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Please help with identifying this algae. Need help with treatment!

Yates273

Yates273

Cross posted on R2R

I have been battling this algae for a while now in my 120 mixed reef. It grows everywhere including sandbed. Tank is approx 7 months old. Seems like it came after I beat Dinos. I keep pulling it out each week with my water changes and it grows back. Some areas it comes right off the rocks and others it has a good hold on the rocks. I thought it was lyngba since Reef Flux Rx had no effect on it. It is driving me nuts. Dinos were easier to deal with. It keeps growing on my frags and I have to brush it off. My nitrates are currently at 26 and my phosphates are at .08. I have Mexican turbos a Foxface and a pin cushion urchin who don’t seem to touch it. I also have Chaeto which is growing fine Can anyone identify this without a microscope so I can plan my attack. I just hope it’s not Lyngba. Please let me know if you need any other info​

I have 3 options in mind and not sure what to do
1. Reef Flux Rx again
2 peroxide dosing
3. Vibrant. (Scary)
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Last edited:
Yates273

Yates273

Hallowhead said:
It looks like GHA

Lots of manual removal and more frequent water changes !

Do you have a refugium?
Click to expand...
Have been doing weekly water changes and brushing rocks every time. Going to pick up a stiff grout brush right now to use. Yes I do have a Refugium. 36 gallon sump. I have one smaller pincushion urchin along with some snails. Can I put another urchin in?
 
N

NJTaxMan

Yates273 said:
How many hermits and turbos would you suggest?
Should I stay away from any chemical treatment for now like reef flux?
Click to expand...
I had a nasty outbreak and two turbos and 20 ish hermit crabs cleaned it up in a week. Your outbreak doesnt look bad (granted it is a small picture)..so I would definitely start small and build up. 1 turbo and 10 hermits to start with and see how well they control it. You dont want them starving to death.
 
Mark_C

Mark_C

Staff member
Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
Moderator
Had the same problem myself in the past and was ready to break everything down.
Matt delivered a miracle, Fluconazole.
It's a human anti fungal med sold to treat algae in marine tanks.
I dosed per directions and it took about 2 weeks (without a water change) and the water was, and to this day still is, crystal (apparently trace levels maintain).
I dosed a mixed reef with big LPS, SPS, Anems, zoas, and inverts. Not a single loss or ill effect on any, actually quite the opposite. Have had considerable growth over past few months.
 
Hallowhead

Hallowhead

NJRC Member
I have 2 urchins in mine one is probably tennis ball sized and the other golf ball.

You can definitely have several no problems. They make light work of GHA.

I'd avoid the carbon dosing as it's a bandaid you'll be dosing it daily forever
 
diana a

diana a

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
Just be warned with Tuxedo Urchins: It is hit or miss with them. I had one for three years that I got rid of this past June. Got it from Algae Barn the size of a Quarter. It got big as a tennis ball. It didn't consume my algae but it loved my coralline algae. I could place it on the green algae and the dam thing would pass over it. I could hear it chomping on the coralline
 
Hallowhead

Hallowhead

NJRC Member
They definitely like coralline algae but I'm not mad it's chomping at it, it was overgrown to begin and looks better maintained
 
P

paintman27

DO NOT GO OUT AND WASTE YOUR MONEY ON CUC'S! This is the sam exact stuff I have been dealing with for about 3 months now. I have spent nearly 1K on CUC's, tangs, bennies, and urchins. Nothing touches this stuff. I think it's either some form of dino or Lynbya. All of my CUC's have died. I have been able to control it greatly with a tooth brush, and power filters. Also curently bubble scrubbing. I have also dumped every bottle of crap in my tank that the industry is pushing right now with little or no effect. Flux, MB7,Dr. Tim's etc. etc. blah, blah ,blah.

This stuff goes against the bottoming out of nutrients narrative that everyone is so stuck on. When I first started to notice this in my tank , my po4 was .08 and my nitrates where at 15. Right now I have all my numbers at zero just to see what happens. I am also working on going bare bottom. Never again will I put sand in any of my tanks. This stuff is the bastard child of reefing!
 
P

paintman27

Heres what mine looks like............
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