Big algae problem

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davdav223

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Mar 2, 2014
Messages
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How do I get rid of this nasty algae

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
 
Looks like you have:
Red Cyano
Bryopsis or Hair Algae.

Algae grows from feeding off phosphates and nitrates. Clearly, you have some issues with phosphates or nitrates. What test kits do you use?
 
Heck I'd pull everything out, scrub the rock, let it dry out, recure it and start the tank all over. That is a mess.
 
I agree with scrubbing off the rock. Your tank has a nutrient issue even though your nitrates are reading 0...which is reading 0 because of all the algae consuming it as it grows in your tank.
How much do you feed? Do you use ro/di water?
 
Do what equipment are you using to filter water and how long is the light kept on?
 
One thing is for sure. My wife and I agree. The algae on top in the pic looks like troll hair.
 
Look up Prodibio bio digest and bioptim had an algae issue it destroyed it...it wasn't this bad but worth a shot and a lot simpler then starting over
 
A sea hare will eat it all pretty fast. That being said, it won't address the actual issue of your hair algae. Just band aid it.
 
That is a mess, but I had a tank that was just all green algae, couldnt even see the rocks, at all! lol

Anyways, i would dose per the instructions exactly, chemiclean. get rid of that red slime algae so you can see whats going on underneath it all.

You can use api's marine version of algae killer. That will grt rid of some of the algae. Now, if there is any algae under all that like bryosis(sp?) then you will need to go about it differently.

And MOST IMPORTANT you have to identify where it all came from and correct that behavior. This is all gonna just grow back if you dont, my suggestions are only to remove it for now and try to get a handle on things.

What kind of water do you use? RO/DI water, out of a machine, tap water? How often do you do water changes and how much water do you swap out? How often do you feed and what stock do you have in the tank?
 
are you using RODI water?
what's your skimmer?
how much flow in the tank?
how many fish you have in the tank? and the size?
how often do you do water changes?

i would restart the tank if i were you
 
I would use Kent Tech-M. Get a Salifert Mg kit and slowly raise your mag to 1600-1700. In about a week from that point you'll see all of that hair algae wilting away.
Cut back on feeding and up your water changes to keep it away.
 
I'm not a fan of chemicals. I had gha and just pulled it off in chunks and put it into another container with water to clean my hands. Did this over the course of a week and it disappeared. Never messed with cyano yet.

I agree with Carey that you must find the source of the nutrient problem. Otherwise nothing is going to work.
Good luck.
 
I had this same problem. But then my lighting electrocuted my tank and shocked everything. No more algae. No more ich. Fish still are alive too. I highly suggest not doing that though. My pump hose fell off the power head and shot into my light, making a stream of electric water into my tank. But now my tank is perfect again
 
I had this same problem. But then my lighting electrocuted my tank and shocked everything. No more algae. No more ich. Fish still are alive too. I highly suggest not doing that though. My pump hose fell off the power head and shot into my light, making a stream of electric water into my tank. But now my tank is perfect again


Lol probably a bad idea to get rid of algae!

I am having the same issues currently I have isolated the issue and am doing water changes with cutting and pulling off all I can each time. Slowly getting better. I can't pull everything out and scrub too much and restart tank due to the copious amount of soft corals, mushrooms, sponges, etc that I don't want to lose.
Mr X will raising mag that high effect anything else in tank?
 
A higher mag level wont adversely affect anything. Just raise it slowly and test often. It will kill off the bryopsis algae not sure about the other kinds though. :)
 
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