Bad algae growing on the rocks

David osborne

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Do I need to clean the rocks off with this algae growing all over them ? I under stand it could die off on its own ! But how long will this take ?

N03 = 0.2ppm
Po4 reads 0 on salifert test kits !
I will be upgrading to hanna checker for phosphate soon

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Sorry can’t see the algae. Is it gray?
 
Ok, is it long and hairy, or very short to the rock? Long is bad, short is fine.
A CUC will take care of it. Tangs are very good, as well as a Algae Blenny
 
Hey you have a neat challenge here

Chrysophytes

Not your classic algae, but with a pristinely clean tank and sandbed. It means we can just focus on the rocks

Each coral rock one by one should be lifted out and set on the counter, then use knives to lightly debride the growths off and rinse away w saltwater. Where you can apply peroxide on the cleaned areas, after removal, w help to burn cells the original cleaning missed. Expect a couple rounds of this to reguide the rocks clean

Don’t disperse rinsed cells back into the tank this is an export method of killing it

Don’t change your tank params this growth doesn’t starve out. Physical external work only, these are chrysophytes and the cause is mere import not a nutrient issue whatsoever.
 
It' more like a slime algae?
Iv done a water change and I'm 5jinking about doing a small water change every day to see if it goes

My tang wont touch the stuff and nether will the turbo snails or crabs lol , it' driving me nuts because I want to place my sps frags but I can' till this algae has gone !

Im also wanting to build some more reef rock aquascaping too

I like the idea of a rock blenny tho and think that is a great idea
 
That was going to be my next move and thanks for the great reply ,

I will attempt to get this algae out of my system for good !

Would a new tooth brush work on the rocks to scrub them clean again?
 
Not sure if it w work have to try to see. A knife tip is more exacting and doesn’t mash the cells into a slurry as you move it about I myself would not use a brush id do only the steps above

Make sure that the cleaned areas are surgically rinsed with peroxide working around the corals to burn any leftover chrysophytes cells to hopefully lessen growback. If this takes a few rounds to work that’s expected, the real estate is taken it should take more than one run to compensate but this isn’t a terrible invader. I’d choose this over dinos
 
Again thanks for the great reply and I will post how I get on with cleaning the rocks and corals ! Iv just started cleaning now , I don't know why iv left it to get so bad but I guess I did not want to unsettle my sps ! But I cant have a tank looking like that so here we go lol
 
Please take pics we'll use in big threads. In my opinion we're lifting out rocks carefully so that as little of the invader is in the tank as possible, a medical isolation approach

You can spray your sps with misted tank water from a mister while out for surgery

It's treated like debriding a burn injury, so that only clean surfaces are available for healing and not a bunch of unneeded material. This bloom reduces your tanks nitrification through pore blocking, it's best to guide out. That you have an accessible, pristine scape and not a wall immovable specifically sets your tank up for success


We all get invasions, but many have refused such quick access right off the bat, they chose to farm further. Your thread is an example for gha invasions as well, just kill an invader until a means for prevention is found. We never attain the same grazer balances as a real reef, so allowing ourselves to cheat kill the invader by simply access is the ace in the hole no fully invaded tank was willing to use, ever.

And then some refuse every invasion in reefing this way, for a mighty clean reefing experience.

These chryso don't need much other than direct import... no single light source or feed or param balance is the decider, they'll stop coming back if you force out their initial masses and look for bits cast off on the substrate as you lifted out things...I think you have a neat set of characters that w allow a win here. Not a once off event, but a series of water changes and maybe two or so targeted removals depending. A busy month then go right back to cruise control, till the next challenge with same action.

Nice corals, very clean reefing going on here it's fun biology to work in a dedicated manner but still preserve all that growth and $

The peroxide is a targeted post wash in the cleaned areas, all mass washed down sink from saltwater rinses

The fact it's so isolated is amazing here you can hand guide this into compliance.

The sole cause of chrysophytes invasion is mere happenstance import can happen to anyone. Everything we’ve discussed so far as action is the direct incremental opposite of how a hitchhiking invasion begins, we’re hitchiking it right back down the drain. A mechanical force brought it into our tank not some sort of imbalance, key to framing a win in my opinion.

Also, add this to myriad reasons I'll never own a large tank above a nano reef without owning oversized UV sterilizer. Chryso are directly among the unanchored, pelagic phase invaders that uv works on. Along with cyano, spirulina, diatoms, invasive dinos, greenwater, many.

It's a physical battle and not a chemical one for this invader

The ocean simply has varied grazers who eat it, so whatever cheat we use to offset that is just among other cheats like skimmers, pumps etc. that you had a standard this invasion was unacceptable I found pretty rare. I’m the same. What’s acceptable for me is only coralline and coral, the rest is burned out in complete disregard of the rules of a given decade :)
 
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Guys, the new solution is flucanozole. It will clean up your algae. Then get your nutrients dialed in for the long haul. Flucanozole is easy, effective, safe, and cheap.
 
I agree it’s awesome. But it’s restricted in what it works on, practice surgical kill where possible. What fluc has done for large tankers with bryopsis is nothing short of amazing. It’s fun to curb the need as a basic approach to reefing, substrate guiding by hand.
 
Where can I find the directions for flucanzole with use in a marine sps tank ? Can i find them on reef 2 reef ?

I might just give this a try
 
try and see if anyone has cured chrysophytes with fluc



I find fluc being used for bryopsis and hair algae and nothing else
 
Ok thanks for the reply,
I was just thinking about trying it before I rip out the rocks and clean them

Should I not at least try the flucanzole and see what happens to the algae ?
 

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