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Algea gone wild

ThatGuy

ThatGuy

Don't know the exact type of algea but its starting to choke my corals. I have to blow everything off atleast twice a day. Threw 2 big turbo's in there to help out but its still got the upper hand. I've been syphoning it out everytime I do a water change but it comes back within a day or two. Any other idea's how to handle this? Couple things I know is the Lawnmower blenny eats it and so does the turbo's and astrea snails.

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Classklown90

Classklown90

I went through that when I upgraded even though I used the same.rocks and all. I had to.siphon it out. Do weekly waterchabges and change gfo biweekly. It went away in a month
 
jgraz

jgraz

I would imagine even if you were using a Hanna checker for the phosphate it would probably test low with that much algae.

I would battle just like Kyle said. Manually remove and water changes. However I would go ahead and leave whatever might be growing in the sump. Eliminate from the DT first. Is it an option to cook the rock and start over.
 
ThatGuy

ThatGuy

Daniel said:
What Test kit are you using?
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API. I know everyone hates them for whatever reason but anytime I've had it tested with the better kits it reads the same as what I get with the API


jgraz said:
I would imagine even if you were using a Hanna checker for the phosphate it would probably test low with that much algae.

I would battle just like Kyle said. Manually remove and water changes. However I would go ahead and leave whatever might be growing in the sump. Eliminate from the DT first. Is it an option to cook the rock and start over.
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My wife might kill me if I started over. Would have to figure out what to do with all the fish and corals until the tank recycled and I don't know how well a container sitting in the kitchen would go over.
 
jgraz

jgraz

It doesn't matter what you test with. All of them are probably gonna be the same. Hanna might give you a reading if you can find someone close by willing to do it. But ultimately it doesn't matter. Follow Kyle's advice and you'll be fine. My sons nano had a bunch of cyano in it and it took me a few months to get it under control, and that was on 25gals.
 
ThatGuy

ThatGuy

jgraz said:
It doesn't matter what you test with. All of them are probably gonna be the same. Hanna might give you a reading if you can find someone close by willing to do it. But ultimately it doesn't matter. Follow Kyle's advice and you'll be fine. My sons nano had a bunch of cyano in it and it took me a few months to get it under control, and that was on 25gals.
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What sucks is its not really on the rocks. Its mainly on the frag plugs and glass.
 
kschweer

kschweer

Administrator
Staff member
Officer Emeritus
Moderator
For the algae on the frag plugs you can do a dip in some tank water mixed with hydrogen peroxide and scrub with an old tooth brush. You likely won't get all of it off but in my experience after the dip and scrub your clean up crew will do the rest. I'm not sure on the reasoning for this but it seems the snips will go after the algae when it's "dying".
 
ThatGuy

ThatGuy

kschweer said:
For the algae on the frag plugs you can do a dip in some tank water mixed with hydrogen peroxide and scrub with an old tooth brush. You likely won't get all of it off but in my experience after the dip and scrub your clean up crew will do the rest. I'm not sure on the reasoning for this but it seems the snips will go after the algae when it's "dying".
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I'll give it a try and move the frag rack lower in the tank so it can be reached by the CUC that seems to be algea grazers.
 
Daniel

Daniel

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
How much water movement do you have in your tank. You just might not have enough and have some dead spots.
 
falconut

falconut

NJRC Member
I had an algae like that a few years ago. I lasted about a year, what a PITA. I was even running GFO. I even added EcoBAK pellets. I believe I was finally able to get rid of it by changing my GFO every 3 days for a few weeks, then about once a week for a total of about a month. Now I just change it every 4 - 6 weeks.
 
ThatGuy

ThatGuy

Daniel said:
How much water movement do you have in your tank. You just might not have enough and have some dead spots.
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2 1300gph powerheads, low rock not to many dead spots. The back glass gets blasted and it has a choke hold there.

jgraz said:
Yeah I wouldn't move it down. When I had done excessive algae growth on my frag plugs on the rack I put a hermit on it and it took care of it quick.
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I tried the hermit thing but they just run off the edge.



Fish Brain said:
Do you have a sump/refugium and do you have Cheato?
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Small ball of cheto and small piece of caulpra of sorts. Sump just holds it and there is a 3" deep container full of sand.




The MAIN problem is when it brakes off and wraps the corals. Its mainly the SPS and Zoa's that are getting choked and looking terrible. It doesn't realy stick to the fleshy lps. Just the chalices and the lobo because of the old dead spots.
 
SeahorseKeeper

SeahorseKeeper

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I was having this same issue before and a little after I upgraded to LED's from halides. My bulbs were way overdue to be changed.
 
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