Best way to start getting rid of this algae?

[SpencerT82]

Hi my tank is 112 gallons and is light to medium stocked with nitrates of 6.3 and phosphates of 0.02. What would y’all recommend to begin to remove this green algae to begin letting the coral one grow on the rocks. The green algae is all over the rocks and a small amount on the sand. The tank is roughly 1 year old

 

[Lavey29]

Does it blow off in mats? Could be green cyano. Can you siphon it up ?

My tank is a year old and my rocks have similar green coating all over the top. I figured it was part of the rock maturing process and coraline seems to be overvtaking it now.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

That just looks like film algae. Your cleanup crew will take care of that as long as you have a reasonably sized crew (appears like you do from how many I see in your pics), you don't overfeed and your parameters stay about where they are now. A good rule of thumb is half of what reefcleaners suggests for your tank size.

One issue I do see is a serious lack of coralline for how old that tank is. I don't see any at all, so you might need a seeding to get it growing. You can buy clean cultures or if your willing to take a small risk, ask a fellow reefer that you know quarantines all their arrivals if they can scrape some off of their tank for you to use as a seeding culture.

 

[Lavey29]

That just looks like film algae. Your cleanup crew will take care of that as long as you have a reasonably sized crew (appears like you do from how many I see in your pics), you don't overfeed and your parameters stay about where they are now. A good rule of thumb is half of what reefcleaners suggests for your tank size.

One issue I do see is a serious lack of coralline for how old that tank is. I don't see any at all, so you might need a seeding to get it growing. You can buy clean cultures or if your willing to take a small risk, ask a fellow reefer that you know quarantines all their arrivals if they can scrape some off of their tank for you to use as a seeding culture.

He mentioned it was on the sand now too. I know film algae coats the glass every few days but have never seen it coat the sand like cyano does?

 

[Lavey29]

That just looks like film algae. Your cleanup crew will take care of that as long as you have a reasonably sized crew (appears like you do from how many I see in your pics), you don't overfeed and your parameters stay about where they are now. A good rule of thumb is half of what reefcleaners suggests for your tank size.

One issue I do see is a serious lack of coralline for how old that tank is. I don't see any at all, so you might need a seeding to get it growing. You can buy clean cultures or if your willing to take a small risk, ask a fellow reefer that you know quarantines all their arrivals if they can scrape some off of their tank for you to use as a seeding culture.

He mentioned it was on the sand now too. I know film algae coats the glass every few days but have never seen it coat the sand like cyano does?

 

[Susan Edwards]

You can also get green coraline. My tanks always started with green with the marco type dry rock. Could have reg. algae on sand. See if it blows off or scrapes off. Green usually turns to purple or pink

 

[SpencerT82]

You can also get green coraline. My tanks always started with green with the marco type dry rock. Could have reg. algae on sand. See if it blows off or scrapes off. Green usually turns to purple or pink

I tried to brush a small spot of with a toothbrush and absolutely nothing came off.

 

[SpencerT82]

That just looks like film algae. Your cleanup crew will take care of that as long as you have a reasonably sized crew (appears like you do from how many I see in your pics), you don't overfeed and your parameters stay about where they are now. A good rule of thumb is half of what reefcleaners suggests for your tank size.

One issue I do see is a serious lack of coralline for how old that tank is. I don't see any at all, so you might need a seeding to get it growing. You can buy clean cultures or if your willing to take a small risk, ask a fellow reefer that you know quarantines all their arrivals if they can scrape some off of their tank for you to use as a seeding culture.

I have tons of Coralline on my power heads but very little on my rocks and none on my rear glass

 

[SpencerT82]

Does it blow off in mats? Could be green cyano. Can you siphon it up ?

My tank is a year old and my rocks have similar green coating all over the top. I figured it was part of the rock maturing process and coraline seems to be overvtaking it now.

It dose not come off at all not even with aggressive scrubbing

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I tried to brush a small spot of with a toothbrush and absolutely nothing came off.

Like @Susan Edwards , a lot of my coralline algae started as light neon green... Hopefully this is the case for you as well!

 

[aggrofish]

that green will be purple or pink in another couple months

 

[Lavey29]

I have tons of Coralline on my power heads but very little on my rocks and none on my rear glass

I have tons of Coralline on my power heads but very little on my rocks and none on my rear glass

Coraline typically starts on the plastic parts first long before rocks and glass.

 

[Susan Edwards]

I tried to brush a small spot of with a toothbrush and absolutely nothing came off.

It looks very much like the green coraline I've always gotten. Even in my new set up (since Oct) some of the rocks show green and they are all man made. The caribsea shows the green. I also rake my sandbed weekly or bi-weekly so try that with your sand. In one of my last tanks I used a pretty pink bimini sand and was so mad that some of the larger grains turned green. So it can show up on your sandbed.

 

[KrisReef]

I have tons of Coralline on my power heads but very little on my rocks and none on my rear glass

Scrape the coralline off the power heads. It will spread to those rocks quickly. You can select the color you like best and scrape only that variety and in two-three weeks it should be showing up all over.

 

[neo1738]

My tank has the green thin layer on dry rocks that won't come off. I finally started growing pink/purple corraline w a light change. Had Current USA IC Pro 48" x2 they killed any non softie corals and couldn't grow corraline. Got couple kessils now 5 days later corraline spots on plastics. Point is what lights are you using and how much white time does your tank get? Fish and corals don't need any so it's just for you. That means make as little white light time as you need for yourself will def help w any algae problems.