Massive! Hair algae problem...

Heres the powerhead

 

on page two of the reefcentral thread we have a nearly exact pic before and after, yours is way less covered than Ohiomoms






of course there is no harm in phosphate management Im just a peroxide luva lol.

Its totally and commonly possible to strip water so clean of dissolved nutrient that algae will bleach and die. The reason I don't champion that method is because its commonly overdone at the expense of corals, is hard to know the right dosages among tanks, and the number of peroxide cures we had to run on tanks already running GFO/P management hardcore (it didn't work, or it caused cyano etc)


you have to continually renew water stripping media, so occasionally treating with peroxide (if needed) is debatably the same as constantly renewing your gfo. it is undebatably cheaper with a single 75 cent investment lasting a year and giving similar effects of no more algae. Over the last ten years of reefkeeping I tried all methods, saw the side effects of each one, so Im here to sell you all on peroxide



typing on these forums is great learning regardless of the algae removal method you choose I appreciate learning from them all. One reason not to use peroxide is delicately stacked aquascapes that someone doesnt want to take down, and stocking of the 6 animals we know are sensitive to it where you can't dose the whole tank.

 

here are the invaders we've beaten and sustained with proof pictures so far changing nothing else other than killing the target:

green hair algae, all forms of cyanobacteria, diatoms, dinoflagellates, bryozoans, string diatoms, red brush algae, all forms of macro algae invaders, hydroids, invasive zoanthids (using mixtures stronger than 3%), green microalgae film on glass where no scraping is required, all forms of red and purple unidentified brush algae, , red and green valonia, bryopsis, and unidentified live rock invaders that are clear and low-lying close to the rocks. Any pest can be beaten with it.

Hows that for a kill all list lol

The airborne invaders like cyano and green hair algae can show up at any time in any tank running any method, so occasional retreatments a few times a year might be needed or you can just let them run their course or rely on clean up crews etc, the point is no more tanks are wrecked out of control like these before pictures.

My own testbed, the reefbowl, is treated about 4 times a year as needed in a tiny little spot that likes to grow gha on my rocks. The end result is I have zero algae in my bowl, ever, even with phosphates higher than all your tanks but still within levels that doesn't suppress calcification (I cant chip sps out of my bowl fast enough to leave room for other corals)

 

here is the comparative thread with an exacting before and after pic of a green powerhead!

pico reef pest algae problem challenge - Page 2 - Reef Central Online Community

 

Can you share what these 6 animals are? I have been following much of what you've had to share about peroxide here on 3reef, but I have yet to read what exactly is known to be sensitive to it.

 

so far after this last year of testing >
weakest to most tolerant:

-fireworms die nearly immediately, fall right out of the rock. nobody seems to miss them
-lysmata species cleaner shrimp
-decorative macro algae
-anemones (hosting anemones like rbta's not corallimorphs or aiptasias, they are hardier)
-coralline will bleach but come back
-xenia will usually die off with a systemic treatment

conversely and interestingly, we've never measured any dosage to indicate a loss of filtration bacteria (positive ammonia testing) nor damage/irritation to any fish

leather corals are not well tested with systemic dosings, need more data although with directed spot treatments none of these will die, these losses are based on whole tank dosing and contact to all surfaces. some people report loss of pods but I don't see that in my bowl, and I use 35% compared to all these threads where people are stressing about using 3%...

none of this is very scientific, its anecdotal, but who cares when its this predictable and we have amassed hundreds of acceptable outcome pics.

The minute I am informed of something that works better I'll put down the bottle!!

 

My other powerhead is much worse but im just going to try and see how it works on this one first. Im almost scared to post a fts... Its pretty bad.

If the peroxide works well, which it sure has a ton of evidence that it destroyysss the algae, ill just sell the gfo reactor lol

 

i personally went online and spended 150 buck on a really big clean up crew that took care of all the alage issue.

 

Then whats happens to the really big cuc once all the algae is gone? Lol i dont want 50 dead snails in my tank

 

Its ok to keep the gfo to try as needed id let the tank mature a little longer in case that becomes handy as a preventative
its nice to have both options depending on what a tank throws at you

If you ever wanted to carry a hefty fish bioload that reactor might come in handy

cerith snails were my favorite, turbos can't fit in my tank but I know they do great too

I need to reread , are you skimming?