Losing battle against algae

iamsamuel93 · Mar 14, 2018

Hi guys, my tank has phosphates of 0.02ppm and 5 nitrates. However my tank is covered with algae. After reading up, I guess that the green hair algae is taking up nutrients hence the acceptable nutrients range. I'm using rowaphos via a phosphate reactor and carbon dosing at the same time.

I'm also using a skimz macroalgae reactor. I reduced the lighting hours on my t5 from 12 hours to 5 hours and up my macroalgae reactor from 12 to 18 hours. Added 2 sea hares but don't see them eating... Any advices.? I plan to blackout my tank for 3 days (it worked for my diatom issues) and continue to run the algae reactor. My tank is 9 months old Any advices?

iamsamuel93 · Mar 14, 2018

Here are some pictures

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 14, 2018

We used to recommend lower nutrients in an attempt to starve out algae, but unless you are dosing sufficient other sources of N and P (say, amino acids or special coral foods), then the corals begin to suffer too (and risked diatoms), and so killing off algae with low nutrients isn't the current trend for most people.

Best bet are herbivores, such as tangs, snails, hermits, etc.

Do I see a yellow tang? Is he not eating any of the algae? Stop feeding him nori (if you are) to get him to eat the microalgae.

iamsamuel93 · Mar 14, 2018

I have a yellow and blue tang but they don't nip off much algae. I have quite a few turbo snails and blue legged hermit crab but it doesn't seem to be effective.

I don't dose any amino acids Only a cube of rotifers for my blueberry seafan

Fourstars · Mar 14, 2018

I would almost say start over. maybe frag everything left. Remove rock and place some in the sump after removing as much algae as possible, and just run a frag rack in tank for now bare bottom. Cure the rest in a trash can.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 14, 2018

iamsamuel93 said:
I have a yellow and blue tang but they don't nip off much algae. I have quite a few turbo snails and blue legged hermit crab but it doesn't seem to be effective.

I don't dose any amino acids Only a cube of rotifers for my blueberry seafan

What do those tangs eat?

O'l Salty · Mar 14, 2018

I wouldn't start over. All tanks have algae and it's better to learn how to deal with it. Algae feeds on itself. When some of it dies it releases sugars into the water which are just like fertilizer to the living algae. I would remove a rock and scrub it thoroughly with a brush. Then dip it in a hydrogen peroxide and water mixture to kill the remaining algae. It will take awhile and your tank will look like **** but it will get back looking better. You may also want to try Fluconazole initially to knock it back a bit.

reefndude · Mar 14, 2018

Fluconozol will knock it out for you. I battled hair algae and bryopsis for nearly 2 years on my previous tank. After 2 days of treatment the herbivores finally went to town on the stuff. Two weeks and tank was completely clean

Scorpius · Mar 14, 2018

That doesn't look like any gha I've ever had.

iamsamuel93 · Mar 15, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
What do those tangs eat?

Mysis shrimp and occasional nori flakes.

reefndude said:
Fluconozol will knock it out for you. I battled hair algae and bryopsis for nearly 2 years on my previous tank. After 2 days of treatment the herbivores finally went to town on the stuff. Two weeks and tank was completely clean

I stay in Singapore, it's impossible to get fluconazole . They will only sell if you have a prescription

jduong916 · Mar 15, 2018

Sea hares work pretty well for hair algae. I've also had really good luck with vibrant.

Benga · Mar 15, 2018

How's your magnesium levels?
I heard raising them slightly above norm can kill algae, but I'd wait for a more experience person to give input on this.

Sashaka · Mar 15, 2018

Kole tangs are algae munching machines, at least mine is, and I have a yellow tang in the tank too. The Kole far out eats the yellow tang. My yellow tang goes mostly for the nori I put in the tank. The Kole rarely eats the nori, but picks at the rocks all day long.

When I setup my BioCube, I went through an algae period after the cycle. A forced blackout (power outage for 5 days due to storm) worked to kill off the algae for me. A battery backup was running the main circulation pump, but was not hooked up to the light. I did lose a Pocillopora, so I wouldn't recommend a full blackout for 5 days, but shorter light periods or a blackout of 3 days as you suggested should work if the algae is not one of the tough ones like bryopsis.

On a quick side note, I once put a piece of rock covered in bryopsis in a bowl of freshwater to kill the algae on it. The bryopsis took literally over a month to die off completely in a bowl of freshwater! I finally had to use Fluconozol to get rid of the bryopsis in the tank. Maybe my experience with Fluconozol is different than other people's experiences, but while the antibiotic killed off the bryopsis, I got a green hair algae bloom right after the bryopsis died. At the time, I figured it was due to the massive die off of bryopsis.

iamsamuel93 · Mar 15, 2018

My magnesium levels are 1500. I wouldn't wanna introduce another tang as my dt volume is approximately 70gallons. I already have a blue and yellow tang. The sea hare isn't doing anything much.. Sigh