Fixing my hair algae problem

Well, my hair algae as well as several other types, red slime, bubble are taking their toll on my patience. I'm ordering two deluxe BRS gfo/carbon reactors. One for carbon and one for GFO. I did not want to go with the dual because I've heard problems with clogging filters, and I've got the space. I've got the gist of how they work, are their any pitfalls I should worry about?

 

It would be good to have control of the flow through each separately such as using a ball valve inline.Too much flow and you can pulverize carbon.Too little flow and your gfo will not be as affective.

 

Just make sure you do a real good job rinsing them out with rodi before you use them. Use rox or another higher grade carbon so theres minimal dust. I'd start at half the recommended dose at first just so you don't change anything too quick.

 

I had a staph infection in my knee and my tank went untouched for two months. I'm battling all the above also now that I'm back to good health. It sure goes south a lot quicker than it recovers :/

 

I believe each unit comes with an inline valve. Great tip though. You want a gentle tumble on the media correct?

Ok, I'll rinse good and I'm using the BRS carbon which is pretty good. Good tip on the half dose, I would not have thought of that.

 

Good luck battling it. I'm tearing my hair out. Tried water changes, less feeding and it still grows. So I taking it the phosphates I can't test for are high. Cause I'm testing zero phos and .15 trates.

 

How old is the tank now Marty? For most of my tanks, the order of algae went diatoms, then green hair algae, then cyano. All went away after I think maybe 4 months. So basically I am not surprised by what you are seeing. Either way, carbon is never a bad idea, and although I have never used it, I know many have success with GFO.

 

About 5 month. Diatoms came and went now every nuisance algae known to man.

 

I've replaced all of my rodi filters out with spectrapure. Even added an extra di canister at the end with a silica buster di cartridge, just to make sure its not my water. Cut back my feedings and I'm slowly winning. Most of my HA is turnning brown. I think my cyano is from dying snails. I'm starting to convince myself I don't need the amount of cuc that was recommended. My glass only needs cleaned every two weeks now vs every other day. I've got rid of a lot of my cheato wondering if it was harboring as much nuetrients as it was supposed to be exporting. (That's all speculation. I have no scientific proof lol) the last two months my tank has been on the recovery side of things. I still have HA and cyano but its not as bad as it was. Coralline is taking over everything and my coral has all been growing great!

 

Sounds about right then Are you running a 'fuge yet? I am sure that would go a long way as well. Give the algae a place to grow