Starting Over..

[Gonzapa]

Over the last 4 months I been battling hair algae with no success this thing grow to a thick carpet and kills every coral it touches.
nothing will eat it.
Long story short last week on desperation I dissembled my tank.
I have built a small system to keep the few things that have not died due to this algae and my rock has been cooking in Clorox fro 1 week.

Now for the fun part. I want to avoid the mistakes of previous builds. I am an SPS guy and I will like my next tank to have very high flow.
The issue I am debating is that I also like the fine sand look at the bottom and those are absolutely incompatible.

Anyone can offer any suggestions?
I have heard of people using epoxy and then covering it with sand.
Has anyone seen something like this before?

Also now that my corals are out of the main tank. Anyone have a good remedy for hair algae?
Mag is not working I have kept it at 1800 for 2 months and this thing still can grow overnight
Any idea if UV or ozone can make a dent here?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Anyone have a good remedy for hair algae?
Mag is not working I have kept it at 1800 for 2 months and this thing still can grow overnight
Any idea if UV or ozone can make a dent here?

Don’t ask my why, but I heard the magnesium thing with hair algae only works if you use Kent’s Tech M.



Also, have you looked into peroxide dosing? I’ve heard of people having success using this.

 

[mnat]

Depending on how fine you want your sand, you have options. We use Carib Sea live sand fiji pink and it looks nice but does not really get kicked up unless you aim a powerhead at it. This is with an mp60 running right now.

 

[Gonzapa]

Don’t ask my why, but I heard the magnesium thing with hair algae only works if you use Kent’s Tech M.



Also, have you looked into peroxide dosing? I’ve heard of people having success using this.

Now that I disassembled my tank I am moving my doser from Alk to peroxide. I still have not found exactly how much should I dose but I am thinking to start with 1 ml /10G a day and see how it goes
I really want to save the corals I have left!

 

[Gonzapa]

Depending on how fine you want your sand, you have options. We use Carib Sea live sand fiji pink and it looks nice but does not really get kicked up unless you aim a power head at it. This is with an mp60 running right now.

Here is what I was thinking. Creating a closed loop from the return to the bottom of the tank. this will create upwards flow and carry detritus up. But the way I have it in mind will not work with sand in the bottom thats Why I was thinkig of using the epoxy.

 

[JurseyDvlJoe]

Why not use the epoxy closest to the return, or put heavier grade of sand or some other form of low profile obstruction under the return? Depending on how you aquascape that area, you can still create the upwelling effect. I may not be seeing how your setup is, but just some suggestions.

 

[jgraz]

I did see where someone on RC covered the bottom of the tank with a thin layer of silicon then added some sand. Let the silicone cure then remove the extra sand. It looked good, I imagine epoxy would work just a well or better

 

[Mark...]

In regard to the algae problem, what was your phosphate running? Curious as to how you can address this problem.