Flux Rx? Pros? Cons? I hate hair algae =(

[JCM]

I think your first step needs to be getting phosphates under control. .25 is high and on top of that, a bunch is bound in the algae.

Chemicals, sea hares, etc. may help but they are band aids. Work on balancing your import/export and the algae will eventually clear itself up. Feed less, get a better skimmer, run a refugium,do more water changes... lots of ways to balance import/export. Find one that works for you. A sea hare may eat the hair algae, but your phosphates will still be high and something else will take over. The sea hare will be pumping out phosphate rich waste the whole time its eating as well.

Nice aquascape too!

 

[FastandCurious]

Does anyone know if you dose Flux Rx everyday for the 14 days the directions reccomend, or is it just once? The package, and their insert doesn't specify...

I only dosed once and waited 2 weeks to see the results. Just make sure you take out any carbon u have ans turn of ur skimmer for a few days

 

[Rocketfish]

I wonder if there are more than 1 or 2 kinds of green hair algae. I am running a Red Sea Recipe in a 30-gallon cube and because I use NoPox, my nitrates and phosphates are right at zero. The SPS and LPs coral is doing great as well. I had what appeared to be 2.different kinds of GHA. One was a lighter brighter green, and the other is a much darker color of green. The lawnmower blenny ate most of the light stuff but won't touch the dark stuff. I added a small hippo tang and he doesn't graze on any algae.. I then acclimated some freshwater mollies to help and they don't touch the stuff. So then I bought a eelatively small sea hare thinking he would make short work of it. This is where it gets interesting!

The sea hare ate all of the remaining light green stuff that the blenny couldnt get to. The i noticed he was on the dark green stuff but it was like he was forming a huge blister on his body as he ate it. After a few minutes he went somewhere else and just hung out on a rock for a.while and the blister went away. The next day i picked him up and put him in a patch and as he.was eating it, another huge blister started to form until it covered half his body. He then stopped eating it and went somewhere els for a while.

He still goes and nibbles on it from time to time, but it is obvious its not his favorite and he gets the big blister reaction every time.

I looked at the algae really close under white light and it is dark green. Then when I shined a 460nm flashlight on it, the color changed to a deep maroonish red!

The trochus and Astrea snails won't touch the stuff, the tuxedo urchin won't touch the stuff, the lawnmower blenny won't touch the stuff, and it appears the sea hare is partially allergic to it but still eats it. from time to time but not enough to eradicate it.

 

[Rocketfish]

I wonder if there are more than 1 or 2 kinds of green hair algae. I am running a Red Sea Recipe in a 30-gallon cube and because I use NoPox, my nitrates and phosphates are right at zero. The SPS and LPs coral is doing great as well. I had what appeared to be 2.different kinds of GHA. One was a lighter brighter green, and the other is a much darker color of green. The lawnmower blenny ate most of the light stuff but won't touch the dark stuff. I added a small hippo tang and he doesn't graze on any algae.. I then acclimated some freshwater mollies to help and they don't touch the stuff. So then I bought a eelatively small sea hare thinking he would make short work of it. This is where it gets interesting!

The sea hare ate all of the remaining light green stuff that the blenny couldnt get to. The i noticed he was on the dark green stuff but it was like he was forming a huge blister on his body as he ate it. After a few minutes he went somewhere else and just hung out on a rock for a.while and the blister went away. The next day i picked him up and put him in a patch and as he.was eating it, another huge blister started to form until it covered half his body. He then stopped eating it and went somewhere els for a while.

He still goes and nibbles on it from time to time, but it is obvious its not his favorite and he gets the big blister reaction every time.

I looked at the algae really close under white light and it is dark green. Then when I shined a 460nm flashlight on it, the color changed to a deep maroonish red!

The trochus and Astrea snails won't touch the stuff, the tuxedo urchin won't touch the stuff, the lawnmower blenny won't touch the stuff, and it appears the sea hare is partially allergic to it but still eats it. from time to time but not enough to eradicate it.

This is photos of the same spot of algae, one under white light, one under 460nm blue light, and then one of the sea hare with the blister while eating this stuff.

 

[LegendaryCG]

Pros; it eradicates algae and fungal infections, probably won’t kill anything you’re trying to keep
Cons; coral have algae within their tissue that may or may not be damaged by it.

For what it’s worth I use it, but only to stop and out of control hair algae issue. A Mexican turbo snail and some ceritths do a pretty good job on hair algae removal as well.

 

[Desperado Lucky]

I had really good results with Vibrant, after trying a few small urchins and other inverts. Didn’t try sea hare for risk reasons. Didn’t try a fish that eats it because I didn’t want to add another and upset a good balance. Still have the urchins but they didn’t do much.

Dosed 1ml per 10 gallons every 10 days, and gone completely in about 9 weeks. I’ve read it may take out your chaeto also but I don’t run macro (GFO and Siporax), so wasn’t an issue for me.

 

[FastandCurious]

I had really good results with Vibrant, after trying a few small urchins and other inverts. Didn’t try sea hare for risk reasons. Didn’t try a fish that eats it because I didn’t want to add another and upset a good balance. Still have the urchins but they didn’t do much.

Dosed 1ml per 10 gallons every 10 days, and gone completely in about 9 weeks. I’ve read it may take out your chaeto also but I don’t run macro (GFO and Siporax), so wasn’t an issue for me.

I think I'm going to give it a try. I made the mistake of going after a few spots with. Toothbrush and now POOF it's even worse lol

 

[Hermie]

I think I'm going to give it a try. I made the mistake of going after a few spots with. Toothbrush and now POOF it's even worse lol

I've been going hardcore with the toothbrush for the past 6 weeks, really every week it needs to be done in my tank and it's really hard work and time consuming!

My latest effort (last night) involved siphoning the rock, as I toothbrush it, into a DIY felt filter sock in my sump. While it's probably best to siphon the debris out of the tank, while doing a water change, there just isnt enough time to get to all the algae before the water level drops to where I have enough new salt water to add back into the tank. Doing the siphoning into a filter sock allows way more time to get all the crevices of the rock.

I'm doing this manual removal while also increasing the clean up crew, twice in the past 6 weeks ive added a new batch of snails, doubling the existing number of snails, and I have a phosguard (phosphate remover) reactor running 24/7 to remove the phosphates that are bound up in the rock and the algae. It's really tough!!! It feels like a never ending battle. And manual removal is one of the hardest things especially because of my rockwork, but IMO it's one of the best ways to get rid of the algae long term. Basically I am substituting myself for an herbivore fish like a tang.

 

[FastandCurious]

I've been going hardcore with the toothbrush for the past 6 weeks, really every week it needs to be done in my tank and it's really hard work and time consuming!

My latest effort (last night) involved siphoning the rock, as I toothbrush it, into a DIY felt filter sock in my sump. While it's probably best to siphon the debris out of the tank, while doing a water change, there just isnt enough time to get to all the algae before the water level drops to where I have enough new salt water to add back into the tank. Doing the siphoning into a filter sock allows way more time to get all the crevices of the rock.

I'm doing this manual removal while also increasing the clean up crew, twice in the past 6 weeks ive added a new batch of snails, doubling the existing number of snails, and I have a phosguard (phosphate remover) reactor running 24/7 to remove the phosphates that are bound up in the rock and the algae. It's really tough!!! It feels like a never ending battle. And manual removal is one of the hardest things especially because of my rockwork, but IMO it's one of the best ways to get rid of the algae long term. Basically I am substituting myself for an herbivore fish like a tang.

I feel ur pain. I would run out of water way before I could siphon out all of the debris. And I recently got a green mandarin and although I had been dosing pods for a while before, everytime I go in with a brush on the rocks and algae I feel like I'm also brushing out all the pods and then l my fish eat them all in a matter of seconds lol. I lowered my Po4 down to 0.028 but this evil gha is a stubborn biatch. I just ordered a bottle of Vibrant, so we will see how that goes. Fingers crossed