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Bad Hair Algae

M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
It could be the white egg crate itself that is throwing off the nitrate and phosphates. Most people stopped using it and went over to black egg crate or acrylic racks. If you do some searching around on R2R I believe there are threads over there explaining it.
 
Sponge

Sponge

mnat said:
It could be the white egg crate itself that is throwing off the nitrate and phosphates. Most people stopped using it and went over to black egg crate or acrylic racks. If you do some searching around on R2R I believe there are threads over there explaining it.
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Very interesting. Nice info
 
Hallowhead

Hallowhead

NJRC Member
Mark_C said:
Vibrant does well with most algae, I've used it recently to clear up a bad turf algae outbreak. Like, really bad, and it saved my tank.
Dosed to directions, repeated 1x per week over 4 weeks (no water changes), blew off rocks daily, hand molested the dying algae I could reach.
Worked well, but Vibrant can, and did, cause outbreaks of red slime algae while killing off the hair/turf/whatever.
Red slime can be vacuumed easily enough.
I also lost 90% of my zoas, including large colonies. Whether this was from the overrun from the turf algae or the Vibrant I don't know.
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The red slime just broke out :(
IMG_20191204_191028.jpg
 
Hallowhead

Hallowhead

NJRC Member
I am considering taking the egg crate out and simply replacing and or scrubbing the **** out of it so none of the algae sits in tank
 
Trio91

Trio91

Administrator
Moderator
To me, it looks more like dinos than hair algae. Which would explain why the inverts aren't touching it.

The dinos usually stems from some type of imbalance in your tank and the red slime, could be from something that died (like a snail/coral) or an excess of waste.
 
Trio91

Trio91

Administrator
Moderator
How old is the system?

I've used vibrant when they 1st launched and had to stop as it was causing issues in my tank.
 
Hallowhead

Hallowhead

NJRC Member
trio91 said:
To me, it looks more like dinos than hair algae. Which would explain why the inverts aren't touching it.

The dinos usually stems from some type of imbalance in your tank and the red slime, could be from something that died (like a snail/coral) or an excess of waste.
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It doesn't look like Dino's at all. But I could be totally wrong I'll do some research.

The red slime I heard is a side effect from vibrant.

The tank is ~ 6 months now ?
 
N

nightmarepl

NJRC Member
Hallowhead said:
It doesn't look like Dino's at all. But I could be totally wrong I'll do some research.

The red slime I heard is a side effect from vibrant.

The tank is ~ 6 months now ?
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thats crazy for a 6 month system ive since i went to my biocube luckly i havent had a single issue with algae or anything
 
Cjk90978

Cjk90978

I'm dosing both Vibrant and seachem prime. Having the exact same issue and neither seems to be dropping my nitrates. My tuxedo urchin lost all its needles within a week. Livid.
 
Cjk90978

Cjk90978

Hallowhead said:
I don't have a nitrate issue
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I'm sure nitrates are affecting my situation regarding the urchin death, but I'm having the exact GHA to Cyno transition you are using Vibrant. I was more so inquiring in general as to what I'm doing, without results, and seeing if someone had any alternative suggestions. I might just have to do a 30% water change and turn the lights out for a few days and hope for a turn around.
 
Hallowhead

Hallowhead

NJRC Member
I took the eggshell diffuser out and scrubbed it down in the bathtub with a toothbrush. I also raised it up another couple inches to get more movement beneath. It may be a combination of turf algae plus hair algae. The bare bottom had some patches and it was like pulling grass out of ground I made a makeshift frag shelf and have my frags there for now. I will be very proactive about scrubbing / removing algae and hoping that the vibrant helps to kill it off once and for all.

IMG_20191205_195338.jpg
 
Sponge

Sponge

Sounds like the right step. Also look into black egg crate. Sometimes Home Depot has it in the ceiling tile section between electrical and plumbing. But not the main isles. Back behind kitchen cabinets. It comes in white gold chrome and black. And usually referred to as a light diffuser. Black is just less likely to grow algae and looks less crappy when a little dirt gets in it. White looks great When it’s sparkling clean. But how often is that ;)
 
Hallowhead

Hallowhead

NJRC Member
Sponge said:
Sounds like the right step. Also look into black egg crate. Sometimes Home Depot has it in the ceiling tile section between electrical and plumbing. But not the main isles. Back behind kitchen cabinets. It comes in white gold chrome and black. And usually referred to as a light diffuser. Black is just less likely to grow algae and looks less crappy when a little dirt gets in it. White looks great When it’s sparkling clean. But how often is that ;)
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Thanks the positive reinforcement goes a long way! I have been looking at home depot website as I want to get some it's just so expensive to get is shipped from some random website.
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
I found a few threads on R2R regarding the white egg crate, and one suggstions was to soak it in hydrogen peroxide. I don't know what the ratios are (they did not say) but according to that person it cured the algae problem and it did not come back.
 
H

horseplay

NJRC Member
I suggest you establish a nutrient export regime, otherwise you are just chasing you tails. There is nothing in your tank right now that consumes the nutrient so of course you will get algae. IMO the egg-crate is not a problem, even if it leaches nitrates and phosphate.
 
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