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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Bad Hair Algae
- Thread starter Hallowhead
- Start date
Very interesting. Nice info
Hallowhead
NJRC Member
nightmarepl
NJRC Member
honestly id take the frags out take a fine tooth brush scrub what ever is on them and their plugs off take the egg crate out watch it down nicely its most likely your rock leaching or something cause thats insane amount of algae.
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
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.
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.
Hallowhead
NJRC Member
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 ?
nightmarepl
NJRC Member
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
Hallowhead
NJRC Member
I don't have a nitrate issue
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
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.
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
NJRC Member
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.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
I’ll keep an eye out. Don’t mind stocking some if I come across it for the club. Just to darn useful not to have on hand
Hallowhead
NJRC Member
$16 bucks for a 2'x2' square is insane.
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.