Grrr, Persistant Green Hair Algae

[mr_X]

Peroxide will kill everything in the tank. It's not for dosing a tank with livestock in it.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Please be careful with a strong oxidant like peroxide. It could cause problems that make the algae outbreak look meaningless. The algae may look ugly, but if it isn't killing corals it isn't a emergency. Work your phosphate levels down and be patient, it will all die back.


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[Ingy]

I've read lots of articles where people have used the minimal dose of 1 ml/10 gal per day as suggested. Although everybody who posted their stories said there was no catastrophic crashes in the tanks, nobody mentioned doing this for long term. I don't plan on that either. But everybody's other suggestions are, frankly, completely ineffective.
I feed my fish 1 time a week a couple tiny bits of food. What they eat in about 10 seconds. Some weeks I forget. I'm not overfeeding.
My whites have been off for over a month, almost 2. The blues are on for a mere 6 hours a day (all bulbs are brand new). The rocks in my curing bucket are covered (heated, circ pump and an air stone to ensure good oxygenation). Algae is growing great in both places. Cutting lights, completely ineffective.
Skimmer gets 1 cup of skimmate in 2 days.
Cheato grows very well in the sump.
Phosguard in the reactor.
Phosphate and nitrate are both 0 (don't tell me yet again that is because the algae is consuming them). There is absolutely no die off in the curing bucket either.

I'm at a loss.

Tonight I'll dip 1 test rock from the curing bucket in an H2O2/FW (30ml to 1 gal) dip for 5 minutes. Tomorrow I hope I see algae death.

P.S. Algae scrubber is being constructed.

 

[Ingy]

Just had another idea. Seeing as how I'm running the curing container, I'm gonna start dosing it tomorrow and see how that goes. I started with 15 gal of water, so I'll dose 1.5 ml H2O2 daily. I wont spot feed the algae with it, just a simple dose. Worst case, if everything goes south fast, it won't be so dramatic. But not till tomorrow.
I just dosed the rock with the algae growing on it in the complete darkness in the H2O2 dip. Hopefully tomorrow I'll see death.

 

[jeffaquarius]

The information on this link may help. Im not sure if it has the same concentration as the regular H2O2 you buy in the pharmacy but it's better to be safe than be sorry when your stock is affected.

Edit: changed link

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/hydrogen-peroxide

I wonder if it kills algae it would also do the same thing with coraline algae.


,

 

[Gregcoyote]

It will kill many things it contacts, but it doesn't hang around like bleach does. Tiny amounts have been used to save oxygen poor tanks after power outages, but using it as a algae cure is pretty drastic in my view. I highly suggest you read some more posts because they range from miracle algae cure, to it killed my corals. Let us know how it goes. Sometimes different approaches work.


PS, Hydrogen Peroxide (concentrated) and kerosine, fueled many early liquid fueled rockets.

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[crister13]

Hard purple algae sounds like coralline.... Idk if that what you're talking about but it sounds like it. Most people want it actually.


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[jeffaquarius]

Yes coralline algae. That means if you loose it you are diminishing what is good for your tank and a chain reaction may occur. It would mean H2O2 is only good for FOWLR.

 

[Ingy]

It's not coraline algae. It's kinda like chaeto, except it roots into rocks and can't be pulled out. Much thicker and coarser than chaeto too. And it only seems to grow about 1" long


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[Bray84]

Sounds like turf aglae. I would read up on it as it's pain in ***, I've got green turf on few rocks that want rid off. It's why I'm trying Peroxide on Cotten wool and rub where it is on rock and rinsing the rock with ro before putting back on tank.


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[Gregcoyote]

How long before it grows back?


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[dmolavi]

Got a pic of the stuff up close?

 

[Ingy]

Penny for reference.



First pic is a rock that I'm trying to cure. Second is in DT.


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[Bray84]

Yeah looks like turf aglae


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[Ingy]

So I started getting what I need for an algae scrubber. But today I trimmed my chaeto after 3 weeks of growth. Dang, I have about a gallon of chaeto pulled out!!!



I'm gonna dry it and then weigh it to see how much biomass I pulled out between July 5 and today. I only feed 1 small feeding a week, so nutrients out should be greater than nutrients in. I just hope the deer don't eat it while I'm drying it. Stoopid deer.

On the plus side, there seems to be less algae buildup on the sand since last week. I very carefully sucked up the algae on the surface without disturbing the sand bed much.


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[mr_X]

You are lessening the effectiveness of the refugium by removing that algae. Unless of course the water can't get through. The larger the plant mass, the more nutrients it will utilize.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Right, but enough is enough. They bind the most nutrients when they are growing. I think pruning the algae back is like most plants, it stimulates growth. I recommend using scissors to cut out sections of old looking chaeto so you are leaving hundreds of freshly cut growth ends.


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[Ingy]

Yeah the top stuff starts to turn lighter and a bit brownish. I just pull it out as I find that puts less short pieces into the DT as trimming it did. I removed about 1/2 of the plant.


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[mr_X]

Are you sure it's not turning brown because it's catching detritus? I've never had chaeto turn brown on me, unless it was dying off.
As for pruning to stimulate growth, if it's growing like crazy, why fix it?

 

[Gregcoyote]

Because I seek perfection...


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