I started with a massive outbreak of Briopsys and some tufts of green hair algae. I used reeflux and eliminated all agae. I shut down my turf scrubber while doing this. It was all gone and pristine. I restarted my turf scrubber (which took 3-4 weeks to restart). Now a few months later, all briopsis is gone, but green hair algae came back. It seems to go through cycles of growing then dieing then growing. I hand blow a lot of it off the rocks with a turkey baster. I scrub some of the rocks with a stiff bristled brush. I get a lot of it off and try to pull out as much as I can by hand.
I have a .25 micron Nu-Clear cannister filter that catches a LOT of it. I have to replace the cartridge every 3 weeks. (Reusable cartridges)
I'm doing weekly 11% water changes with IO Salt now. Was doing every other week. I've doubled it to ever week for about 3 weeks with little to no change so far.
I have 15 fish in 340 gallons of water. I feed only what the fish eat. I have pulsing zenia that tell me my water is dirty (they're rapidly reproducing).
I've got 3-4 huge snails that just go around the outside glass and have a knock for eating the algae off my powerhead cords, but not off my rocks.... Go figure. (Then they fall of the cords and lay in the sand upside down until I right them up. )
My turf scrubber fills to softball side ball of hair algae every 6-7 days.
Other than dosing reeflux again. Killing my scrubber and restarting the process all over again, I'm not sure what else to do.
My Nitrates come in at between 12-16 (tested at this 2-3 weeks in a row) Phosphates just tested at .04. Alk at 8.4, Calcium 440, MG at around 1500-1600. (All tests are REd Sea Pro tests other than alk). Salinity is at 1.025. Temp runs 78 to to just over 79. PH runs 8.1 to 8.3.
I also run an oversized skimmer that keeps pulling yellow and brown crap out.
I thought the scrubber would remove enough nutrients. But, is there something else I should be doing to control algae in the display? Tank is going on 2 years old (operational two years with lights as of October.)
I have a .25 micron Nu-Clear cannister filter that catches a LOT of it. I have to replace the cartridge every 3 weeks. (Reusable cartridges)
I'm doing weekly 11% water changes with IO Salt now. Was doing every other week. I've doubled it to ever week for about 3 weeks with little to no change so far.
I have 15 fish in 340 gallons of water. I feed only what the fish eat. I have pulsing zenia that tell me my water is dirty (they're rapidly reproducing).
I've got 3-4 huge snails that just go around the outside glass and have a knock for eating the algae off my powerhead cords, but not off my rocks.... Go figure. (Then they fall of the cords and lay in the sand upside down until I right them up. )
My turf scrubber fills to softball side ball of hair algae every 6-7 days.
Other than dosing reeflux again. Killing my scrubber and restarting the process all over again, I'm not sure what else to do.
My Nitrates come in at between 12-16 (tested at this 2-3 weeks in a row) Phosphates just tested at .04. Alk at 8.4, Calcium 440, MG at around 1500-1600. (All tests are REd Sea Pro tests other than alk). Salinity is at 1.025. Temp runs 78 to to just over 79. PH runs 8.1 to 8.3.
I also run an oversized skimmer that keeps pulling yellow and brown crap out.
I thought the scrubber would remove enough nutrients. But, is there something else I should be doing to control algae in the display? Tank is going on 2 years old (operational two years with lights as of October.)