Best way to get algae under control?

[citymouse]

What's the best way to get algae under control? It's my fault for not keeping up on water changes, leaving on vacation for 2 weeks after already neglecting the tank didn't help! Life got in the way..procrastination etc. kicking myself now.

I set the tank up around Dec. 2017, completely new, my smaller 75g tank had an major issue with hair algae, it was an uphill battle...so I upgraded to a 215, got rid everything in the other tank, nothing but the fish, a snail and a few hermit crabs came from that tank.
The last 5 months or so, I'm seeing the dreaded hair algae coming back, I keep cleaning it up, but now I have other algae, not sure what it is..all over the sand and rock and only a little hair algae. I only have 1 snail and about 10 hermits, only 2 clown fish for now (currently I'm cycling a quarantine tank so I can get a bigger cuc and more fish).

I'm reading about No2 Po3 X, which I have a few bottles of that I used when cycling and battling high nitrates in the beginning. Is this a safe solution to get this algae under control? Can I use temporarily and can I stop without any issues?
What else can I do to get my tank clean again? and keep it that way...besides the obvious water changes and taking better care of it.
How long will it take to make things right?

 

[Maggie321]

What are your parameters? Your phosphates and your nitrates are out of balance. Are you rinsing your foods? That can add a lot of phosphates.

 

[mta_morrow]

I am battling hair algae myself and am losing in my latest tank.

I am waiting on my bottle of Vibrant to arrive today or tomorrow then I have high expectations for it to be gone quickly.

Do a search for Vibrant there is a massive thread. The first post tells you all you need to know to get started.

The rest is a good read if you have a couple extra days!

Of course once the GHA is gone, it’s up to us to manage our nutrients!

 

[citymouse]

What are your parameters? Your phosphates and your nitrates are out of balance. Are you rinsing your foods? That can add a lot of phosphates.

I honestly haven't tested them yet, but I am planning on doing so before the water change and then after. I just mixed up the water for the water change last night, so I'll be doing all of this tonight or tomorrow.
I don't test phosphates, I don't even have that one in my test kit. I also don't have any corals, it's a fish only aquarium.

 

[mta_morrow]

What are your parameters? Your phosphates and your nitrates are out of balance. Are you rinsing your foods? That can add a lot of phosphates.

I used to rinse all my foods until I read a thread by Randyholmesfarley that totally debunked that belief

 

[WVNed]

With fish only just turn the lights way down and do water changes and it will go away

 

[Halal Hotdog]

It is not too late. There is no need to restart now a days, just need to get the food source under control. Do you have any corals? What kind of fish do you have?
Vibrant is a product that a lot of people have had great success with.
Fluconazole is an anti-fungal that a lot of people have had success with.
Carbon dosing is another great tool.
GFO or Lanthanum chloride are also fantastic to eliminate phosphate.


These are not designed to be combined, just different strategies to get things under control. Highly recommend researching them all and find what you want to try. Getting ultra low nutrients is not very difficult now a days. Only problem is corals don't like it. Once you get the nitrates and phosphates to zero in your water column then the rock and substrate can start leaching off what they absorbed. When things are finally where you want it then you can start restructuring where you want your nutrients and what type of corals to keep.

 

[citymouse]

I used to rinse all my foods until I read a thread by Randyholmesfarley that totally debunked that belief

I've never even heard of rinsing food . I feed them NLS. Maybe when there are more fish, I'll get frozen sometimes, the LFS are kind of far from me and I don't trust petsmart/petco.

 

[citymouse]

It is not too late. There is no need to restart now a days, just need to get the food source under control. Do you have any corals? What kind of fish do you have?
Vibrant is a product that a lot of people have had great success with.
Fluconazole is an anti-fungal that a lot of people have had success with.
Carbon dosing is another great tool.
GFO or Lanthanum chloride are also fantastic to eliminate phosphate.


These are not designed to be combined, just different strategies to get things under control. Highly recommend researching them all and find what you want to try. Getting ultra low nutrients is not very difficult now a days. Only problem is corals don't like it. Once you get the nitrates and phosphates to zero in your water column then the rock and substrate can start leaching off what they absorbed. When things are finally where you want it then you can start restructuring where you want your nutrients and what type of corals to keep.

No corals and only 2 clown fish living in that mansion, lol. Future plans once my quarantine tank is set to go, I'm getting a couple of tangs to start with and more cuc. No plans to have corals, I don't think I'm responsible enough .

I'm looking into getting a Carbon/GFO reactor, space is an issue in my sump with the pipes etc. That is on my to do list though!
Is vibrant safe to use temporarily or does it need to added regularly. I'm concerned about adding things that can throw everything off, that was my concern with no po x, wondering if it's helpful or harmful. I never used anything other than cleaning and water changes to combat algae...but that didn't seem to work out.

 

[citymouse]

With fish only just turn the lights way down and do water changes and it will go away

my old hair algae filled tank was dark and covered with a sheet for about 2 months and it barely made a dent. My snail had a nice mohawk and my clown fish were loving the hair algae, I almost felt bad cleaning it off the rock, the acted like it was an anemone.

On this tank, I did change the light schedule to about 8 hrs a day, but the brightness isn't adjustable, I have blue and white options.

 

[Flippers4pups]

There are numerous reasons that nuisance algae takes hold.

•Source water is not ideal. Use of RO/DI is step one. RO/DI unit properly maintained as well.

•Rock and substrate. Rock has been properly “cured” and is free of trapped nutrients. Sand is aragonite based and is clean.

•Lighting is the right Par, proper schedule and spectrum. T5 bulbs replaced after a year minimum.

•Proper flow.

•Proper feeding per inhabitants. Enough to feed, with little waste hitting the rock/substrate. Around a minute, once or twice a day. More depending on need.

•Nutrient control. Use of export. Water changes, reactor with GFO, GAC. Use of refugium, macro algaes..... ATS.... Nitrate reactor....

•Water pramameter testing on a weekly basis. Maintenance of proper water parameters via dosing.
Pramameters close to natural seawater. N03 5-10ppm and P04 at trace .02. N03 always higher than P04.

All of this is basics. There are exceptions to the rules. But overall, if you keep the above in check, you shouldn’t have much in the way of nuisance algae issues.

 

[DzidtheReefer]

I would do a blackout for a couple of days and after do a water change.
I would also invest in a UV sterlizer. No need to buy the expensive brand, the jebao and sunsun brand are well worth the money for less than 100bux. You will thank me later

 

[ZoWhat]

Fought algae for years until I started carbon dosing 50% vinegar + 50% 80proof vodka. A formula Randy Holmes Farley wrote about in his section of r2r

This dosing super charges good bacteria that eats the crap out of the nutrients that fuels bad algae.

Search this forum using key words "vodka vinegar dosing" and ;Bookworm;Bookworm;Bookworm

I was skeptical for years. "Pourin' vodka in my tank, wait, whaat?"

Then I tried it and in 6weeks 0 no3, 0 po4, 95% of algae G.O.N.E.

This dosing method is like finding Jesus to me.....

I'm forever dosing this way until I quit the hobby.

.

 

[citymouse]

There are numerous reasons that nuisance algae takes hold.

•Source water is not ideal. Use of RO/DI is step one. RO/DI unit properly maintained as well.

•Rock and substrate. Rock has been properly “cured” and is free of trapped nutrients. Sand is aragonite based and is clean.

•Lighting is the right Par, proper schedule and spectrum. T5 bulbs replaced after a year minimum.

•Proper flow.

•Proper feeding per inhabitants. Enough to feed, with little waste hitting the rock/substrate. Around a minute, once or twice a day. More depending on need.

•Nutrient control. Use of export. Water changes, reactor with GFO, GAC. Use of refugium, macro algaes..... ATS.... Nitrate reactor....

•Water pramameter testing on a weekly basis. Maintenance of proper water parameters via dosing.
Pramameters close to natural seawater. N03 5-10ppm and P04 at trace .02. N03 always higher than P04.

All of this is basics. There are exceptions to the rules. But overall, if you keep the above in check, you shouldn’t have much in the way of nuisance algae issues.

I use RODI water.
The rock was dry, Florida reef rock, rinsed beforehand.
I have TruLumen led's attached to the canopy, blue and white but usually just keep them on white.
Good flow in the tank, 2 wavs hooked up to the Apex Fusion.
Feeding, I may be off with that..only 2 clown fish so they don't eat much, but often the giant hermit crab runs over to eat the fallen food, as do the rest of them.

Nutrients, this is likely the issue, not keeping up on water changes. Typically when I test, the perimeters are good, but I haven't been checking lately, I don't have a phosphate test, I've never tested for it. I am going to buy a reactor for carbon and GFO, once I figure out where I can fit that and figure out which one is right for my size tank, does it matter? I'm wondering if I should use chemipure blue?

I just set up a biocube, which has taken my attention from the big tank...I needed to get my 2nd pair of clowns moved out of the quarantine tank, which I got rid of and replaced, so I'm currently cycling that tank now that the clowns have moved into the biocube. I put chemi pure blue in there, the water is crystal clear, wondering if this would also be a good addition to the big tank and how I would use it in there, where do I put it? I have a Trigger systems sump, sapphire 39.

Thanks!

 

[RealistMiami]

Rodi water from a good unit an red sea salt an a nice cleanup crew an your good. Oh an just try an take as much algae out yourself as possible. Bubble hair etc i had it all an now i dont just with those changes. Good quality water an frequent changes an youll be good. No need for additives. Good clean up crew an water changes an some elbow grease will do the trick

 

[citymouse]

Rodi water from a good unit an red sea salt an a nice cleanup crew an your good. Oh an just try an take as much algae out yourself as possible. Bubble hair etc i had it all an now i dont just with those changes. Good quality water an frequent changes an youll be good. No need for additives. Good clean up crew an water changes an some elbow grease will do the trick

luckily there isn't a ton of hair algae like before, I've removed some and it came back, it's mostly on the Wav's right now, oddly enough...the rest of the tank is coated in redish and brown algae and thankfully no bubble algae! I did have that in my other than just before I broke it down, it showed up when my tank was dark and covered with a sheet for months, only opening it to feed the fish!

I def need more cuc, the one snail and maybe 10 hermit crabs aren't cutting it in that size tank! I have and RODI set up in the garage, making lots of water for the fish tanks . I use Instant Ocean salt.

 

[RealistMiami]

luckily there isn't a ton of hair algae like before, I've removed some and it came back, it's mostly on the Wav's right now, oddly enough...the rest of the tank is coated in redish and brown algae and thankfully no bubble algae! I did have that in my other than just before I broke it down, it showed up when my tank was dark and covered with a sheet for months, only opening it to feed the fish!

I def need more cuc, the one snail and maybe 10 hermit crabs aren't cutting it in that size tank! I have and RODI set up in the garage, making lots of water for the fish tanks . I use Instant Ocean salt.

Awesome i would prob say just try an tweak your light settings you might be using to much uv or whites !

 

[VR28man]

Awesome i would prob say just try an tweak your light settings you might be using to much uv or whites !

This is an interesting point. I i’m recovering from a GHA problem (Down 75% from its worst Two months ago). I run my Kessils to 35 color at 100% intensity for a few hours every day. I’m thinking of turning the color down to zero all day, to further inhibit the GHA.

What do people think? My main worry is that some of my corals (acros mostly) may not like it.

 

[citymouse]

Awesome i would prob say just try an tweak your light settings you might be using to much uv or whites !

Would the blue lights be better? or maybe just cut back the number of hours they are on all together?