Chem-Marin Stop Hair Algae- Does it Work??

FishhyRen · #1 11/29/2006, 04:30 PM

I was just thumbing through my Marine Depot catalog and saw this bottle of Chem-Marin Stop Hair Algae bottle- $16 for 6oz

This sounds too good to be true... Has anyone actually tried this stuff? How does it work, what is it made out of?
Thanks!

fishamajiggle · #2 11/29/2006, 04:45 PM

I AGREE sounds too good to be true. but I will tag along to see if anyone has used this before.

FishhyRen · #3 11/29/2006, 10:19 PM

bump

dippin61 · #4 11/29/2006, 11:11 PM

never use chemicals to fix a problem that can be fixed through better husbandry. JMO

MJAnderson · #5 11/29/2006, 11:19 PM

I know someone who used it and he said it did work. But it's a bit of a mess as it kills the algae but doesn't remove it. He did tons of plucking and vacumning to get rid of the dead HA.

solinar · #6 11/29/2006, 11:44 PM

eww

FishhyRen · #7 11/30/2006, 08:30 AM

It's on page 64 in the Vol 1 2007 catalog for anyone who's following along

FishhyRen · #8 12/01/2006, 04:33 PM

One more Bump.

geno4361 · #9 12/01/2006, 08:45 PM

I had a huge out break and tried for mths to remove... turned out water changes and scrapping those rocks did the trick much much quicker.... we all battle the algae growth, if you have the right animals in to control it-- you still lose because nature will take over..the stuff works great if you can get a vacum cleaner to help you out!!nobody makes one... please don't wate your moola!!

FishhyRen · #10 12/02/2006, 11:15 AM

I've pretty much beat mine now.... It was a battle royal for a while though.

I saw this though and wanted to see if anyone had any experience with it... Definitely seems like it would have some drawbacks...
Thanks

kryppy · #11 12/02/2006, 05:22 PM

I'd try a sea hare and some Mexican turbos before putting that in if a bandaid is in order.

Folta · #12 12/06/2006, 05:56 PM

I'm interested in buying this stuff as well to help get my hair algae issue in order.

My question though is what kind of area will a bottle of this stuff cover? It looks like the applicator is a syringe, so I'm thinking you direct it in a certain spot and squirt? If that is the case then it won't do a large area, will it?

The algae in my tank is very spread out.. a big part of the reason being that the more I tried to manually remove it from the tank , the more got loose in the water, blown around, and started growing somewhere else.

As to the person who made a comment about good husbandry - sometimes things go wrong even when you do everything you can think of correctly. I have a 180 gallon that has a major hair algae problem. I have used nothing but RO/DI water from the start, and have replaced the filters in the unit as well. I have a TDS meter that reads 000-001 for water coming out. My salinity is 1.025 based on my refractometer. I have a 75 gallon sump, UV Sterelizer, and refugium with cheato (which does NOT outcompete the hair algae.. in fact the hair algae grows ON the cheato). I have 2 maxijet 1200's and two Seio 2600's in the display tank for flow, and as far as I can tell no real dead spots. I do water changes on a regular basis, and have tried various size changes that never seem to come out differently.

I use 3x 250w MH lights, 2 which came directly from my 55 gallon tank that I had set up before the upgrade (in which I did not have a hair algae problem and my corals grew superbly). My skimmer is an MR2 (myreefcreations) driven by a pcx 55 pump. My return from the skimmer to the display tank is a reeflo dart, to an oceans motions 8 way.

I have a large size cleanup crew of various crabs and snails, and two tangs (Sohal and Yellow). Lights are on 8 hours a day. I feed on the light side (the fish all look a little bit thin.) I have a small bio load for the size of tank (1 clown, 3 lyretail anthias, the two tangs, a leopard wrasse, a 6 line, and a flame angel.) All are healthy and active.

The liverock came directly from the 55 gallon tank.

I had the hair algae issue from before the sohal tang was added.

I have a kalkwasser reactor to maintain pH, alk, and calc levels.

parameters:

temp ~ 80 degrees, never off more than a degree
salinity 1.025 tested on a refractometer
pH 8.2-8.3, as it starts dipping down to 8.0 I replace the kalk
alkalinity (dKH) ~ 10.0, not much swing (add a small amount of baking soda if dipping and calcium is not)
calcium ~ 400, not much swing (add a small amount of kent turbo calc if dipping and alk is not)
nitrates : undetectable
nitrites : undetectable
ammonia : undetectable
phospates: ~ 0.15 (although we all know about accuracy of phosphate tests; I've also tried running phosban to no effect)
magnesium : 1250

I've pulled the rocks and scrubbed them. I've scraped and cleaned and pulled algae out. About a double big gulp cups worth every couple weeks. I've even felt like pulling my own hair out over this issue.

I've tried T5 lighting (tek fixtures) and MH's, no apparant difference. Brand New bulbs.

There's only one thing I can think of that can be keeping the algae fueled, and its something that is completely new and not from my 55 gallon tank - the SAND. I was given it by another reefer who took down their tank. At this juncture I'm contemplating taking out ALL rocks and removing the sand, then putting the liverock back in after scrubbing the algae off of them. I haven't done it yet as it will be a huge hassle and I really have no where to put 150 lbs of liverock with corals attached, let alone all that sand.

So given that, I do not think my husbandry is what is in question here, and I am looking for a product that will help kill the hair algae. I could care less about it getting into the water because I can siphon it out and get it out via water changes. So what kind of area does a bottle of this cover?