HELP! How do I get this algae under control?

[DragKnee]

This post I am making for my aunt, who has 3 saltwater tanks going and algae is just out of control. Her husbandry towards her tanks are top notch, but she is losing this battle, and I am stumped. My uncle used to have a gorgeous 65g SPS tank. Just to show something positive in this thread, this is his old 65g from many years ago...

Now onto this issue at hand ... This algae is spread amongst 3 different tanks - 29g Biocube, 12g Aquapod and a 30g Frag Tank w/ Sump. None of these 3 tanks are connected to each other, however, the water comes from the same brute. the RO unit reads 0's across the board.

This is how her 12g used to look...

The tanks read...

Alk: 8.4, 9.8 and 9.1
Calc: 450
Mag: 1320 & 1400

At least 10% water changes are done every week to each of the 3 tanks, and the 30g Frag only has 1 damsel, the 12g Aquapod only has 1 damsel, and the 29g Biocube has a Yellow Wrasse and a Firefish.

None of these tanks are new, they have all been running for many months. Lighting hasn't changed on any of them either - corals were doing great, now most corals aren't looking too happy. There are some SPS Colonies in the 29g Biocube that are doing well, but not growing.


The first order of business is, I don't know how to get this algae under control? Purigen and Chemipure are being used, and I figure on top of the water changes, I don't see what the issue could be. Algae used to not be a problem, except a couple months ago it just seemed to come and spread rapidly.

The algae you see along the front of the glass was sucked up just a day before, and it comes back almost immediately.

What is she battling, and how can she win?

Thank You!

 

[CastAway]

Wow. Tagging along.<br>
<br>
Any clean up crew?

 

[clownfitch]

The pic of the algae on the red zoas looks like bryopsis. Does the algae look feathery?

 

[DragKnee]

Yes, I too felt that it looked like bryopsis. Indeed it does look feathery - at least the one on the red zoa's.

Don't people use like Kent Magnesium to get rid of bryopsis? What about the other macro algae growing everywhere?

 

[DragKnee]

Wow. Tagging along.<br>
<br>
Any clean up crew?

A relatively weak clean up crew, but there are a few banded trochus snails and hermits in each of the tanks, along with a sally lightfoot in the 29g.

 

[dmjr1201]

Looks like dino's. Do they have bubbles on the tips? All 3 tanks have this problem? If using ro/di made at home it could be time for a new ro membrane. Change the filters. Just went through this myself.

 

[scottsdale454ss]

An urchin or two couldnt hurt. Mine eat the crap out of my green hair algae

 

[dmjr1201]

Looks like more than one type of algae

 

[DragKnee]

Yeah I'd definitely say there is more than 1 type of algae, but it's basically all macro type. There is Bubble algae, I'd say bryopsis, maybe dinos? And I guess hair?

All 3 tanks have it, but I'd say that may be because she's been swapping corals/rock between the tanks.

RO Unit is nearly brand new, and still reads at all 0's so I don't think it's the RO Unit. I did recommend testing the water in the brute for phosphates to make sure it isn't leaching.

 

[dmjr1201]

Is the the ro membrane the last stage on ro/di unit or the di resin . Some units have the resin last and it will read 0. I ended up testing the water after each stage. That meant disconnecting each line after every stage and tested with tds meter. Membrane ended up being the problem. It all depends on your water quality. That was my case.

 

[F430Lou]

You could get some blue legs or emerald crabs. The clean up crew!! Also it may be possible that your phosphates are high.

 

[DragKnee]

You could get some blue legs or emerald crabs. The clean up crew!! Also it may be possible that your phosphates are high.

I thought Hermit Crabs didn't really touch macro algae's like hair algae?

dmjr, yeah, DI Resin is last stage. It's the BRS system.

 

[SPSDomination]

+3 on the Bryopsis. Unfortunately it is rather hard to get rid of and is deff an uphill battle. Ive heard of people losing the battle and starting over completely. Deff do a search on bryopsis and see what you come up with.

 

[F430Lou]

The crabs will definitely eat the algae but I would reccomend adding a lot of them. Also there's a few types of tangs would help keep that algae under control

 

[NanaReefer]

Bryposis Algae has been eradicated successfully by the use of Kent's Tech-M. Raising your Mag levels to 1600-1800 and keeping those levels for several weeks.
Personally I believe this to be one of the less invasive was of treating this nuisance algae. It works!

 

[DragKnee]

I'll definitely recommend Kent Tech-M to her. My uncle also heard of it, but wasn't sure if the algae was bryopsis or not.

What about the rest of the hair-like algae? Any recommendations for clearing that up? Just CUC?

 

[NanaReefer]

Best way would be to starve it out. Suggest to her NO coral foods of any kind, no zooplankton, no phytoplankton. Find out her feeding habits and cut them down a bit. One of the cleanest, healthiest foods for fish & corals out here today IMO is LRS Reef Frenzy.
Up water change %, find out her lighting schedule and depending on length cut down by half.
This is going to take time and persistence

 

[Sasquii]

What kind of macro algae do you have in the sumps?
I have Chaeto in mine...it's helps but your gonna have to break out the tooth brush and get the majority out by hand...it's a battle that you can win.

 

[J Rog]

Have they tried running some GFO?

 

[TinpanVA]

The Tech M treatments work really well, but it helps to pull what you can by hand as well. A sea hare or two would do wonders on several types of algae but keep in mind, it's not curing what is causing the issue to begin with.