Brown Algae on back wall

[Flame2hawk]

Semi reef Tank up since 11/1 but fishless last 8 wks. I’m now ready to put fish back in starting on tuesday 3/8. However I have a brown hair algae problem on my back wall. Should I physically remove it (that will be a task) or will it go away in due course once I get back to regular water changes. My baby angels (regal Biota tank bred), blueline(poma tank bred) and flagfin( wild caught and QT’d thoroughly) will probably eat it too I presume. My parameters are all good except nitrates which are 100. Thx for your thoughts.

 

[blaxsun]

If your nitrates are 100ppm, I'd hold off putting fish in. At that level it would be harmful. I would wait until your nitrates are lower than 15ppm. As for the algae, in the interim - removing it couldn't hurt.

 

[Flame2hawk]

If your nitrates are 100ppm, I'd hold off putting fish in. At that level it would be harmful. I would wait until your nitrates are lower than 15ppm. As for the algae, in the interim - removing it couldn't hurt.

Posted pics. I’ve had fish in much higher nitrates than 100 with no ill effects. Even my softies are doing fine. Its more about the brown algae. Should I remove it or leave out and it will go away as I resume regular water changes? And will the angels eat it with no ill effects on them?

 

[blaxsun]

Posted pics. I’ve had fish in much higher nitrates than 100 with no ill effects. Even my softies are doing fine. Its more about the brown algae. Should I remove it or leave out and it will go away as I resume regular water changes? And will the angels eat it with no ill effects on them?

Your rodeo. Yes, unless you're leaving it as a decorative feature I'd probably scrape it off. And no, I don't think any amount of angels could consume this in any reasonable timeframe.

 

[Flame2hawk]

Your rodeo. Yes, unless you're leaving it as a decorative feature I'd probably scrape it off. And no, I don't think any amount of angels could consume this in any reasonable timeframe.

I also worry if I scrape it off, I’ll also disrupt allot of pods that are crawling around in the algae…..

 

[SudzFD]

I also worry if I scrape it off, I’ll also disrupt allot of pods that are crawling around in the algae…..

I would doubt any pods would be harmed by this. They are resilient fast and you can’t even see most of them. They will move into your rock work.

 

[Flame2hawk]

I would doubt any pods would be harmed by this. They are resilient fast and you can’t even see most of them. They will move into your rock work.

I did it last week and didn’t see any get scooped up. Thx

 

[mindme]

Probably best to scrap it. Removing algae is removing nutrients and with nitrates over 100 you have plenty already. In my experience, fish don't like the longer algae for some reason.

You could let it grow more before doing it, allowing the nutrients to get taken out even more, but at some point my bet is you will have to scrap it off.

Regular water changes will take awhile to get rid of those nitrates also. Like months. Unless you are doing like 50% water changes. If you did 4 20% water changes you'll get them down to about 50. That's 2 months nearly on 2 week schedule. And you'll start getting less and less taken out per water change. Water change schedules can help keep the levels in track, they aren't really going to bring excessive ones down quickly. You'll need to do many water changes to get it down, and then go on a water change schedule.

What size tank?