They've won the battle, but what about the WAR?

[andysgirl8800]

I've officially declared war on my hair algae/dinos infestation. After losing about 30 crabs and about 15 turbo snails, I just flushed my foxface today (my favorite fish)...prolly strangled to death in all the muck! I've been spending about 3 hours every 4 days with a toothbrush, tweezers, a razor, a bucket, and a siphon hose trying valliantly to get rid of this :pooh:, I don't seem to ever make any headway.

Phosphates aren't registering, and nitrates sit around 20 ppm. I've reduced my lighting schedule, only use RO/DI water for top offs and WCs. I've been using a marine buffer to keep pH and alkalinity up and manually removing as much as possible. I spent this past weekend doing another 3-hour cleaning, doing a 30% water change and building an algae scrubber. I've just blacked out my tank to begin a 3-day lights out, to include complete darkness. I've covered up the tank with a thick blanket to prevent any outside light.

This is day one:

And this is day 2:

I'm crossing my fingers and praying that the scrubber does what it is proported to do and I'll be able to see the rocks and coral in my tank again. Furthermore, I don't want to flush anymore livestock. Sorry for the rant. The last few months have been very frustrating.

 

[coolhandgoose]

How far is your light from your screen, cuz I think it's supposed to be no more than 4 inches.

 

[parrotchute]

good luck, it's a frustrating battle. At the 6 month mark I had some tough algae...it will pass, even if it feels like it won't.

Got any macroalgae in your fuge? If not, add some to supplement your scrubber.
I'd take the blanket off of the tank. You don't want to suffocate it and block o2, that will only increase the algae and possibly kill things in your tank.

Have you tested your rodi ater for phosphates? Want to double check that it's getting them out. Your test won't register phosphates in the tank; the algae grabs it as soon as it is free floating.

Keep it up!

 

[andysgirl8800]

The lights are no more than 4" from the screen. I moved them back to take the photos. I do have chaeto in the fuge. My TDS readings are at 0 on the RO/DI water. I should clarify that I have a blanket over the glass part of the tank. I have a canopy over the tank which is ventilated with intake and exhaust fans. I'm not worried about preventing the oxegenation of my water, but thanks for the concern!

 

[parrotchute]

ah, just wanted to make sure, sounds like everything is good then!! Hope it works out, keep us updated...

 

[dcantucson]

Gosh I hope it works for you. How frustrating it must have been for you lately. Good luck. :x:

 

[andysgirl8800]

EWWWW! Day 4 on the scrubber

 

[coolhandgoose]

That looks good, make sure you take lots of before and after pics of your tank and your screen!