Hair algae - Vibrant plus refugium method?

[Fisherman Joe]

Hi all.

Currently having issue with hair algae. I have a 600L (120G) tank with a full Triton method refugium.

Obviously the refugium will die.

How can I manage nitrates while I kill off my hair algae?

Can I keep the cheato alive outside the tank or bin it and start again?

Should I leave the cheato in the tank as it will help remove nitrates as it dies?

 

[Idoc]

Have you tried increasing your cuc with a bunch of turbo snails, etc...? Sounds a little aggressive to just wipe out your triton refugium for starters.

Manage your nitrates with water changes to get them under control. Maybe some microbacter7 or Waste-Away to bring down nutrients?

You can keep your chaeto outside in a bin of saltwater if you do treat with Vibrant. But, so many darn threads of problems after Vibrant... I'm always so nervous about trying it.

 

[Fisherman Joe]

What’s worrying is that my CUC is as good as ever.

My PO4 is <0.1 and NO3 <20.

I fear the hair algae is established and out competing the refugium.

Going to try flucanazole first. And brightwell Razor.

 

[Dbichler]

I had the same issue have ats though not a refugium so it stopped the ats and dose vibrant saltwater not reef as it’s stronger. I only have soft corals though so you may want reef. My algae went from horrendous to great in 6 weeks. I know it’s a risk some people win and some lose. I think the key is knowing that it’s powerful stuff and don’t overdose.

 

[CoralNerd]

I would pass on Vibrant.
Between H202, manually pulling, scraping, filter socks and p04 removers, I'm winning the battle. I also increased algae leds time on my chaeto reactor and water changes.

 

[atlantean]

Vibrant is great for algae.

But...when dosing 2x a week, I think it was depleting my oxygen levels and making my fish gulp air at the surface (I don't have a skimmer though). Also, it zeroed out my nitrates and phosphates. So, needing to remove nitrates might not be an issue.

I'd use it to stabilize an algae problem or give your other methods a chance to catch up but I'd monitor PO4 and NO3 frequently. Seems like it's a bit uncertain what it will do to nutrient levels in any particular tank.

 

[Pistondog]

Hi all.

Currently having issue with hair algae. I have a 600L (120G) tank with a full Triton method refugium.

Obviously the refugium will die.

How can I manage nitrates while I kill off my hair algae?

Can I keep the cheato alive outside the tank or bin it and start again?

Should I leave the cheato in the tank as it will help remove nitrates as it dies?

You could carbon dose to manage nitrates.
I have no gha in dt, but in refugium. Maybe the rabbitfish or starry blenny are eating any that starts.

 

[Acrofiend]

Don’t use vibrant!
Make a baking soda/peroxide paste and apply directly with syringe and all pumps off. Wait 5 minutes then use a water change to remove the paste solution.
Or remove all rocks and use a syringe to apply peroxide to all algae. Wait 5 minutes then rinse in saltwater.

 

[Pistondog]

Put the chaeto in a bucket of saltwater for the duration, put near a sunny window.
I used vibrant on a 10g marinecube, no fuge. Success after 6 to 8 weeks.
I'd try a rabbitfish 1st though, vs losing the fuge.
If the gha is there now, it'll come back.

 

[Uncle99]

I would pass on Vibrant.
Between H202, manually pulling, scraping, filter socks and p04 removers, I'm winning the battle. I also increased algae leds time on my chaeto reactor and water changes.

Vibrant took out my coralline, twice, 6 weeks in, two different tanks.
Great on bubble, ok on some types of green hair.
Took 16 weeks for me. 100% on bubble....90% on hair.

Ive heard a lot about the H2O2 for algae, did use that treatment on Cyano and wiped that out completely in 7ish days.