Can someone explain this to me- Filter Sock Question

[LOTUS50GOD]

I have some hair algea in my tank. On every thread I see, I ask for potential solutions and everyone says ...

1. turn off your lights
2. stop feeding
3. remove filter sock

Now I understand that algea needs light, but I also have a SPS tank, so that is not really an option IMO.

I have LARGE fish in my tank... mainly a 12" adult Sohal that needs to eat.

I change my filter sock every other day... so how would that be a source of food for my hair algea?

[tydtran]

The logic, i think, is that decomposing organic matter on the filter sock becomes a source of nutrient for the hair algae. If you change out the sock every day, I don't think you have a problem in that department.

[tanger75]

Does your skimmer seem to be pulling out a lot of brown gunk? I don't know much about your tank, but you could be over feeding. Do you also have a large clean up crew? Water changes?

[toolfan]

If you are changing it every day, it's not an issue. Leaving your lights off for 2 or 3 days is also not an issue. It gets cloudy (no sunlight) over the oceans all the time. sometimes for days.

[Playa-1]

The sock should not be an issue if your keeping them changed out/and cleaned every couple of days. I would consider killing the lights in the display for a few days, Just about any tank can handle that. At the same time move to a 24/7 lighting schedule in the fuge. The idea is to get the fuge pulling more of the nutrients.
Also manually remove as much of it as possible before doing the lighting changes. Step up your water change program for a while until you get the algae under control. Get yourself A GFO reactor online if you don't already have one. Check you skimmer and make sure it's working properly and is properly sized for your tank. Good luck

[LOTUS50GOD]

Skimmer is working properly...
Gets cleaned every Friday. Pulls out about 1/2 cup of Dark Brown Skimmate.

Skimmer is downstream from the filtersock, so I dont expect it to skim out anything of significant size.

I do have a GFO reactor (even though its undersized for my tank)
I change my GFO media every 2 weeks or so.

I do overfeed, since there are about 30-40 fish in the tank.

Water changes are done automatically via a litermeter 3.
6 gallons a day (or 2%). for 5 days.

I will try turning off the display lights for 3 days... The tank would get morning sun from an east facing sliding glass door in the mornings (if I opened the blinds)

[tanger75]

Sunlight is not good for a tank, does it get sunlight now?

[LOTUS50GOD]

No.. I normally keep the blinds drawn in the morning. The Arizona heat is brutal in the summer... Once the sun passes over the house I open the blinds to get some natural light into the house....

[Dark~Euphoria]

when in doubt, get a bigger skimmer IMO
may not be the problem, but there is a chance... in tanks that were under skimmed hair algae occured but in tanks where skimming was good enough I never had a problem... then agian it might be the filter sock, but idk.

IMO natural sunlight is good, i keep my window open all the time so it gets as much sunlight as possible

[seapug]

Your problem is Phosphate, probably from the heavy feedings. Setup a PhosBan reactor with GFO media as Sk8r mentioned. It usually takes care of the problem in a few weeks and a couple of media changes. Once the algae dies off you can go a couple months before changing the media.

[DiverD]

I notice the tank you are talking about was born in June of this year? That seems like a huge bioload set into the tank very very quickly. Hair algae may just be a revolt going on in there...

[downhillbiker]

I disagree with several posts in here. If you are changing the sock every couple days, thats great, but not if you are currently fighting an algae problem.

The sock collects excess food and detritus that is kept there for a couple days, and feed the algae during that entire time. If you remove the sock it will then be taken out by the skimmer. May not be as fast initially, but then its out, and your tank is clean till the next feeding.

Also, I understand your fish need fed, but do you have any algae on your glass? The fish can eat that and be fine. I also am fighting a very light algae cover on some of my sand, and I feed once every other day, other than that the fish "pick" all day, and they are FAT.

[LOTUS50GOD]

My skimmer is rated for 800 gallons. I have 450 total water volume.

I do have a phosban reactor, 2 actually. I change the media every 2 weeks or so.

The issue is that I keep a very aggressive sohal tang. He tolerates the other tank mates because he is well fed. I put him on a diet once and he started getting territorial and killing fish.

I dont think the tank makes enough algea to support the amount of fish in the tank.

This tank was a transplant from my 260. Rock, sand, and even some water. I moved into a new house and my 260 was an inwall.

[bubbly]

What kind of substrate do you have?

I have noticed that my tanks with a DSB get NO hair algae in them, while my 32 gal finnex barebottom tank (with only a few anemones and a duncan) has some hair algae issues, even though I have two skimmers running on the thing 24-7 (two HOB's - remora pro and regular remora)

Since you have such a heavy bioload and you are already running some GFO, it may make sense to run a remote deep sand bed (such as a 5 gallon bucket filled halfway up with sand). The DSB will suck up the nitrates + phosphates (and may need to be replaced after a year or two) and if you keep the water flowing over it quickly then none of the particulates will have time to settle out.

If you keep the RDSB free of animals, there will be nothing that can potentially stir it up to create any problems, and it may provide enough extra biological processing power to make up for your high bioload.

[LOTUS50GOD]

I am running aragamax (2 different sizes).. 1-2" in depth.

I have heard of RDSB's but have never seen one... Do you have any pics or a reference on how to set one up.