Big problem

[rmiles54]

Phosphate is a food source for algae. That's the idea behind a refugium; promote algae growth in the fuge and not in the tank. Do you run a refugium? If not, consider one. I swear by it.

I do not have one now. I am expecting to have some chaeto in the next couple of days. Thanks for the input!

 

[Paul B]

As I am sure you have found out by now, changing water will make it worse even though that is always the first advice you will get. But it is wrong. Changing water never cleans up algae, it makes it worse.
Your water right now is very clean and healthy because all that algae removed everything harmful in it. When you remove water to change it, you are removing clean water after the algae already stripped it of the nutrients and you are adding new water which has more nutrients including iron to fuel more algae.
I have gone through worse attacks that you have now and I didn't do anything. The best thing you can do is to either build or buy an algae scrubber and stop adding things or changing water.
Algae will grow on a scrubber, then you remove the algae along with the nutrients.
You are doing what countless others have done before and had no luck. If changing water removed algae, there would not be hundreds of nusience algae threads. Isn't it odd that algae normally grows in very new tanks with all new water and no nutrients. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

 

[cmcimino]

Awesome! Thanks for all the help and advice. Your tank and corals look great. When you say 5 weeks worth, are you dosing weekly? I️ guess it’s only a capsule or 2? I’m trying to figure out how much I️ should dose when I️ start water changes? Full dose or dose for the amount of gallons I’m changing? I’m adding the chaeto to try and get ahead of the cyano.

I dose the full amount every time. I only dose two capsules at for a full dose so my schedule has been the following.

Initial water change and remove as much algae as possible.
Dose 2 capsules
Wait two weeks
Water change and remove as much algae possible
Dose 2 capsules
Wait one week
Water change and remove as much algae possible
Dose 2 capsules
Wait one week
Water change and remove as much algae possible
Dose 2 capsules
Wait one week
Water change and remove as much algae possible
Add chaeto
Dose 2 capsules
<- Where I'm at now.

I have not seen any ill affects on my corals, fish, or any other life forms other than the algae.

 

[cmcimino]

As I am sure you have found out by now, changing water will make it worse even though that is always the first advice you will get. But it is wrong. Changing water never cleans up algae, it makes it worse.
Your water right now is very clean and healthy because all that algae removed everything harmful in it. When you remove water to change it, you are removing clean water after the algae already stripped it of the nutrients and you are adding new water which has more nutrients including iron to fuel more algae.
I have gone through worse attacks that you have now and I didn't do anything. The best thing you can do is to either build or buy an algae scrubber and stop adding things or changing water.
Algae will grow on a scrubber, then you remove the algae along with the nutrients.
You are doing what countless others have done before and had no luck. If changing water removed algae, there would not be hundreds of nusience algae threads. Isn't it odd that algae normally grows in very new tanks with all new water and no nutrients. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

I have been battling this stuff for about 6 months now and can tell you it's not like other algae. It's more of a brown color rather than a green. It can grow in little to no nutrients. I have tried removing my rock and scrubbing with a toothbrush, rinsing it, and starting over and it still came back. That whole time was a running a refugium 24/7. The only success I have had is the process I am doing. Water changes really help remove the algae from the rocks. I use a smaller diameter hose to help remove the dead/dying algae from the rocks. If you don't due this than the nutrients just get released back into the water. This algae seems to utilize nutrients more efficiently than chaeto because it seems to grow back no matter what. I would expect you may see a different result with a full size refugium, and more efficient grow light, but I am working with an AIO tank so I am limited.

During my first water change I removed a basketball sized amount of algae. Each week there has been less and less algae. My assumption is that the fluco inhibits the hair algae from growing and allows the chaeto to utilize all of the nutrients. I am sure there are other options to defeat this stuff, but I am very limited with what I can do since I don't have an external sump or extra room for equipment.

 

[Paul B]

I know how you feel. This was my tank at one point.

 

[rmiles54]

As I am sure you have found out by now, changing water will make it worse even though that is always the first advice you will get. But it is wrong. Changing water never cleans up algae, it makes it worse.
Your water right now is very clean and healthy because all that algae removed everything harmful in it. When you remove water to change it, you are removing clean water after the algae already stripped it of the nutrients and you are adding new water which has more nutrients including iron to fuel more algae.
I have gone through worse attacks that you have now and I didn't do anything. The best thing you can do is to either build or buy an algae scrubber and stop adding things or changing water.
Algae will grow on a scrubber, then you remove the algae along with the nutrients.
You are doing what countless others have done before and had no luck. If changing water removed algae, there would not be hundreds of nusience algae threads. Isn't it odd that algae normally grows in very new tanks with all new water and no nutrients. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Thanks for the feedback. I️ do believe WC we’re indeed throwing gas on the fire, it would always come back stronger. No turf scrubber at the moment. I’m adding a refugium this weekend. I️ hoping the macros will help. I’m really just stumped as to how it got to this point to begin with. I️ have almost eliminated feeding, dropped all white red and green lights. (Turned on for pics) and as for dosing only Alk and ph buffer, I’m trying the less is more approach with my hands in the tank or making changes. Testing every 2 days and they both seem to go down Alk from usual 9/10 range to 7/8 and ph 8.3 down to number lower than 7.8 ( as low as seachem kit reads) and on an API test color range was between a 7.4 and 7.8. I’m thinking these swings are what’s affecting the corals. I️ have noticed that when the whites were on they responded very poorly, a lot wouldn’t even open. With only blues they open but are still not happy. Any insight here?

 

[rmiles54]

Last flucon pic was Monday. Thursday’s pics continue to show progress on the elimination of this funk.
Monday then Thursday

Definitely a slow process but appears to be working. I️ have not removed anything manually. Only change sponge catching gunk at first baffle in sump.

 

[Paul B]

I can see it is dying, but it would die if you did everything or nothing. Algae is self limiting and it will stop growing and start to die when it exhausts whatever it needs to grow which is why it isn't growing up your walls. If you left that dead algae in your tank, it would again re grow. Now is the time to change water, when it is dying, not when it is growing. Try to blow off as much of it as you can and suck it out.
I don't know what causes algae to grow and neither does anyone else as you can see by all the different opinions of what to do. For some reason (that we don't fully understand) when it "wants" to grow, it grows. As I said I had some terrible bouts of it and then it disappeared with very little help from me. My tank can stay algae free for 15 years, then it will grow without me doing anything different, then it will again disappear. That is the reason for all the differing advice's. People try something and it disappears so they figured it out. But it most likely would have disappeared no matter what they did or didn't do. If it was so easy to remove by changing water or adding some peroxide, there would be no algae, but that is not the case. It is also "not" about nutrients as my tank should be a produce stand with my parameters and I can't get it to grow right now.

 

[cmcimino]

Wanted to give another weekly update on my tank. See my schedule below.

Initial water change and remove as much algae as possible.
Dose 2 capsules
Wait two weeks
Water change and remove as much algae possible
Dose 2 capsules
Wait one week
Water change and remove as much algae possible
Dose 2 capsules
Wait one week
Water change and remove as much algae possible
Dose 2 capsules
Wait one week
Water change and remove as much algae possible
Add chaeto
Dose 2 capsules
Water change and remove as much algae possible
Dose 2 capsules
<- Where I'm at now.

There has not been much improvement since last week, but it hasn't got worse so that's a plus! There still seems to be some fuzzy algae remnants on some of the rock, but the long hair algae I experience before has not shown back up. I have been running the chaeto for a week, and it is definitely growing. I discarded half a fist full yesterday during my water change. Hoping that it continues to grow and clear out the rest of the algae/cyano. I'll keep updating weekly.

My refugium. I was using a JBJ Nano Glow light but did not like the spread of it so I upgraded to 10W LED "grow light" I got off amazon for $20. Seeing better growth than I have in the past.

Closeup of the fuzzy algae. This stuff has little color to it, so hopefully it will die soon.

Full tank shot, all of the lights on, and no flow. There is still some algae left, but it is a HUGE improvement than what I use to have.

 

[RobertP]

Looks like you have it licked now. The fluconasol did not work for my GHA but I am glad it worked for you! I HIGHLY recommend an algae blenny. I have one and he attacked my gha and now keeps the tank pretty and algae free. He prefers the dying GHA and if you dont have too much he can keep it in check. Of course if you have a giant bloom like you had he can only eat so much. Mine was so fat I wondered how he could swim!

 

[rmiles54]

Wanted to give another weekly update on my tank. See my schedule below.

Initial water change and remove as much algae as possible.
Dose 2 capsules
Wait two weeks
Water change and remove as much algae possible
Dose 2 capsules
Wait one week
Water change and remove as much algae possible
Dose 2 capsules
Wait one week
Water change and remove as much algae possible
Dose 2 capsules
Wait one week
Water change and remove as much algae possible
Add chaeto
Dose 2 capsules
Water change and remove as much algae possible
Dose 2 capsules
<- Where I'm at now.

There has not been much improvement since last week, but it hasn't got worse so that's a plus! There still seems to be some fuzzy algae remnants on some of the rock, but the long hair algae I experience before has not shown back up. I have been running the chaeto for a week, and it is definitely growing. I discarded half a fist full yesterday during my water change. Hoping that it continues to grow and clear out the rest of the algae/cyano. I'll keep updating weekly.

My refugium. I was using a JBJ Nano Glow light but did not like the spread of it so I upgraded to 10W LED "grow light" I got off amazon for $20. Seeing better growth than I have in the past.

Closeup of the fuzzy algae. This stuff has little color to it, so hopefully it will die soon.

Full tank shot, all of the lights on, and no flow. There is still some algae left, but it is a HUGE improvement than what I use to have.

Tank is looking great! I’m still at the dust looking stage. I’m going to do a water change this weekend to siphon our as much decayed algae I️ can. This stuff is definitely dying! This coming Monday will be 21 days out of initial dose. I️ am still running no skimmer, also added a red grow light and a hand full of chaeto. I️ have 15 pills left. I️ dropped 25 in the first dose. A little more than suggested but thought I️ needed to be a little more aggressive than the problem. I️ will be changing 30 gallons, any suggestions on how many pills I️ should dose in the WC? I’ll get some picks up tomorrow of the progress.

 

[rmiles54]

Looks like you have it licked now. The fluconasol did not work for my GHA but I am glad it worked for you! I HIGHLY recommend an algae blenny. I have one and he attacked my gha and now keeps the tank pretty and algae free. He prefers the dying GHA and if you dont have too much he can keep it in check. Of course if you have a giant bloom like you had he can only eat so much. Mine was so fat I wondered how he could swim!

Not sure what your tank size is, I️ tried a lawnmower and he made no noticeable difference from what I️ could see. A few people I have spoken with have had to make 2 treatments of the flocon before it was effective. Like myself they also dosed 25% more than suggested. So far so good. Do you have any pics?

 

[RobertP]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-fight-with-green-hair-algae-you-can-win.334892/

I wrote about how I fixed my issue. It is possible that it helped but I didn't really see any die off in the first 2 weeks.

 

[rmiles54]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-fight-with-green-hair-algae-you-can-win.334892/

I wrote about how I fixed my issue. It is possible that it helped but I didn't really see any die off in the first 2 weeks.

Just finished going over your write up. Great looking tank and a lot of good info. Thanks for sharing..

 

[rmiles54]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-fight-with-green-hair-algae-you-can-win.334892/

I wrote about how I fixed my issue. It is possible that it helped but I didn't really see any die off in the first 2 weeks.

Just finished going over your write up. Great looking tank and a lot of good info. Thanks for sharing..

 

[rmiles54]

Progress pics. After much reading I’ve decided to blast the loose debris off the rocks into circulation to try and catch as much as possible in the sump. I️ will dose 5 pills in the 30 gallons of water I’m changing. Definitely dying.

Also the chaeto added, hopefully it will grow rapidly.

 

[mcarroll]

The folks that use fluconazole seem to have problems with the algae coming back once treatment stops.

2nd, 3rd and 4th treatments are pretty common and I've heard fluconazole "fans" mention KEEPING their tanks on fluconazole full-time.

I hope using it now at least gives your tank a leg up, but considering that what led to this bloom was a mystery (unless I missed a page), it seems likely IMO that you'll eventually need to re-treat as well. (I'm doubting that you like the idea of keeping your tank on fluconazole full-time. So at minimum I'd be prepared for a re-bloom. If it never happens, then yay. )

I would permanently stay away from carbon dosing (e.g. pellets, vodka, nopox) and nutrient reducers (GFO, etc), take great care to make all nutrient changes to your tank SMALL, generally make no more than one change that could affect nutrients per month.

The idea being to maximize nutrient stability in the tank.

Don't add a lot of new animals at once.
Don't make big feeding changes at once.
Don't over- or under-feed.
Be as consistent with feeding as you can – using an auto-feeder can help a lot!
Forget about zero nutrients.

Remember that a refugium isn't a panacea either. Algae needs nutrients to grow, and chaeto needs quite a lot – as a result it isn't perfect for everyone.

2¢

 

[rmiles54]

Quick update. I did do a second dose of flucon at half the original. Still no skimmer. Did add a ball of chaeto that I’m not sure is getting enough nutrients. It’s holding on tho. Coral is all doing good rebounding nicely. Algae is on a steady decline. Just seems to be disappearing. Snails I added All working great. Tangs all ended up really sick covered in white spots and film. Sadly I lost the powder blue of over 1 year. The Naso and sailfin struggled for almost 2 weeks and have rebounded eating like pigs. Busy time of year. At this point I’m feeling less is more. I’m testing about 1 a week and only dose what’s necessary. As long as algae keeps disappearing I’m shooting for WC every 3 weeks.

One thing I did notice. My rock anemones have swollen mouths for awhile now. Otherwise seem healthy

Probably after Christmas I’ll update. Any feedback greatly appreciated. Have a good Christmas people..

 

[rmiles54]

Well the Fluconazole seems to have helped with my issue. I did do a 3rd dose a couple weeks ago. Most algae in the tank seems to have vanished and it still disappearing. Corals all seem to be looking better and recovering. Mouth of my Rock flower still swollen. Anyone have any idea on why that maybe. My skimmer is still offline. Some of my zoas still have dull colors. Phosphates were quite high when I tested today. I used some seachem phosbuster to try and help that out. All other Params are in line. I did add some chaeto to the sump and ran a grow light counter tank lights. Only lasted about a week and basically melted away. Sump section was still showing a lot of nasty looking stuff. Why I dosed the flucon again to see if it helps there. Couple of pics

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180122/c56339fe3b7a5b17966fc16a44250900.heic[/IMG
All pics iPhone X no filter on daylight pics
Orange filter on blue pics.

 

[rmiles54]

Well another month has gone by. Still have a handle on the outbreak. A few months, bunch of water changes, a few doses of fluconozole and I have control of my reef once again. Better husbandry on my part is going to be my first defense against new outbreaks. I have put my skimmer back online and began dosing 2 part to keep numbers in line. The chaeto I put in the sump running opposite display light cycle seems to be holding up this time. Corals are coming back, I’m still seeing the mouth of rock flowers basically flipped inside out. Any ideas on what may be causing this or how to reverse it? I also added some denitrate by seachem in a media bag to help assist with nitrate control. The last photo posted of sump section has been drained and wiped clean before skimmer, denitrate, and chaeto were added. A few pics to keep me up to date. I’ll try and update every month to see if any other algae or bacteria issues show them selves. I have to say I’m excited again! One other question, would I benefit from live sand in the fuge area in a bare bottom system? Or should I leave it bare also? Thanks for all the help thus far..

Bonus. I’ve had several appear but always seem to get outgrown by normal polyps. This little guy is super bright green with a fat purple stripe off centered that just happed to pop up on the outer edge of the colony. I was able to clip it off and separate with no issues. Any suggestions or recommendations on how to grow this, will babies look like it or original? I’ll be sure and keep you guys posted..