Rate My Fish Tank

Mon Nov 02, 2009 2:16 pm GMT   Reply      

Anyone ever used / heard of it before?

I've had a non-stop battle with algea in my 200. I have a lot of live rock so i've known that i have a water movement issue and dietrus has been settling in places that are stagnant. However i believe i addressed these issues last week.

Water checks out great, PH was a little low so i'm adding buffer to stabilze however all other parameters are right where they should be. My LFS recently suggested i try the Algea Magic. Bottle states that is takes 30 days to see results so was wondering if any of you had used or heard of it?

Mon Nov 02, 2009 3:47 pm GMT   Reply      

GLD, i have been fighting green hair for months now in my tank, my parameters are dead on like yours and i do weekly 25% changes, i havent used algae majic itself but i have tried algaefix, which did nothing, i even hyper dosed magnesium which did a little but killed my snails off. ive changed out the PC bulbs, i even removed about 2/3rds of the sand bed, im still fighting it but have made great leaps in cleaning it up by scrubbing the rocks with a brush at each water change {in the old water bucket} and even taking about 1/2 of the rocks into the tank room and putting them in a high salinity bath for a couple weeks with crazy bubblers and high current - -i all but killed off the copepods but they are coming back slowly. i have the other half in the bath right now.

i bought a longspined sea urchin and some redleg hermnits and they are keeping the rocks clean, the sand still grows it inbetween water changes and the overflow and heater have it on there as well as some spots on the back of the tank.

today im working on a 10 gallon sump to replace this tom aquatics wet/dry POS i have - - next step will be a complete sand bed change if this doesnt help any

its a bitch man, and its a ruthless oponent for sure

good luck, let us know what works and doesn't for you

Boss

Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:29 pm GMT   Reply      

good luck been fighting it for the last to years. iv come to the cunclution that im never going to win and im still pulling out 5 pounds a month.

Tue Nov 03, 2009 9:32 am GMT   Reply      

I haven't pulled any rock out yet.... got so much in there that i dread even thinking about that move!!

I do scrub it with a tooth brush when doing water changes and use and extra power head to blast out anything that may be hiding in the cracks. Suppose it's just frustrating that every time i have company the tank looks like ass!! Everything covered in brown algea... i've treated for slime algea and can control it, every 2 months i have a small outbreak, use the red slime killer and it's gone in a day or two. Just can't get a handle on this brown crap.

Sand bed turns brown within 4-6hrs of me cleaning it up. rocks are covered in 2-3 days of a good cleaning.. I can say, that after dosing the Algea Magic it's coming back at a slower pace. Bottle says 30 days for results and i'm going on 1-week so i'll let you all know the results..

Tue Nov 03, 2009 7:50 pm GMT   Reply      

Dude, Fuck that shit..srsly Corals feed from algae first of all. Do you have photos of the brown algae ? What type of clean up crew do you have ? Dont add that shit again=) This problem could be solved very simple i bet..

Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:19 pm GMT   Reply      

Got turbos, hermits, sally light foot, serpent star fish, Sea Hare, pencil urchin...... one other kind of snail however i can't remember the name.

I'll try and get some photo's of the actual algea posted however if you check my profile i'm pretty sure you can see it on the rocks in my newer photo's i've posted..

Wed Nov 04, 2009 1:01 pm GMT   Reply      

I threw some old actinic lights I found in the lfs garbage onto my planted fresh water tank and I immediiatlely got massive algae growth. Nitrates are low, so ............old lights?

Wed Nov 04, 2009 1:59 pm GMT   Reply      

They are new, everything on the tank is 8 - 9 mo old at this point. I'm looking to upgrade the lights however don't have the funds to tackle that one just yet.

Wed Nov 04, 2009 4:35 pm GMT   Reply      

8-9 months old...................sounds like our good ol friend diatom algae to me.........it friggin sux ass big time and the only real stable cure is, frequent water changes {like every 3-4 days 10-20%} blow it off everything daily with a turkey baster and double up on filter maintinence.

its a natural progression in tank maturity and we all go through it. i had it for a good 6-8 weeks {seemed like years at the time}

the good news is when it goes away, normally your tank will be pretty solid and balanced

just got trudge through it man ...we all feel for ya

i responded in another post but - -lights as a rule of thumb should be changed at 6 month intervals, if your running them more than 8 hrs a day i'd even bump it up to 4-5 month intervals

Boss

Wed Nov 04, 2009 6:44 pm GMT   Reply      

I've been using a spare powerhead to blow the algea off the rocks and "stir" up the tank to push it all into the filters on a daily basis. The corals are loving it as they have all been wide-eyed since i started blasting the rock everyday. I'll be getting new bulbs within the month and doing big water changes weekly along with filter cleaning. Skimmer has been working overtime since i started my daily rock blasts so i've been dumping it 2-3 times a week already.

Thu Nov 05, 2009 4:56 pm GMT   Reply      

Ok, finally got the specs on my lights...

T-5's with 4-54 watt bulbs in each. 2- daylight & 2- Actinic in each unit. I have three total at are 48" long on my tank. I run them 7 hrs a day so with all the advice i've received sounds like i need new bulbs....

Thu Nov 05, 2009 5:37 pm GMT   Reply      

sounds like a solid plan

Fri Nov 06, 2009 10:10 am GMT   Reply      

Plus i'm pushing hard for a total upgrade on the lights. I work for a large pet supply distribution company so i've been trying to talk our marine division into "losing" one of our Metal halide units so i can add it to my tank...

Fri Nov 06, 2009 11:39 am GMT   Reply      

...red slime algae is back......literally overnight i have a 6x5 in bed of red algae on my sand.......and the brown stringy algae is increasing its growth.......... if im not correct, but dont phosphates contribute to algae growth? Maybe i need to reduce those?

Fri Nov 06, 2009 3:04 pm GMT   Reply      

My lfs has a problem with Red slime....he put Ozone on it yesterday......its 95% gone today........ im not shitting you. Im thinking about getting it now.....thats pretty bad ass.