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Thread: HOG1 working but not enough

  1. #1

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    Nov 2019
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    HOG1 working but not enough

    I have a 100litre (25g) cube with built in back filter. I use a HOG1 about 3 years now and the tank is barebottom with old live rock.Tank is skimmerless and the filter has activated carbon every month the HOG and extra pieces of live rock . I can't lower the phosphate enough (0,05-0,2) but the nitrate levels are always zero. Most of the time hair algae thrives in the tank rock, glass and pumps, at all levels in the tank, and in the HOG too, where I get thin strings of dark green algae. I tried to feed more(4-5 pinches of flake) with no results in nitrate level, but got a bit cloudy water every time and lost all my snails.There is a happy clownfish and a brittle starfish in the tank.I tried to bring nitrate up with KNO3 but it didn't accelerate the algae growth in the HOG. Tried to clean the rock manually to give advantage to the HOG but the hair algae returned as it was. Switched off the tank lights of periods of months( no corals) and kept feeding and nitrate level climbed up to 20ppm but the HOG didn't grow more algae. When i switched the lights on in the main tank the hair algae appeared again. I tried iron, manganese, and potassium to help algae in the HOG with no significant results.Ca, Mg, KH are fairly stable. Lights on the HOG are 24/7 most of the time but algae grows slower in the center.Should I cut some hours off?

  2. #2
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    Welcome from Greece. A photo with the red light off would help. But yes if the middle has not filled in yet, and if the bubbles are strong and go up the middle, then you can do 18 hours of light.

    Also you should be cleaning often, to get what growth there is, out.

  3. #3

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    Click image for larger version

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  4. #4

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    I saw bubble rising from the sides so I cleaned the airline tubing with some vinegar.Thanks for the reply!

  5. #5
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    The whole thing needs brushing off in your sink, under running water, each week now. Go to 24 hours of light and bubbles too.

  6. #6

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    OK.Thank you!I will keep you informed!

  7. #7

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    Hello again and happy new year!! So I went from 18 to 24 hours lighting- the air pump was 24 h anyway- and no significant growth was noted at HOG... So I followed your advice to another hobbyist to remove all sponges and mechanical filtration from the back filter.I left only some pieces of live rock and a handful of pumice stone pebbles that had created a rise in nitrate levels up to 50ppm in the first place.Also half a cup of activated carbon for clearing the coloration of the water.In just a week's time growth in HOG doubled and I started to see more sponges in one of my rocks in the DT!! I was amazed and kept feeding. Now the growth in the HOG is steady and plentiful and coralline algae started to expand in my DT !! Nitrate levels went down to 20 and phosphate seem almost zero in just a matter of weeks. There is some green algae on the glass of the DT, that it seems to me as a precursor for coralline, but no cyano, diatoms or hair algae on the rock, glass or pumps. Also snails are more active now in cleaning the tank. I will slowly increase the lighting period in DT from 6 hours to 10 and report back to you! I clean HOG only with my fingers now every 5 to 7 days and is going great! Thank you!!

  8. #8
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    Nice! Yes any kind of mechanical filter will remove the food particles that sponges and forams need to eat continuously.

  9. #9

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    Nov 2019
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    Hello! I hope everyone is well and clear from corona virus infection!!
    As for the aquarium I had HOG 1 transferred to a 30lt (8G) aquarium(I will write about it in another post), and made an DIY HOG with double the screen surface an 6 red cree leds (driver 0,7 A) on the outside unit. Distance from the screen is double(ish) because of the bigger food trays I used.(there is a photo of the internal unit at 8 days growth in the end). It is working very well and after the initial shedding of the light for a week, it is growing algae like crazy! Nitrates were about 20-30 (salifert) before the new ats setup and now is 0-2 ppm after 1 month of use.Phosphate is 0 ppm ( salifert), as it was before changing the ATS unit.I food that hair algae (derbesia) found its way in the tank again, not dominating the surface of the rocks, but staying as a threat...It followed the growth of some types of macro algae that started growing as the HOG 01 worked enough as I described in my previous post. Snails don't it both macro and micro algae but keep in check the diatoms that also started to appear on the rock. Finally, the gracilaria I purposely added to the tank one year ago is also has grown five fold. I know if I add a sea hare to the main tank, will solve the problem for now, but I want to find the reason that a more powerful unit (ats) has lost the control over the derbesia. I suspect that it struggles due to nitrate deficiency. Light period of ats is 24h.Click image for larger version

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  10. #10

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    I feed the same amount of food because the increasing the feed amount created foam from organics in the water and scared me of fulling the water.

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