Green Hair Algae explosion in new tank

[Cabinetman]

I’ll add a bit more to go with what Paul said. Say you add some chemicals to kill this algae. Well that material just got converted back to something. It didn’t get removed and plus you got whatever was in that chemical in your tank as well. When you have a well lit refugium algae will grow there instead and when it accumulates you can easily remove it thus removing contaminates from the tank naturally. Your tank is telling you something by growing algae like that, it’s saying there’s a bunch of crap in my water and I need to get rid of it. Lol. And the only way it can is by growing algae. You Harness that natural process when you add a refugium of some sort to your system. Add a big enough one with enough light and it will eventually catch up to the waiste in your system and keep it all cleaned up. The only other way that won’t eventually lead to a crash is tons and tons of water changes. But that can get expensive and isn’t nearly as good for the tank. When you got a big refugium tied In you’ll be protected from such nasties as amonia too. Algae is nature’s way of removing toxins.

 

[Paul B]

Thats what I said, but you said it so much more eloquently.

 

[t5Nitro]

@Paul B @Cabinetman

You guys rec leaving this in there? This is a snap of my tank you can see the rolling hills of gha in the back, hah. I think the algae has killed many trumpets already and irritates sps.

9mo tank. BB. Dry start initially.
I checked params yesterday:
NO3 5 - Nyos
P 0.06 - hanna
Alk 7.8
Ca 400
Mg 1320

 

[t5Nitro]

Also wondering if the trumpets under these mats of algae are even alive. Maybe I can just toss them and remove that section of gha.

 

[Cabinetman]

I’d recommend pulling as much of the algae out as You can manually from your display but don’t go taking the rocks out and spraying them or dipping them in fresh water. Maybe rinse them in a bucket of salt water and scrub them a bit with a brush to remove as much detritus as you can but that’s it. If you go spraying them with peroxide and dipping them in fresh water your going to cause die off of the bacterial and organisms that live on the rock which will only amplify your problem. Like I said your real cure is to plumb in a tank of some sort and pound the light to it to get the algae growing there. It won’t take long to clean the tank up if you do it

 

[canadianeh]

It''s running in the basement and gets very little light outside of the LEDs which I've reduced the intensity of by almost 50%.

I also decided to shorten my photo-period by two hours and lengthen the time my Fuge runs to hopefully out compete the hair algae.

I guess now that the cycle is complete I can introduce a CUC to attmept to control some algae.

No need to run lights at all during cycling. I didn’t turn on my lights at all until my cycling is completed. That way you minimize algae breakout during cycling process.

 

[t5Nitro]

Sounds good. I've got some time today so I'll pull algae manually. I've got an algae scrubber on order which was supposed to ship last week. Waiting for it to come yet. Hoping that'll take the job of the fuge as much as it can as far as keeping algae out of the DT.

I started to work on the left side of the tank and tossed those corals covered in mats of it (they've been under cover for a long time). Will see if my LFS has some turbos available as well. I can add 6 of them to my system if he's got em.

 

[Cabinetman]

An algae scrubber will work awesome as long as it’s sized appropriately.

 

[SMSREEF]

I would pull the rock and remove what I can outside the tank. Do a good size water change to reduce nutrients. And get some snails to keep it under control. Emerald crabs are great too but when they get bigger may bother some things.

I would not do lights out cycle unless you want you coralline to die also.

 

[t5Nitro]

I've got an aquatic guyz 125 coming! Excited. I'll send them an email to see if it did ship out.

 

[terraincognita]

You probably already got an answer but what I'd do.

Cut the lights, no need if you don't have coral. Let it be for a few days.

What's your cycle plan?

Need more info to kind of help you solve it.

If you have nothing in the tank, it's really not an issue at all, who cares about Algae when it's an empty tank. Realize even if everything just grew Algae, if there's nothing in the tank, before you add anything you could cover it with a bag for 3 weeks and 95% of that algae will die off with NO light.

Then take the rest out and scrub in a saltwater bath bucket with some coral revive or a similar additive like H202 (nothing super chemical) put em back in for a few days with no lights, and you'd have ALL the BB still from the "cycle" and now hopefully little to no Algae. Probably have to do some tank syphoning, and I'd suggest a CUC then too.

What's your time line? How long are you trying to let this tank cycle?

You could grab a small CUC of a couple hermits and snails. But then You'd probably want to run the lights for a bit each day and not nothing so they can have somethign to eat.

Normally people get CUC's at this stage and then end up killing them because they'll starve them out.

You could just turn off the lights for about 2 weeks and let the tank keep cycling and sit in the corner.

There's different methods to cycling which method are you taking? how much longer are you trying to let this cycle?

 

[Paul B]

You guys rec leaving this in there?

Yes. Sorry but the algae will grow where it wants to and it was to soon to add those corals. You can kill the algae with chemicals or scrub it off but it is the algae that will eventually make the tank very healthy unless you short circuit the process with chemicals. An algae scrubber is your best bet.

 

[CrazyCarlitos]

Can’t really help u with quick removal of the gha
(I has some issue with it on my previous AIO tank)
but I agree that light and excess nutrient fuels algae

My new tank with sump.
Set up little over month ago with dry sand and dry rock (Yeah, I know. Lol)

DT - no light - no algae whatsoever(Pic)

Refugium - Kessil h80 flora light with small Chaeto and PomPom - went thru some diatom earlier... now some film algae. (Pic) Even that is starting to clear up on its own.

btw, the piece of coralline algae I put in the DT is doing fine so far with no light (Pic)
I won’t be adding a light to DT until I am ready for corals

 

[deetu]

I had a constant battle with hair algae until I started using Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacter Clean. It's bacteria, not chemicals. They have amazing start up product too. Super happy with their products.

 

[Creggers]

This could all be avoided with a big well lit refugium. You’ll get an ugly stage but it will be in there and not the display tank...

Have a well lit fuge and still have this in display.
My fuge is smaller, around 10 gallons, so that’s why I have algae in display.

My cycle plan is using live rock from KP aquatics. I Never had more than .5 ammonia, and at this point my cycle is complete as I no longer detect ammonia on my test kit. I actually never saw nitrates, I assume this is due to the chaeto and GHA that had taken over the display. I have yet to do a water change but I’ll be doing a large water change tomorrow and I’ll be scrubbing the rocks in some of the water removed to clear off some of the GHA. I have a CUC order that should come in Wednesday of next week. I figure the manual removal plus addition of clean up crew should get this under control.

I also have about three times the chaeto in the sump, so hopefully that out completes the GHA. I think I underestimated how quickly this stuff can take over, and probably should have added some clean up crew prior to feeding the rock

 

[terraincognita]

Have a well lit fuge and still have this in display.
My fuge is smaller, around 10 gallons, so that’s why I have algae in display.

My cycle plan is using live rock from KP aquatics. I Never had more than .5 ammonia, and at this point my cycle is complete as I no longer detect ammonia on my test kit. I actually never saw nitrates, I assume this is due to the chaeto and GHA that had taken over the display. I have yet to do a water change but I’ll be doing a large water change tomorrow and I’ll be scrubbing the rocks in some of the water removed to clear off some of the GHA. I have a CUC order that should come in Wednesday of next week. I figure the manual removal plus addition of clean up crew should get this under control.

I also have about three times the chaeto in the sump, so hopefully that out completes the GHA. I think I underestimated how quickly this stuff can take over, and probably should have added some clean up crew prior to feeding the rock

Honestly, you got it man.

good luck.

 

[Creggers]

Just wrapped up my blackout and added a sizeable CUC to the tank from Reefcleaners - overall very happy with the order. I will say the blackout helped as a lot of the GHA is turning white.

The CUC perked up as soon as I put it in the tank and went to work. The dwarf Ceriths were even on the hair algae... maybe they will end up snacking some of that down.

I've seen the two emerald crabs snacking on the GHA as well which is really encouraging. Got some before photos so I can see progress over time.

 

[aquivers]

Having the same thing happen with a wayyy smaller tank. I have a 20 gallon nano reef going into month 3 so I’m not really doing much but testing weekly & when I do water change I will clean the rock & siphon out what I can but I like what Paul B said, some things in nature you just have to let take its course

 

[terraincognita]

Just wrapped up my blackout and added a sizeable CUC to the tank from Reefcleaners - overall very happy with the order. I will say the blackout helped as a lot of the GHA is turning white.

The CUC perked up as soon as I put it in the tank and went to work. The dwarf Ceriths were even on the hair algae... maybe they will end up snacking some of that down.

I've seen the two emerald crabs snacking on the GHA as well which is really encouraging. Got some before photos so I can see progress over time.

How’s this turn out brother?

I imagine you got a hold on it?