of typical maiden's hair and bryopsis. It could be bryopsis, but doesn't appear to have the characteristic fern-like structure of the most common bryposis species, either.

Proper identification is extremely important, and even expert marine botanists can often not identify with certainty without a sample under a microscope (and sometimes, not even then). Still, making your best attempt at identification needs to be your first step. Therefore, I suggest you use all resources available (the www is an incredible source, so do use it) to try to identify your algae. There is no such thing as "regular hair". There are literally hundreds of known species that could be called 'hair algae'... none of which are any more 'regular' than another.

Do you have any herbivorous fishes or other animals in this tank? Most species of Cladophora (which Algaefix seems to work well against) look similar to your algae, although it typically has longer filaments unless something has been eating it.

From this link: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3Den%26sa%3DG

Cladophora algae

http://www.fish-keeper.net/Forum/upl...s/41351-39.jpg

http://www.fish-keeper.net/Forum/upl...s/41351-40.jpg

http://www.fish-keeper.net/Forum/upl...s/41351-41.jpg

Cladophora is a branching, green filamentous alga, that forms a moss like structure. This algae doesn't appear to be slimy. Threads are very strong and very thin. It grows on rocks and submersed wood exposed to direct light, in very bad cases will grow on plants also. Usually it tend to stay on one spot, which makes it easy to remove.

I just realized that these are pictures of freshwater species. :spin2:

This is a marine version of Cladophora algae:

http://www.seafriends.org.nz/enviro/...t/f051712t.jpg

I think that's it. It feels coarse when I pull it out, it looks just like the pictures of with the algae in the guy's hand and the darker forms are much harder to pull from the rocks than the green.

I will go take a couple pictures right now with more focus and report back.

Okay, here are those pictures I promised. A little late, but I had stuff to do. = )

One close up picture of it and just a few angles of my rock work and what it generally looks like from a distance so to speak.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...y/IMG_3580.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...IMG_3586-2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...IMG_3588-2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...IMG_3596-2.jpg

I believe PhreeBYrd called it right and it is Cladophora. The AlgaeFix Marine label states that it obtained 100% control when used on Cladophora. ;)

Nice tank. :)

Great work guys, thanks. Finally nailed it in the head it seems. So what happens when I dose the algaefix? It starts falling off the rocks or something and I manually take it out?

Thanks for the compliment on my tank as well. :spin1:

Although Cliff can answer this 100%, I've never heard of alea falling OFF rocks. I've heard and seen it change color, maybe die off a little bit, but mostly remain on the rock. It will take some manual scrubbing, and time.

A skimmer/GFO should help exponentially.

I've heard some people, with terrible situations, just take everything out (fish & corals) to a holding tank/secondary tank, and just nuke everything and buy dry, macro rock (100% dead rock), new sand and restart. Some people have patience, others don't.

I would never resort to that...I like my rocks! It's what makes my tank rock! :jester:

Yes, my plan is to get all the nuisance algae gone and under control, then add a few more corals and then add a few more fish and just kind of let it grow from there.

Your welcome. :)

I agree with iFisch. ;)

Most hobbyists seem to start to see results when using AF at around the 5th dose. The algae will become easier to remove from your rock. It is important to remove as much of the algae before you dose the AF as possible. This will make each dose more effective. Good old fashion elbow grease is important, by keeping your water column as clean as possible. Dead algae brakes down and provides additional food for the living algae and cyanobacteria which may be mixed in with the algae.

I understand each dose every 3 days and also read that most people see results on/after the 5th dose (15 days). My question is do you guys do water change during the AF dose period?

I am on the third dose and I dont see any GHA turning brown or losing its color. In fact they are looking more greener.

Please help. Thanks

I'll chime in with my opinion.

When I do WC's, which occur every 2 weeks, since dosing AF, I've only been doing 10%, instead of my normal 20%. Cliff says the product brakes down in 24 hours. So, I dose 3 days before my WC. Let the new WC stabilize a little bit, and re-dose about 12 hours later.

I'm not totally sure if that's right - or wrong, but my HA has turned from green to almost an extremely dull green - almost a grey-ish color. Upon Cliff's recommendation, I vacuumed what I had off my sand, which was mainly small particles of HA, attached to nothing - just clumping up. Also removed a small rock in which the HA had just started to grow. Since it was a tiny piece, I just removed it. Since I have quite a bit of water movement, I have it mainly pointed up, from about 50% up, instead of anything pointing down around/near the sand. If I do, immediately the sand starts to blow around and create craters.

I also purchased a Tunze nano skimmer from MD this weekend.

I had absolutely no results on hair algae with this product used over a 2 month period. I did notice that there was almost no film algae on the glass during that time. I used to have to clean the glass every 3-4 days, but using the AF maybe once every 2 weeks.

jamirlima,

I agree with what iFisch has stated. ;)

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au01st,

Sorry to hear the AF did not work for you. Unfortunately AF does not work on all species of algae. Do you have a focused close-up of your pest?