Clean up Crew ???

[trishy711]

Hi, About 8 months ago i battled a terrible hair algae problem so i took all my rock out and scrubbed them and completely got rid of it. Now i see it coming back in a few places and i want to kill it before it gets out of control. I have a 110 gallon mixed reef. 150lbs of live rock and seven 4"-5" fish in the tank a well.

So i am beefing up my clean up crew, So far i have
-75 Astrea Snails
-100 Blue legged Hermits
-2 Sally lightfoot Crabs
-I just bought a 2" Echinometra viridis Sea Urchin today (? Reef safe ?) http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/166/im00072711jj.jpg

I have an additional 100 Astrious Snails and 100 Blue legged Hermits on the way too and will be here next week when i get back from vacation.

My main question is, Is the Sea Urchin "Reef Safe" ? My local fish store say's it is but he has been wrong many times and i don't want this thing eating my coraline algae or zoo's or any corals at all ?

Also is 175 Snails and 200 Blue Legged Hermits a big enough clean up crew ?

Thank you

[SWINGRRRR]

Find the source of the algae problem and battle the problem. You are really just band-aiding with more CUC.

In my 135 I have maybe 10 hermits, and 10 Astreas. With a coupe of Margaritas and Turbos thrown in. No alga's, anywhere.

Are you old enough to buy vodka ?

[zero186]

All and that not a single Turbo as far as i know its the only snail i have that will eat HA

[trishy711]

Hi, I have 1 pretty big turbo snail in there right now. I had 4 but they were knocking my corals over. I'm talking about big SPS colonies and other big pieces as well.

The source of my algae i think is my fish load and feeding. I feed them some Green Marine Algae in the morning and 3 cubes of Mysis at night. Right now i have the following fish
1. 5" Niger Trigger
2. 5.5" unicorn Tang
3. 4" Hippo Tang
4. 4" Powder Brown Tang
5. 4" yellow Tang
6. 5" Purple Tang
7. 2" Maroon Clownfish
8. 3" Pink Anthias
9. 1" Yellow Watchman Goby
10. 1" Blue Damsel

I orignally had a FOWLR (Fish Only) tank and i was told by my local fish store that if i wanted to keep the fish i have in a Reef tank i have to upgrade my Protein Skimmer and run a
-Phosphate Reactor (Use Phosban Media + was changing Media monthly and i am going to start changing weekly with every water change)
-25watt Aqua UV Sterilizer
-Do a 30 gallon water change every week (33% of total water volume)
-Octopus NW-200 with Mesh, Venturi and Gate Valve Modifications. (Only pulls about 1/3 of the cup of skim a week but it is really dark and smelly)

I don't know what else to do ? I have a pretty big clean up crew and i have been keeping up with my maintenance that my LFS recommended and more. What do you think ?

And yes i am old enough to buy Vodka. Vodka Dosing ?

Thanks

[Jnicho]

Agreed...I would try to isolate the cause of the excess nutrients behind the algae...that's a heck of a lot of CUC critters IMO.

[trishy711]

Hi, Isolate how ?

All of my water parameters are perfect everytime i check them
Water Parameters:
Salinity = 1.025-1.026
Calcium = 400-440
Alkalinity = 7.7-9.0
Magnesium = 1375
Ph = 8.0-8.3
Nitrates = 0
Nitrites = 0
Ammonia = 0

[Reeftanker3295]

That is a huge CUC... Just the waste of your CUC might be a nitrate problem

[trishy711]

My nitrates are always 0 though

[Reeftanker3295]

So are mine, i have a big hair algae problem though. Your water might read 0 but your rocks collect fish poo and stuff and it all turns to nitrates. Before water changes, blow off your rocks with a turkey baster or a powerhead, all sorts of stuff will come out, blow off all the rocks until nothing else comes out then suck all that stuff that just came off the rocks up with your siphon before it can turn to nitrates and do that every water change and manually remove the hair algae but dont drop it or else the pores can spread around the tank

[trishy711]

Hi, I haven't been cleaning my rocks off for like 8 months now and about 2 weeks ago i took a powerhead and blew my rocks like crazy. I could barely see in the tank it was so dirty. I put a filter sock on the end of my overflow tubing and it was full of crap in a few hours and my tank was a little foggy for a day or two. Is this an ok method to do this ? I was also thinking of getting a diatom filter which collects very very fine grains of anything. I was thinking of running the diatom filter for a few hours after everytime i blow off my rocks ?

[jschulzpt]

My problem with this was fixed with cooking my rock.

[Elegance Coral]

Originally Posted by trishy711

Hi, I haven't been cleaning my rocks off for like 8 months now and about 2 weeks ago i took a powerhead and blew my rocks like crazy. I could barely see in the tank it was so dirty. I put a filter sock on the end of my overflow tubing and it was full of crap in a few hours and my tank was a little foggy for a day or two. Is this an ok method to do this ? I was also thinking of getting a diatom filter which collects very very fine grains of anything. I was thinking of running the diatom filter for a few hours after everytime i blow off my rocks ?

I wouldn't get the diatom filter. You can't leave it on the tank because it will become a nitrate and phosphate factory. You can't use it on occasion because when its not in use oxygen levels in the filter plummet, and anaerobic bacteria begin producing substances like hydrogen sulfide. When you hook the filter back up you pump these substances into the tank.
If you start blowing the rocks off with a power head and vacuuming the sand at every water change, it won't make your water so cloudy.

[trishy711]

Hi, I know that cooking the rock and scrubbing the rock will work but i have so many Frag's and colonies and all sorts of corals based on almost every rock. Not to mention every single rock is covered in Pink/Purple/Red Coraline algae and they look so good. I would hate to have to cook it now and remove everything from my tank. That would be so ridiculous. There has to be another way for just a few patches of Hair algae.

I also just ordered a bottle of this stuff called TLC Marine SAT, It is a Bacteria not a chemical and it is totally reef safe and will literally not harm anything at all. It supposidly competes with the food that feeds the hair algae and just starves it to death. What it does is weakens the algae so that critters and fish will be able to eat it and detach it from the rock very easily. Right now the Hair Algae if so thick and rooted in the rock so good that i have trouble pulling it out by hand, "Imagine a fish or tiny crabs and snails trying to pull it out" ?

I did a ton of research on this Marine SAT and it got great reviews up and down everywhere. Everyone that used it said it works very well and they loved it and some say that there Hair Algae disappeared within 1-4 weeks with no critters eating it. I talked to this guy who has a fish store about 45 minutes from me and he's been in business for over 25 years and has seen and tried it all (Not My Local Fish Store). He is the guy everyone goes to when they have a problem no one can fix and he always fixes it for them without fail. He said out of all the junk he's tried over the years and all the stuff people sell, Marine SAT actually works just like it say's it does. he said he's used it many times and it is completely Reef Safe and will not harm anything or affect any water parameters at all, literally nothing. He doesn't even sell it at his store so i trust his opinion because he said it's not worth him getting for me because i can find it cheaper online and i'm not a regular customer of his at all. My LFS would never say to go online to get something.

I am going to literally try everything before i go to a method like breaking down my whole tank and scrubbing/Boiling and detaching all of my beautiful corals. I am going to Beef hell out of my Clean Up crew and Dose this Marine SAT and run a Phosphate Reactor (Changing The Media Every week).

I ordered the Marine SAT from a website and just my luck they ran out of it in stock They said it's a really "HOT" item and they sell lot's of it. So i will be expecting it the first week in august.

[SWINGRRRR]

I would hold off on the SAT till you try a few more things. If you are seeing only small patches of HA then now is the time to start stopping it.
First, stop feeding so much. That's a lot of fish, but they would do fine with Algae in the am, and 1 cube of mysis in the pm.
Turn your skimmer up to skim wetter. IMHO you should be making a full cup every 3-4 days.
Are you running a fuge? Cheato? I would go 2 weeks in between changing your GFO. You dont wanna strip the water and shock your SPS. Do your drip kalk or are you able to? Kalk Thread I believe Kalk does help with Phosphates. How old are your bulbs? Old bulbs can cause HA problems. Also, flow. Maybe you are getting a dead spot of 2 holding detritus. Try re-position some power heads just to change the flow up.

If you wanna go down the vodka route, LMK and Ill try to adress that. I have been dosing vodka for months with only posistive effects. But its not a quick fix. It takes 5 mintues of your day, EVERY singel day.

[SWINGRRRR]

Also, turkey basting the rock at every water change to stir thing up and then suck them out with the WC water.