Please, I need Help!

[dsovetsky]

Hello, this is my first post in these forums, but I have been reading them for well over a year. I have found them to be informative, encompassing many different opinions. I hope you can help me with my problem.

Here are some tank facts:

2.5 years old
75 gallon tank
20 gallon sump/ approx. 10 gallon in it
125 lbs of live rock
2.5 inch sand bed (started with dead aragonite)
Remora Urchin Protein skimmer with rio 1400 (approx. 2 teaspoons or less a day of waste)
Mag Life 7 pump for return with sea swirl
3 maxi-jet 600's connected to tsunami wave timer
440 watts of VHO/ 2 icecap ballasts 5.8wpg
50% percent actinic, come on at 8:30am with solar 750 dimmer and turn off at 8:30pm
50% 10,000k come on at 10:00am and turn off at 7:00pm
60gpd Kent Hi-S RO/ well water
I change my bulbs in a rotation of 8-10 months
SG: 1.023 Coralife
p04: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
ammonia: 0
Silicate .02ppm
CA: 400-440ppm
ALK: 8.5-10.5dkh
ph: 8.1-8.2
strontium: very low, recently been adding
iodine: very low, recently been adding
water change: 10 gallons every two weeks


Additives: Seachem Reef Builder: used occasionally
Seachem Advantage Calcium: used occasionally
Tropic Marin water reconditioner: used for top off
Recently been adding lugals and strontium weekly

Inhabitants:
-Pink Xenia (lots) (grew prolifically for the first few months, but topped a few months ago and have begun to improve with the addition of iodine and strontium)
-hairy mushrooms (turned lighter a few months ago but are beginning to green up again since I have been adding iodine and strontium)
-Torch
-Frogspawn
-blue mushrooms
-acropora (7)
-pocillopora (1)
-star polyps
-pearl
-yellow polyps
-candy cane
-six-line wrasse
-Desjardni Red Sea Tang
-Lawnmower blenny
-about 25 hermits
-75 snails
-1 sally lightfoot
-4 atlantic cucumbers
-spiny gorgonian

I have been experiencing a hair algae bloom for over a year, I know that my tests are accurate because the results of my test kits (salifert and seachem) agree my lfs tests. I can not seem to stop this algae. When I harvest it, it takes about 3 weeks to grow back. I can not figure out how to get rid it. I have decent coralline growth since I got rid of my halimeda(that's another story). The hair algae should not be growing, there simply isn't enough nutrients. Any help would be appreciated

[MiNdErAsR]

[welcome]


I would cease all chemical additions with the exception of those used to regulate calcium and alkalinity. Regular water changes should provide more than enough of the other elements.

Also you don't mention which foods you're using. Some commercially prepared foods are very high in phosphate. The excess phosphate would be quickly bound up in the algae, thus rendering your tests somewhat inaccurate.

That said, I would recommend preparing your own marine based food for your tank. Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman has some recommendations for such a recipe, or you could simply search the forums for "food recipe" (or something similar) for more info.

IMO, HTH

[dsovetsky]

I feed Marine Snow once every two weeks
- ESV Spray Dried Marine Phytoplankton once every two weeks
I alternate between the Marine Snow and the Phytoplankton

and for daily feeding I feed the fish Sera GarnuMarine "The Iodine Enriched Granulated Food"
contains .6% phosphorus

[MiNdErAsR]

Definitely need to rethink your food choices. Marine Snow is 99.9% water, and personally I'm not too fond of the spray dried phytoplankton. Better choices (again IMO) would be DT's phytoplankton (which is alive), and Golden Pearls (two smallest sizes) however you must be careful not to overfeed with Golden Pearls.

For the daily feedings I would again recommend a homemade recipe. It would be far more healthy for the tank, and lots cheaper for your wallet. :)

[Yellotang]

I agree with MiNdErAsR here totally, You may also concider adding a refugium to the system to grow Macro algae's to help remove the excess phosphates. Basically out competeing the hair algae.

[Riotfishdude]

your skimmer is underproducing,nutrients in the tank are feeding your algae,play with the skimmer until you can get it producing much more then it is,here is a good link for you...Riot...
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/avoidingalgaeproblesm.htm