Anyone dose espon salt for hair algae issues

[whitetiger61]

I was wondering if anyone out there doses epson salt to help with hair algae problems..I have heard of its usage but havent heard how it does.

Thanks

Rick

[tazzy695]

yes I do rick it is a cheap source of MG doesn't kill the bryopsys like tech m dose but it dose the job just slower

not sure how well it truly works on regular hair algae though

[greenstarfish03]

This link will show you in detail what I use. I use recipe #2 and the third part is the epson salt and it even explain when and how much to use.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

[whitetiger61]

thanks greenstar

Rick

[AZDesertRat]

When dosing magnesium, you should be dosing both magnesium sulfate and magnesium chloride together for a balanced recipe.

[jimsflies]

As far as killing algae though...assuming you mean bryopsis, I wouldn't waste my time...just go for the tech M. I think the conventional thought is that it's not the Mg that is killing the algae it is some other contaminant (?) in the Tech M that is doing the job. I tried other products including epson salts and still had just as much algae as when I started.

[skuttduck]

I have had my reef tank since 2004. I have dealt with many algae issues and beat hair algae bryopsis and this strange black turf algae.

Never have I treated with chemicals or dosing. Changing the spectrum of the bulbs has seemed to help and now I am running all led so I don't have the temperature swings.

You may just have a cycle with algae from things dying in live rock. If you have a sump put some piece in there for awhile and it will break off and go away.

Also siphon as much out by hand and if you are adding phytoplankton stop...

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[greenstarfish03]

I can say almost positively that if you have the right water params that you won't have an issue w/ hair algae. I recently took some pieces w/ tons of hair alage from someone else and put them in my tank. The hair algae all starved out in my tank in three days. I use the 2 part recipe above w/ the mg addative w/ water changes ~ monthly give or take and don't add anything else. I do run crabon and GFO in reactors though w/ good skimmer.

[bkss709]

I would dose Hydrogen Peroxide i have been dosing my tank for 6 days now and it has killed all typs of Algea i was having problems with Dinoflagellates and it has cleared up all of it on my rock , pumps , Sandbed , and off my frag plugs also it will not hurt anything but Algea plus it help drop your nitrates to from what i have noticed and they say it will it dropped my N03 down 5 ppm over the 6 days in have been dosing it. Dose 1 mil for every 10 gallons of tank water keep adding till your problem is gone and it is cheap to buy to.

[cg5071]

I cant remember where exactly but a study of epsom and long term effects on your tank. It compaired it to other methods but epsom left some kind contaminate behind that "could" build up to damage causing ammounts. I want to say that it was an Advanced Aquariast article.

[rmalone]

Keep in mind that hydrogen peroxide is killing a whole lot of bacteria while it is killing algae. We use it in the greenhouse to kill soil pathogens, it kills fungus, bacteria and algae quite well.

On the algae side plain hair algae is just a matter of lowering nutrients, gfo does wonders for po4 at least. Bryopsis, is quite a bit tougher and tech m along with low nutrients is the key.

[bkss709]

I have not seen any problem with loss of Bacteria like i said my nitrates are 0 now and at day 1 of the 6 days i have been treating my tank they were 5 ppm. I could see if a person treated there tank with 100 x the dosage i have been treating my tank then i would say yes that it would kill some or a lot of bacteria but at the dosage of 1 mill for every 10 gallons of tank water way to low of a dosage to do any damage at all.






Keep in mind that hydrogen peroxide is killing a whole lot of bacteria while it is killing algae. We use it in the greenhouse to kill soil pathogens, it kills fungus, bacteria and algae quite well.

On the algae side plain hair algae is just a matter of lowering nutrients, gfo does wonders for po4 at least. Bryopsis, is quite a bit tougher and tech m along with low nutrients is the key.