Flux RX for green hair algae

[KellyCorals]

So my tank is slowly being taken over by GHA. I’ve got a large clean up crew and 2 urchins and they still can’t keep it under control. I’ve done my research online and everyone seems to give flux rx a thumbs up and most people have had great results. I was considering getting a sea hare but I’m afraid if it dies or decides to “ink” I’ll loose all my corals. I’m also thinking about blacking out the tank for 3 days when I first do the treatment to attack the GHA in 2 ways. Anybody have any experience with flux RX? My zoas are able to kinda stretch and grow thru the GHA but it does seem to irritate them.

Hard to see under the blues but it’s all over my back frag rack...

 

[Haoayu]

Note: everyone's tank and experiences are different so your milage may vary.

That said, from my experience with the product - it's the best thing since sliced bread, for me. Prior to using it once on my tanks (haven't use it since), I lost quite a few very nice frags and zoas colony to GHA - I've tried dosing Vodka, hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, and Vibrant. I've also tried turbo snails, emerald crabs, sea hares, cut back on feedings, change light (LEDs) schedule, and frequent water change, but all was not very successful. Vibrant seems promising but was causing cyano, and had to use chemiclean to counter it; and after half a bottle, seems like GHA is immune to it. It could be that I'm not dosing the proper amount of the carbon based liquids, or adequate cleaning crew, that could keep up with the likely rise in phosphate level from the feeding habits and using of tap water. However, I haven't changed my feeding amount or type of food (flakes), and still using tap water and same salt since used of the product, basically normal routine, but haven't seen any GHA coming back.

I believe the main ingredient for the product is fluconazole. I followed the instructions and dosage on the box, did not have any issues with any livestocks during the treatment (no change in light schedule or feedings) - tanks are mixed reef, but lps and zoas dominant. A couple days after start using it, nothing appears to be happening but by day 10-15th, the difference is very noticeable (GHA turns white and stringy that can be blown off the rocks - filter socks come in handy). Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[danieyella]

I'm a big fan of flux rx. I had a large variety of "bad" algae growing in my tank at one point and no cuc seemed to make a difference and it knocked it all out with 2 doses -- with the exception of red turf algae, it will not make that one budge. No issues with any livestock in my tank whatsoever.

 

[KellyCorals]

Note: everyone's tank and experiences are different so your milage may vary.

That said, from my experience with the product - it's the best thing since sliced bread, for me. Prior to using it once on my tanks (haven't use it since), I lost quite a few very nice frags and zoas colony to GHA - I've tried dosing Vodka, hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, and Vibrant. I've also tried turbo snails, emerald crabs, sea hares, cut back on feedings, change light (LEDs) schedule, and frequent water change, but all was not very successful. Vibrant seems promising but was causing cyano, and had to use chemiclean to counter it; and after half a bottle, seems like GHA is immune to it. It could be that I'm not dosing the proper amount of the carbon based liquids, or adequate cleaning crew, that could keep up with the likely rise in phosphate level from the feeding habits and using of tap water. However, I haven't changed my feeding amount or type of food (flakes), and still using tap water and same salt since used of the product, basically normal routine, but haven't seen any GHA coming back.

I believe the main ingredient for the product is fluconazole. I followed the instructions and dosage on the box, did not have any issues with any livestocks during the treatment (no change in light schedule or feedings) - tanks are mixed reef, but lps and zoas dominant. A couple days after start using it, nothing appears to be happening but by day 10-15th, the difference is very noticeable (GHA turns white and stringy that can be blown off the rocks - filter socks come in handy). Hope this helps. Good luck.

First of all, thanks for the response to the thread. I was beginning to wonder if I would get any hits of people that have actually used flux RX. It’s crazy how much your story sounds just like mine. I’ve tried everything (except for blacking out the tank). I’ve cut back the lights, doubled my CUC, cut back on feeding, added a phosban reactor, increased my bio media, added extra carbon...the list goes on. I know where the hair algae came from. I saw the hair algae on a frag a got from an online vendor but it wasn’t much...but it didn’t take long for it to spread to the whole tank. I’m really glad to hear that your corals were not really affected, that’s my biggest concern. I’ve got a large zoa collection and don’t want to lose any of them just to get rid of the hair algae but at the same time the algae is taking over the frags and affecting them so I have to do something! It’s supposed to arrive in the mail tomorrow so I’ll post the results when it’s run it course! I think soooo many people that jump into the hobby give up because of algae problems. If this works I’m going to spread the word for sure!!!

 

[Haoayu]

You will be very pleased with the results (just follow the instructions) - I know I was, and so did the few people I told them about the product. Again, disclaimer, everyone's tank is different. So, as I was saying, the first couple days of using it, I was bummed because it looks as if nothing happened and felt like I wasted more money - had I not spent so much on the relatively expensive frags and what I was still having in the tank, I would have thrown in the towels. But after about two weeks I noticed the GHA was turning white and can be blown off the rocks I was so excited. So be patient and good luck.

 

[Florian Meisinger]

I‘m so close to dose Flux RX as well, I already have it at home. I only read good things so far, but am a bit worried about my 3 urchins and snails. Did anybody ever loose any invertebrates dosing Flux RX?

 

[danieyella]

I‘m so close to dose Flux RX as well, I already have it at home. I only read good things so far, but am a bit worried about my 3 urchins and snails. Did anybody ever loose any invertebrates dosing Flux RX?

I did not, I ran two doses of it for a pretty bad breakout last year and everyone was fine

 

[Arcticfirefighter]

I used it also on my 57 gallon tank and had no issues. Like others are saying you must follow the directions exactly and do not overdose. It will seem like nothing is happening for quite some time, then overnight everything will start coming together. I was also worried about my inverts but I didn't lose anything. Now I can't be 100% sure on my snails because they pass naturally all the time. However, I never had any losses as far as my shrimp go. I don't have any urchins to speak of. One thing I will say is make sure you have plenty of aeration. I just made sure my return pump discharge was moved up to make the surface have extra motion, and I ran my skimmer 24/7 after that first 72 hrs that you can't have it on. I normally only run my skimmer every other day or so. I just turned it down so the bubble level was nowhere near my neck, that way my skimmer wouldn't strip my nutrient level in my tank. Good luck to you!

 

[X-37B]

I ran a half dose in my 120 and within 4 weeks thier is none to be found.
I had a decent cleanup crew but once the hair algae gets going they dont touch it.
2 urchins, emerald crabs, shrimp, snails all fine.
2 tangs and a foxface too.
I did add around 40 astrea snails once it was gone and every now and then I can see some but its gone in a day or two.
The astrea snails keep it in check better than all of the other cleanup crew.

 

[Florian Meisinger]

Ok, cool! Thanks for giving me the extra confidence. I guess I will give it a try tonight then ...
I'm using it because of some Bryopsis here and there. It's not too bad yet, but I fought it years ago, and I want to prevent it from overgrowing again.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Fluconasal is effective when used properly and with white light intensity lowered for a few days

 

[Westside Guy]

My LFS recommended that I start off with a half dose of Flux RX, remove my Chemical-pure Blue and turn off the skimmer for 72 hours. I have also cut back on the number of hours that my lights are on.

 

[Treefer32]

I did Reeflux. I wish I'd had it 5 years ago. I added it to my 350 gallon system. Bryopsis died faster than GHA. But, my GHA did die! It took about 2-3weeks for it to start detaching. I hand pulled it as soon as it was close. The only side effect is I noticed my rocks were covered a reddish tan powder. I don't know what it was. I have to assume some type of new Bacteria. It wasn't slimy like cyano. It was very powdery. What I noticed for me is after a couple months of water changes and all the gha gone. I had a huge outbreak of cyano. Then I had to dose chemiclean. Then the brown powdery stuff came back. Then a few water changes later, and 90% of the cyano is gone and all of the Bryopsis and GHA are gone! Completely gone! So, hang in there, reeflux works. My corals were unharmed.

Then you need to figure out what's causing your nutrients to grow the algae during this time.

 

[John08007]

This seems like a bandaid to me, what is your biological filtration? Until you deal with the nitrate then gha is going to constantly be coming back. You need a way to export nitrate, refugium, bio pellet reactor, etc

 

[Westside Guy]

Does over feeding contribute to this happening?

 

[John08007]

Does over feeding contribute to this happening?

Yes and no, nitrate and phosphate are being added to your tank through food. You need some way to deal with the nitrate being added to the rank through biological filtration. What is your filter consist of? How large of a tank do you have?

I actually needed to dose nitrate and phosphate because I found my filter was taking too much out and they were zero. I also removed and changed up my biological portion of my filter. Removed gfo and pellet reactors and added chaeto to my refugium to lower maintenance time.

 

[Treefer32]

I agree with others. You need to deal with the problem. Your fish will always need to poop.. You will always need to feed food and acknowledge that fish will not eat everything. (And you don't want them to if you have corals). So, you need a way to remove stuff that breaks down into phosphates and nitrates as it decays. Protein skimmers, water changes, algae turf scrubbers, refugiums full of chaeto or other algaes, mechanical media like gfo reactors. In today's world of reefing there are so many ways to export phosphates and nitrates that it's crazy. You will just need to find what works for your tank, your setup, and for you from a time and maintenance perspective.

On my 350 gallon system, I chose a large skimmer (Rated for 500 gallons at a moderate load), an algae turf scrubber to grow algae where I want algae grown and not in the display, a mechanical 25 micron cannister filter to polish the water column and remove fine particulates that impede the clarity of the water, and finally I do around 2 10-15% water changes per week with 0TDS RODI water. And knock on wood, since using reeflux I have had no reemergence of algae in my display for 6 months.


Having sufficient (but not too much) nutrient export is key. My nitrates sit between 10 and 20 anytime I test them. Which, works for my corals.

 

[John08007]

I agree with others. You need to deal with the problem. Your fish will always need to poop.. You will always need to feed food and acknowledge that fish will not eat everything. (And you don't want them to if you have corals). So, you need a way to remove stuff that breaks down into phosphates and nitrates as it decays. Protein skimmers, water changes, algae turf scrubbers, refugiums full of chaeto or other algaes, mechanical media like gfo reactors. In today's world of reefing there are so many ways to export phosphates and nitrates that it's crazy. You will just need to find what works for your tank, your setup, and for you from a time and maintenance perspective.

On my 350 gallon system, I chose a large skimmer (Rated for 500 gallons at a moderate load), an algae turf scrubber to grow algae where I want algae grown and not in the display, a mechanical 25 micron cannister filter to polish the water column and remove fine particulates that impede the clarity of the water, and finally I do around 2 10-15% water changes per week with 0TDS RODI water. And knock on wood, since using reeflux I have had no reemergence of algae in my display for 6 months.


Having sufficient (but not too much) nutrient export is key. My nitrates sit between 10 and 20 anytime I test them. Which, works for my corals.

I've looked into turf scrubbers, but seems like they require constant maintenance. This is why i went with a refugium instead. How often do you need to clean yours out?

Also, the mechanical filter to polish the water, who makes it? Never seen a filter like this for a large tank except DE filters.

 

[Treefer32]

marineandreef.com sells them (I talked to the Nu-Clear Support person) who has owned several salt water and freshwater setups. He was very knowledgeable on the cannister filters. Nu-clear cannister filter is the brand name. They are so easy to open and clean that they're awesome. The cartridges are a little expensive, but, the support person said he's on the cannister cartridge for 10 years now. Just cleaning it every so often with a hose and a soak in bleach for 24 hours. Spray it off the next day let it dry. And for me, just some peace of mind, I soak mine in a 5 gallon bucket of RODI water for a day with some prime to remove any embedded chlorine. Comes out looking like new!

You can do inline (plumbed to each other) a 100 micron filter, then a 25 micron filter, or they allow a stacking methodology that the stacked filters are actually cheaper per Housing. Realistically, you'd only want to stack three. But these have to be the same sized filters. so, 2-3 stacked 100 micron filters or 2-3 stacked 25 micron filters. I'm running 1 25 micron filter plumbed off my return pump (sends the water back to my skimmer.) It polishes my water, makes it a lot clearer, and has room to house any media such as carbon. I run purigen in place of carbon. I have a heated garage and a floor drain in my garage plus hot and cold water. I keep two cartridges and rotate them. Take the old one out, put the clean one in. Then take the old one to the garage to hose it down. 5-10 minutes it's ready for it's bleach soak.

As to the scrubber. Every 6-7 days, I clean a softball sized ball of green hair algae off the canvas. I clean the pipe, scrape the canvas, and reattach. All of 5-10 minutes start to finish. Lights are dimmable on mine, so if I'm going away for a few days I can dim the lights down so it still grows, just at a much slower pace. And it's hooked to my apex, so I can control the schedule of the lights as well.

 

[Chrille26]

I used Flux rx against Bryopsis, got rid of all GHA as a bonus. Works great and the result is lasting months later.
My Chaeto and other livestock remained unaffected also.