Algae take over

k9kevin87 · Oct 18, 2023

Can someone please help me figure out how to get rid of this algae problem! Looks like green hair algae but not sure. Tank is over two years old and been battling this algae for over a year. It’s grows from all the crevices in my rocks. Nothing will touch it… not tangs, fox face, lawnmower blenny, snails, urchins, even a sea hare or mollies. I also have hermit and emeralds. I have been pulling out what I can weekly but it’s really stuck in at the base. So maybe briopsis? Reef flux killed most of it twice but it grew back in a week each time. My nitrates were higher at the time but right now phosphates are reading only .02 and nitrates around 10. Was thinking of trying reef flux again. Maybe two rounds. I am thinking the issue may be fueled by me feeding my copperband a little neck clam from the grocery store every other day. Idk. Here are some pics… any suggestions greatly appreciated.

therootcause · Oct 19, 2023

yeaaah man, 100% green hair algae. your nutrients are likely low as they are being consumed by the GHA. If the fish won't remove it, the human must. Start a syphon with a 3/8" piece of tubing. Hold the tubing in your hand as you pull the GHA and let the syphon suck it up. I used to do this into a filter sock in a bucket then pour the water right back into the tank. Even better, if you have a sump just have the hose drain into a filter sock in your sump. Keep going until you've remove all that you can rach.

If any of the rocks are removable, pull them out and spray with hydrogen peroxide. Let it sit for 5 minutes then rinse with tank water and put back in the tank. The algae will disappear in 3 days! If you have any shrimp be very cautious using as they are extremely sensitive to H202. Be sure to rinse off the rocks with tank water before placing them back in your tank.

k9kevin87 · Oct 19, 2023

Thanks for the reply. The last few months I actually have been using a tube to try and pull it and siphon it out. The roots are just so stuck in the crevices and I cant get them pulled out all the way. So It has helped somewhat but it just grows back in a week. I do like the filter sock trick, I have done it a few times to save on salt. Unfortunately I glued all of my rock structure together so taking out rocks would require a lot of dismantling.

Jmp998 · Oct 19, 2023

Can you take a picture with white lights on?

Roots that are hard to pull out sounds like bryopsis. Read about fluconazole if it is bryopsis; it can be very effective on bryopsis.

cdemoss01 · Oct 20, 2023

k9kevin87 said:
Can someone please help me figure out how to get rid of this algae problem! Looks like green hair algae but not sure. Tank is over two years old and been battling this algae for over a year. It’s grows from all the crevices in my rocks. Nothing will touch it… not tangs, fox face, lawnmower blenny, snails, urchins, even a sea hare or mollies. I also have hermit and emeralds. I have been pulling out what I can weekly but it’s really stuck in at the base. So maybe briopsis? Reef flux killed most of it twice but it grew back in a week each time. My nitrates were higher at the time but right now phosphates are reading only .02 and nitrates around 10. Was thinking of trying reef flux again. Maybe two rounds. I am thinking the issue may be fueled by me feeding my copperband a little neck clam from the grocery store every other day. Idk. Here are some pics… any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Alright, this is a green hair algae breakout, id recommend manual removal because of its size. You should be able to pull it out in chunks... But if you cant use this Blue life RX, just make sure too remove your carbon filter before use or it will NOT work

therootcause · Oct 20, 2023

k9kevin87 said:
Thanks for the reply. The last few months I actually have been using a tube to try and pull it and siphon it out. The roots are just so stuck in the crevices and I cant get them pulled out all the way. So It has helped somewhat but it just grows back in a week. I do like the filter sock trick, I have done it a few times to save on salt. Unfortunately I glued all of my rock structure together so taking out rocks would require a lot of dismantling.

Blue leg hermit crabs. I know this will sound excessive, but in my WB 180.5 mixed reef I have 300 little blue legs. When frags in my side tank get GHA I drop them in the display and the blue legs devour the algae in a few hours. You can always rehome them once you have the tank under control.

cdemoss01 · Oct 20, 2023

k9kevin87 said:
Can someone please help me figure out how to get rid of this algae problem! Looks like green hair algae but not sure. Tank is over two years old and been battling this algae for over a year. It’s grows from all the crevices in my rocks. Nothing will touch it… not tangs, fox face, lawnmower blenny, snails, urchins, even a sea hare or mollies. I also have hermit and emeralds. I have been pulling out what I can weekly but it’s really stuck in at the base. So maybe briopsis? Reef flux killed most of it twice but it grew back in a week each time. My nitrates were higher at the time but right now phosphates are reading only .02 and nitrates around 10. Was thinking of trying reef flux again. Maybe two rounds. I am thinking the issue may be fueled by me feeding my copperband a little neck clam from the grocery store every other day. Idk. Here are some pics… any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Looks like nobody has recommended this yet but maybe adjust lighting hours or smth.