nanoreefer17 Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 I have been dosing waste away and re fresh simultaneously to deal with a hair algae problem over the last 2 weeks. I have been dosing 5caps of each on a rotation. I dose one, then 3 days later dose the other, then switch again. This is the third time I have dosed waste away this morning. I returned home today and most of my leather corals were closed up, and the one spa coral (hydnophora) looked like his polyps at the base were deteriorating. I hope someone who has worked with this product before can help! Thanks Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exodus Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 (edited) Many will state if you can't test for it don't add it. Just the product name tells me it's trying to eliminate phosphates or Nitrates from the tank, simply using an elixer only masks the problem if it even does that. I'm not surprised to hear your not having any luck with it. If your wanting to eliminate algae you need to eliminate its food source. That can be phosphates, Nitrates, Silicates, or Light or even a combination of them. Your best bet is to find the source of the algae and focus on more natural methods if that includes adding macro algae to the tank, cutting your light cycle, reducing the bio load or even getting a better skimmer. The only witch tonic I know for killing Algae is Hydrogen Peroxide, and again if you don't adjust the other problem it will be right back. Edited October 3, 2015 by Exodus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisher15 Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 How about an algae scrubber? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 I always recommend a bigger clean up crew, decreased feedings...that's the natural way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nanoreefer17 Posted October 4, 2015 Author Share Posted October 4, 2015 Many will state if you can't test for it don't add it. Just the product name tells me it's trying to eliminate phosphates or Nitrates from the tank, simply using an elixer only masks the problem if it even does that. I'm not surprised to hear your not having any luck with it. If your wanting to eliminate algae you need to eliminate its food source. That can be phosphates, Nitrates, Silicates, or Light or even a combination of them. Your best bet is to find the source of the algae and focus on more natural methods if that includes adding macro algae to the tank, cutting your light cycle, reducing the bio load or even getting a better skimmer. The only witch tonic I know for killing Algae is Hydrogen Peroxide, and again if you don't adjust the other problem it will be right back. I always recommend a bigger clean up crew, decreased feedings...that's the natural way! Thanks for the information but prior to adding the products I bought a massive clean up crew, snails, slugs, hermits, urchin. Got macro algae in the fuge. Bought a BRS reactor to tumble carbon/gfo. Decreased my lighting cycle. I also cut back on feedings but I know this was not the problem because I added a bunch of very established live rock to this new system and I am guessing that caused the spike in algae growth. So I now purchased a starry blenny, and have slowed dosing and the algae is going down finally. It has been about a month, although I am just worried about the specifics of that product as I am worried about adding to much beneficial bacteria, and then dropping the oxygen level in the tank? Things seem to be recovering slowly since the episode yesterday, except for my cespitularia which seems pretty irritated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exodus Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 If everything is set up correctly then you just need to give it time, The Algae is being fed off of something so it's food source is still there, as well changes in the reef are gradual not instant. My suggestion would be too pull the rock out piece by piece and do a dip in a small container filled with 10-20% Hydrogen peroxide or simply start dosing your tank nightly with 1mL per 10Gallons that will knock it out initially, then if it comes back you know you need to do some more digging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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