Algae Update

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Vanphyre

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Dec 10, 2005
Messages
179
Location
Michigan
I posted awhile back with some pictures showing the Hair Algae outbreak in our aquarium. I have a pic of the tank now, and most of the Hair algae is now gone.. however we have this brownish algae now on the rocks and sand. I'm hoping this is better news than before and that we are on our way to getting rid of this problem. The bad news is the brown algae is covering the beautiful purple and green we had growing on the rocks... making the tank now look dull. :(

Again, we cut the lighting cycle by a few hours, stopped feeding flakes except for once a week, changed the powerheads to the maxi-jets and altered the locations so that they point at each other.

Any ideas on how to clean up this other algae besides what I listed above?
 

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Thought about an algea nibbler? I put a lawnmower blenny in mine. He got fat and the green stuff dissappeared. Might try one or two medium turbo snails too. How often do you feed and how old is the tank anyway?
 
snails and hermits will help but pwc and changing the PH flow will help also.
test your water and see what your off on.
i had algea issues like crazy and turned my lights off completely for about 4 days and that helped...now they are on only about 8 hrs.
alos i stops flake feeding and use a small amount of froze formal 1 every other day.
my coraline is spreadig like crazy and i havent seen near as much algea.
all my water levels are good though
 
At second glance, I'd also turn your powerheads at the front glass to crash and possibly flow water to some of those dead spots. I see you got'm pointing towards the surface. When they crash at each other ont the front glass, you should also be able to get the surface to move. Are they 1200s? (the PHs)? Got too many dead spots. I thought only the red stuff was cycano, but as Hara noticed, you got both it seems.

And how often are you feeding?
 
Hey all, sorry I can't check this site while I'm at work to respond faster. ;)

Those are Maxi-Jet 1200's. I did have them both pointing at the glass and had the same algae issue. I just recently changed them to point towards each other like suggested in a few other posts to see how that helps to generate more random water movement.

I am feeding every other day. That brown stuff comes right off the rocks with a rub from my finger. It seems to be "settled" algae from cleaning glass etc.

I run a AquaC Remora Pro Skimmer with Mag3 pump. I don't have anything else filtering the water except for the Natural Live Rock Filter. Is this maybe the issue? I do have a Bio-wheel stashed away, but was told they are bad as they are "Nitrate Factories."

For Algae cleaners, I have about 20 Hermit Crabs, 20 Snails (Cerith and a couple turbos), 8 Nassarius snails for the sand, a Lawnmower Blenny. Also a couple Emerald Crabs.
 
I'll tell you what. If I remember correctly, that is a HUGE improvement over the last post. I think it was the one with the hair algae all over the place? That red stuff is cyano it will begin to form bubbles and you will see it floating. I agree with austinsdad, you may want to switch up the PHs to alleviate the dead spots.
 
My blenny is an algae pig - I don't even have any visible algae (aside from corraline), but he's constantly nibbling on something, and he's FAT! I'm sure he'd love to dig into that growth.
 
Keep up with regular water changes! Siphon all that cyano and algae up every time you do a water change. I'd suggest one every week until you get it under control. You may want to invest in a RO/DI machine if you don't have one already, since this will make sure your source water for water changes and topoffs is the best you can get. Make sure you have plenty of snails and possibly some hermits. Change powerhead direction every so often to aim towards troubled areas.

Good luck.
 
Awesome advice everyone. :)

I do use RO/DI as I have a 6-stage setup under my sink. :) I do 5 gallon waterchange every week, and lately doing 2 a week. I will try to siphon better every waterchange now and hopefully get alot of the junk out. :) Sometimes for my waterchanges I just hook up a tube to my powerhead and let it throw the water out to the tub. easier than filling a bucket, carrying it, and dumping hehe.

Excited to see the Blenny do his job too. hehe, lots for him to eat.

Thanks again! Will post back with a new pic and update as soon as I make a lot more progress!
 
Hi all,

It's been about a month and I wanted to post my progress in resolving this algae issue. I want to thank everyone very much for the good advice, it is helping tremendously! If I keep this practice up forever, the tank should be looking pristine and everything healthy. :)

Thanks again, here are a couple new pics.
 

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Wow thats a huge improvement. So what did you end up doing to better the situation?
 
Thanks Sideways, it isn't perfect yet, but soooooo much nicer to look at. hehe. That algae was just insane. Here are some things that I did.

- Two 10% water changes a week, may be able to cut that back some now.

- Feeding every other day with frozen food. Soak it for 20min in Zoecon and garlic extreme, strain the water out, then add food to tank. Very minimal flake food to keep my clown happy... the goby seems to get 90% of the frozen food that goes in. :)

- Extra Maxi-Jet 1200, three total. Get lots of nice waterflow now. It's not overwhelming the tank like I thought it would, so everyone was right that posted minimum waterflow requirements.

- Pistol Shrimp and Goby. Got these about a month ago. That Shrimp pushes so much sand around it's just crazy. Always making new tunnels and caves. :) Of course, the Goby ate a bunch of my Nassarius snails who were my old sandsifters. Not sure if I'll add more if he keeps eating them. hehe.

Lots of changes, but all worth it to me. Now I should be all set to get some Frags in a couple weeks at the Ypsilanti Frag Fest. :) 10 minutes down the road. Can't wait to have some corals in the tank.

Scott
 
How did you get rid of your hair algae? I'm in an apartment and don't have room for RO/DI unit. I've added lots of hermits and snails. And I keep manually pulling out the algae. I'm at my wits end and ever so frustrated that I'm even considering just breaking down the tank until I get my own place...probably another 2 years or so...which will really suck.

I will take any advice at this point. HELP HELP HELP. SOS.
 
Hey aquazen,

I think others may be able to help you more as I have a RO/DI unit that I use for all water changes and top offs. One thing I did do when the hair algae was really bad was cut down the hours my lights were on. I'd say between this and cutting back feeding to every other day and reducing flake feeding should help? I also manually removed some of the hair algae, I think this is a must step also which you seem to be doing.

What size is your tank and how big are your water changes and how often? Also, what is your water flow like? Powerheads, skimmer, etc?
 
Great job Vanphyre and sound advice from your own personal experience!
 
I ordered a clean up crew from reeftopia.com with snails, scarlet hermits and emerald crabs and they cleaned up the tank in a week.
 
I've got plenty of snails and red leg hermits. Not sure if I want crabs though...hehe...but really, I don't know if they're reef safe, and I've got a couple of soft corals in the tank. Thanks for all the advice though.

I spent about an hour yesterday manually removing hair algae from the live rock and substrate-brushing, pulling, scooping. I ended up having to scoop out about 2 cups of substrate to remove the hair algae that's grown into it (and there's still some in the tank, but hard to get to and remove). Would it be safe for the inhabitants if I went and bought another bag of arag-alive and just lay down another inch or two on top of the existing substrate? I'm worried that all the dust might harm the fish, inverts, and corals. Any ideas? I figured this may also increase the beneficial bacterial load that can break down excess nutrients in the tank.
 
I'm worried that all the dust might harm the fish, inverts, and corals. Any ideas?

I've never had a problem with any critters and sand storms.

I went and bought another bag of arag-alive and just lay down another inch or two on top of the existing substrate?

If you are talking about the wet sand, I would be a little leary of starting a small cycle, as the die off from the stuff that's already in the bag. But I could be wrong.
If you just bury the problem, by putting sand on the top, the old stuff will probably die off and cause problems. I would go with the dry sand, add it slowly and just replace the spots you removed.
You could also use about 10-15LBs of LR or base rock to help your biofiltration.
 
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