HA problem killing my tank outlook

[Dapple]

I truly believe you. You wouldn't believe the detris the new 1050 kicked up. Plus I know I shouldn't have bought this. But I just couldn't help myself. I bought a x-large sea fan today that is very nice. It's purple and white.

 

[Dapple]

This sea fan is pretty massive. It has real good purple coloring.

 

[EvilMel]

PO4 gets trapped in LR fueling algae growth. It usually cannot be measured with a test kit.

Detritus is full of phosphates so wherever there is detritus it is prime real estate for algae. I'd give it a week or two and see if there are improvements before doing anything else. BTW, I don't believe you can have too much flow. In the 125 I was up around 10,000 gph and exceeded 12,000 gph in the 320.

Agreed!

Increasing flow was a great idea. Kole Tang would knock that out too. I have no hair algae anywhere that my Kole Tang can reach but you need to address the issue of why you're even getting hair algae. It's likely detritus buildup/die off, as Dave said. I would generally monitor the parameters that Rob suggested as well though...Ca, Alk, Mg.

IMO you should never have phosphates high enough to even be read on a normal test kit. If you do, there's usually already a huge problem.

 

[Dapple]

I had a full test done .
Phosphate was 0.
Nitrate was 0.
Ammonia was 0.

The hardness was low as well as the mag. I bought buffers for them. Imo the flow increase nailed my issue. I'm going the siphon the hair off. I did think about getting a black molly but haven't committed to it. I had powerheads (a 550 on left , 750 on right) the 550 is pointless . I never dreamed it would be that weak. The 1050 really stirs the tank up.

 

[Dapple]

I had a full test done .
Phosphate was 0.
Nitrate was 0.
Ammonia was 0.

The hardness was low as well as the mag. I bought buffers for them. Imo the flow increase nailed my issue. I'm going the siphon the hair off. I did think about getting a black molly but haven't committed to it. I had powerheads (a 550 on left , 750 on right) the 550 is pointless . I never dreamed it would be that weak. The 1050 really stirs the tank up.

 

[EvilMel]

Regular phosphate kits do not have an acceptable detection limit (much too high), in my opinion. I don't even bother using them.

I agree that the increased flow probably helped a lot. It's a big issue for me too!

 

[Engloid]

My Kole tang never seems to eat much hair algae, but I do seem him eating off the rocks now and then. I guess I got a lazy one that primarily waits till feeding time.

 

[Dapple]

Well I manually removed algae again today. Would you go with a phosban or BRS reactor. I used a toothbrush in a 5 gal bucket. It really disturbed my tank. I hope a second bloom doesn't kick in.

 

[Rob.D]

I use the BRS reactor and I'm not crazy about it. The water only flows through one one part of the reactor, I'm not 100% sure that this is supposed to be the way it works or not. I can't comment on the Phosban reactor as I have never used it. Here is an idea on how to choose the right reactor, take two pieces of paper, write down Phosban on one sheet and write down BRS on the other, tack them too the wall next to each other, put a blindfold on, have Rod spin you around three times, have Rod place a dart in your hand and throw. Pick the reactor that the dart landed closest to and keep us updated on you HA.

 

[gmoney243]

I use the BRS reactor and I'm not crazy about it. The water only flows through one one part of the reactor, I'm not 100% sure that this is supposed to be the way it works or not. I can't comment on the Phosban reactor as I have never used it. Here is an idea on how to choose the right reactor, take two pieces of paper, write down Phosban on one sheet and write down BRS on the other, tack them too the wall next to each other, put a blindfold on, have Rod spin you around three times, have Rod place a dart in your hand and throw. Pick the reactor that the dart landed closest to and keep us updated on you HA.

This is how I picked my wife. Exept I took the one with both eyes.

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[SLUF681]

I use the BRS reactor and I'm not crazy about it. The water only flows through one one part of the reactor, I'm not 100% sure that this is supposed to be the way it works or not. I can't comment on the Phosban reactor as I have never used it. Here is an idea on how to choose the right reactor, take two pieces of paper, write down Phosban on one sheet and write down BRS on the other, tack them too the wall next to each other, put a blindfold on, have Rod spin you around three times, have Rod place a dart in your hand and throw. Pick the reactor that the dart landed closest to and keep us updated on you HA.

Oh crap Rob! I'm not getting anywhere near him if he has a sharp object in his hand!

I'm new to the saltwater stuff but I can't for the life of me understand how he can use a reactor to take things out of the water that are testing 0? If the phosphate is indeed IN the live rock, how do you get it out by filtering the water? It seems to me that he's about to start "throwing parts" at it in hopes that something works. If he just needs to spend money, I've got several things I can sell him, or he can buy ME some stuff!

 

[Rob.D]

Oh crap Rob! I'm not getting anywhere near him if he has a sharp object in his hand!

HAHA, I don't blame you. The only reason I am suggesting a reactor is from the opinion of more experienced reefers and the fact that the algae in my tank has steadily gone down since I started the reactor. I have have intentionally not done water changes on my tank as a informal experiment to see if the algae would go away and so far the GFO seems to be doing it's job. I've only been in the hobby for less than three years, so I'm also still new to all this stuff.

 

[EvilMel]

I use the BRS reactor and I'm not crazy about it. The water only flows through one one part of the reactor, I'm not 100% sure that this is supposed to be the way it works or not. I can't comment on the Phosban reactor as I have never used it. Here is an idea on how to choose the right reactor, take two pieces of paper, write down Phosban on one sheet and write down BRS on the other, tack them too the wall next to each other, put a blindfold on, have Rod spin you around three times, have Rod place a dart in your hand and throw. Pick the reactor that the dart landed closest to and keep us updated on you HA.

I do not disagree with this method...HOWEVER, the reason I wanted the Phosban reactor is that water flows from the bottom through this bubble plate thingy and seems like it would distribute flow around the media better. I knew I was only going to buy a phosphate reactor once so I bought one that's LARGE and had all the properties that I wanted (e.g. good flow around the media from the bottom). Plus it's relatively plug and play.

Since Rob and I set up our reactors at the same time, I can also comment that I have seen a lot of differences in my tank...namely my SPS that had nearly completely bleached white (a couple were WHITE) have started to regain their color again. I mean...corals that I thought for SURE were toast have turned around like you wouldn't believe! If I hadn't also scorched them by putting on Lumenarc reflectors and not decreasing my photoperiod, they'd be doing even better. Anyways...I'm all about the phosphate reactors now.

 

[SLUF681]

I can understand adding a reactor if and when you confirm what problem you have. If your brakes are bad on your car and you put a new motor in it, it'll run better, but it still won't stop. I just don't like spending money that I don't NEED to spend. I understand that when you buy something for one problem that it may fix another totally unrelated problem at the same time too. Darren and I are using the same stuff in both our tanks and he has the algae, I don't. Our lights are different and that's about it I guess. My Diatom explosion is over now and mine is finally starting to clean up. Oh, my 150 has 300# of play sand in it. I told him I had some more play sand if he wants it!

 

[EvilMel]

Play sand leeches a ton silicates. I doubt that your diatom bloom is over, unfortunately.

 

[gmoney243]

If the phosphate is indeed IN the live rock, how do you get it out by filtering the water?

Po4 leached out of rocks into water and is eventually gone if u export it somehow like gfo ,algaes etc. And when someone lists po4 at 0 that's not exactly accurate just means their test kit doesn't read low end so there is always some phos in ur water to be removed. If there wasn't your corals wouldn't survive long.

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[gmoney243]

I use a brs gfo reactor and like it just fine. Even using 2 cups of gfo it still tumbles enough. Thing with gfo is tumbling doesn't make it more effecient like bio pellets. You just need them to not stick so water can pass over and absorb and I find it seems to do a good job of keeping it all fluidized even though only half appears to tumble if I moved my reactor u can see its not clumped.

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[Dapple]

That's a good point gmoney. I need to do some more research about which media to use. Gfo or bio pellets which is my next question. They both are promissing. I think I will go with a brs dual reactor . One for carbon and the other for bio pellets/ Gfo.

 

[EvilMel]

I really like that you can do both GFO and Carbon in their dual reactor but you should talk to Rob about his BRS reactor.

I like BRS stuff a lot but you might need to do some modifications to the reactor to get it to function as efficiently as the Phosban ones! Ask Rob about it...he might sell you his.

 

[Dapple]

I guess I'm going to order my reactor tomorrow. The dual.