Most infested tank ever? (with pics)

[Hk2]

I'm really embarrassed about my tank and really need steps to get this thing back on track for good. I've been fighting this battle for a couple years now and am reaching out to the community for help. I've had freshwater planted tanks for years and this tank is my first attempt at reefing.

The tank is a 40 breeder and current parameters are
Nitrate 20ppm
P04 .03 ppm
Alk 9.5
Calcium 380
Mag 1270
All salifert test kits

Stock
2 clowns
1 dwarf angel
1 diamond goby

The tank started out sump less and I ran it that way for a year. Tank has pretty much looked like it does now ever since. I built myself a sump, added a skimmer and ran No Pox for about year and it made no difference. On No Pox the tank ran about 2 ppm Nitrate and near 0 Po4 but the algae didn't budge. I have since stopped No Pox and added a GFO reactor about 6 months ago. I have taken rocks out and scrubbed the crap out with a steel brush many times but it keeps coming back. At this point manual removal is so difficult that I have to use needle nose pliers to actually pull the algae from the rock. I feel like once the algae is gone the No Pox, Gfo and WC's will keep the aglae away for good but in the meantime the GFO and No Pox just cant compete with the algae load that I have, the algae uptakes the nutrients faster than the No Pox and GFO im thinking. Its also harder to clean now that all my corals have adhered them selves to my rocks. Im at a loss on what to do next. Is there anyway to save my tank?

 

[gentlefish]

Sorry to hear. Looks like bryopsis, too. So no-one is going to eat it. Difficult way is Manual removal. If rocks can be removed, 3% Peroxide (Walmart). Care not to overload the tank with it. Some reefers are happy with Vibrant (mixed results). If you are at your wits end fluconazole ( heard one reefer left it in the tank 1/2 year). You would still need to remove phosphate that seems to be deep in your LR. Best of luck.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Have you though about getting a sea hare (assuming it's gha?)

 

[vetteguy53081]

Its crazy hair algae and hear are some answers.
If I am not mistaken- Your tank is right next to a window and which has promoted the growth of such algae not to mentioned possible temperature swings from direct sunlight.
You at minimum will need to place Black construction paper on tank to block the light and possibly same to window.
Pull as much GHA as you can by hand and lower your white light intensity.
I generally recommend addition of clean up crew (snails, etc) but I would suggest to use either liquid Vibrant or better yet Fluconasal (flux) to reverse the hair algae growth process.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Have you though about getting a sea hare (assuming it's gha?)

sea hare likely wont touch it based on thickness, and nature of the accelaration.

 

[Hermie]

IMO you need a refugium after manual removal or an algae scrubber.

 

[Hk2]

Thank you for the replies fellas. I have been reading into reef flux (fluconzonal) or however you spell it but was unsure if this was some kind of turf algae or something else and if that treatment would be effective

 

[Hk2]

Also the tank does receive a small amount of sunlight in the morning. Maybe for about an hour perhaps. The tank is placed on a far wall as far from the windows as possible but still that could be a factor and something to consider. I feel like I just need to nuke the tank but I am unsure of how to do it safely and effectively.

 

[Will Wohlers]

Yea hair algae. Peroxide will not kill bryopsis in the slightest. It's actually one easy way you can tell if you have hair algae or bryopsis. Peroxide will kill gha.

 

[Cole.mormon]

get some microbacter clean 45 ml a week and flucanazole

 

[Fish_Sticks]

Get a lawn mower blenny and feed less food - buy more rock and oxygenate better, remove by hand when you're bored, turn the lights down a little... easy fix /s

 

[Flippers4pups]

Good advice given.

 

[X-37B]

Pull all the rock and scrub, brush, and pull off as much as you can.
Put the rock back in and run fluconazole.
In a week or so the algae will be very easy to remove from the rock.
I used a hemostat.
Once its 90%+ gone add 40 astrea snails and they will keep it in check.
This is what I did on my 120 and 45 frag tank.
The algae must be very short and almost gone for the astreas to work.

 

[Uncle99]

Its crazy hair algae and hear are some answers.
If I am not mistaken- Your tank is right next to a window and which has promoted the growth of such algae not to mentioned possible temperature swings from direct sunlight.
You at minimum will need to place Black construction paper on tank to block the light and possibly same to window.
Pull as much GHA as you can by hand and lower your white light intensity.
I generally recommend addition of clean up crew (snails, etc) but I would suggest to use either liquid Vibrant or better yet Fluconasal (flux) to reverse the hair algae growth process.

Sunlight.....yup.....that looks like Sunlight.....or a grow lamp
OP, I would follow the above....
Way too far gone for any CUC,

 

[TriggersAmuck]

What is your feeding schedule like? Once the algae is eradicated you want to make sure that multiple contributors are addressed (probably not one magic bullet solution). You have addressed a number of them, but yeah, such infestations are one tough customer.

 

[Hk2]

What is your feeding schedule like? Once the algae is eradicated you want to make sure that multiple contributors are addressed (probably not one magic bullet solution). You have addressed a number of them, but yeah, such infestations are one tough customer.

Thank you for the replies everyone. I really appreciate it. I feed once a day every day without fail. That said I probably feed a bit more than I should, their stomachs are pretty big. I rotate between Omega flake, Pellet and PE mysis. Flake is probably 60 percent of their diet however.

 

[KrisReef]

Thank you for the replies everyone. I really appreciate it. I feed once a day every day without fail. That said I probably feed a bit more than I should, their stomachs are pretty big. I rotate between Omega flake, Pellet and PE mysis. Flake is probably 60 percent of their diet however.

I was going to ask how many cans of flake are you feeding each day? (Sorry )

Others mentioned your rock is filled with phosphate that is feeding this alga. I expect "Fluc" would knock the weed out but you will need to cut back on feeding and increase PO4 export to win in the long run. For PO4, gfo in a reactor can help, or lanthanum chloride are two good methods to correct rock soaked nutrients.

I wonder if you have read @brandon429 thread, one against many, or something like that on here. He has a method of resetting that can help/fix much of your situation.

You can win but it will take some time and effort. You have come to a good place to get help with the algae and answers to other question.
Welcome to Reef2Reef.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Also the tank does receive a small amount of sunlight in the morning. Maybe for about an hour perhaps. The tank is placed on a far wall as far from the windows as possible but still that could be a factor and something to consider. I feel like I just need to nuke the tank but I am unsure of how to do it safely and effectively.

One hour will cause this, and during the day, the indirect sunlight is still causing this . Time to blackout the side facing window and the windows

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you for the replies everyone. I really appreciate it. I feed once a day every day without fail. That said I probably feed a bit more than I should, their stomachs are pretty big. I rotate between Omega flake, Pellet and PE mysis. Flake is probably 60 percent of their diet however.

That overfeeding will elevate phosphate and nitrate that actually Fuel/feed this algae

 

[Fish_Sticks]

On a real note. More rock and thus more bacteria and a lawn mower blenny would actually probably solve the issue...