Need help

[Knamei]

I have been fighting algae for a long time now. I've read and read to try different things. Carbon, GFO, Chaeto. Only thing I haven't done is chemicals. Here's the thing. A year ago I was very neglectful to my tank unfortunately. I was battle mental disease (still am, but way more controlled) and really slacked on water changes, like bad. So I have been trying to do better. The last couple months I have been doing water changes weekly. I try and manually clean out the algae but it just builds back up. I decided a few weeks ago that I want to redo the tank, not tear it down, bleach everything etc. But take the substrate out, scrub the rocks really well, and redo the scape. I have been slowing removing the sand to not cause bacteria stir up and I am almost done. I'm waiting to be completely finished removing it before take the rocks out to scrub. With removing the sand, I feel like there is less buildup of algae on the glass, but its still happening.

I just now tested Nitrates and Phosphates: zero.

At first, from my reading, I thought it was because of the algae. I know it consumes those and i read that if there is a lot then it'll make the parameters 0 when in reality they are high hence the algae continuing to grow. Now that I'm removing the sand, clearly that was a source because of the detritus.

But it's also all over my powerheads, in my sump. Just everywhere. I have chaeto in there now but it has not grown at all, and now I have noticed a thick green slimy thing on the walls of the refugium itself. Did the looking up and saw maybe its blue-green cyano? I have no idea. I was reading on that and it mentioned bad lighting (it started growing where the light shines) something about it starts to show up when nutrients are low? Is that true? If so now I'm really confused and just need guidance on what to do. I have pictures of the stuff in my display that's on my rocks and whats in my sump. I don't have microscopic images though (if anyone has recommendations on what they use to get those images I would love to know).

One thing I should mention, I have a clown fish pair, royal gramma, and very few snails. Everything else I add to the tank will only last max a month before they die. Some even just over night. I drip acclimate everything, making sure the water stays warm during the process and everything, lights off, etc. The only thing that has survived is an anemone. I don't remember how long it's been but longer than everything else that I have tried.


Th pictures: The one of the sand and base of rocks is the algae that comes off the rocks after I finish my water change and once it all settles. It is very easy to knock off the rocks. The way I change my water I use a pump and the flow from the pump removes it. The picture of the rocks is what it looks like with the algae on it (not sure it's a good picture though). And then of course the green stuff from my refugium.

 

[reefwiser]

I would start the tank over. Many times the algae get so bad that it just takes over. Using chemicals can kill everything in the tank. Good bacteria as well as the algae.

 

[Knamei]

I would start the tank over. Many times the algae get so bad that it just takes over. Using chemicals can kill everything in the tank. Good bacteria as well as the algae.

How do you suggest I start over, what would I use, etc.? What should I do with the fish and anemone during this time?

 

[Crustaceon]

I’ve been through it before and know how frustrating it is. I put myself in this situation by dosing phosphates like crazy and then allowing all nutrients to be stripped out by overdosing the tank with vodka. Of course the phosphate stuck around because it was bound up in the rock and I had a really annoying turf algae that decided to take root. How I beat it was to take out half of my rocks and soak them in a solution of ro/di and hydrogen peroxide overnight. The next day I manually scrubbed them to remove whatever residual algae I could and then they went back into the tank. I could see an obvious and immediate difference between those rocks and the ones that had stayed in the tank. Whatever algae was left on those rocks was dead, no question. So I repeated the process with the other half. While they were soaking, I tested my nitrates and found that had jumped from zero to around 4ppm. Now was a good time to generate some nutrient removal competition in the system, so I added a little bit of beneficial bacteria (seachem stability in my case but anything would probably work) and ten ml of vinegar to my 65g system to get a slight bloom, which I did. The next day, all of the rocks were back in the tank and the water looked a little murky, but my fish seemed fine and ph stayed pretty much normal. Skimmer output was vile, lol. Over the next week my nitrates stayed around 4ppm and all traces of algae vanished from my rocks. I had some dinos too and they stopped popping up the moment the lights turned on and gradually disappeared entirely. I’ve since always tried to keep nitrates over 2ppm and now have coralline algae covering my rocks with no trace of nuisance anywhere in the system.

 

[Knamei]

I’ve been through it before and know how frustrating it is. I put myself in this situation by dosing phosphates like crazy and then allowing all nutrients to be stripped out by overdosing the tank with vodka. Of course the phosphate stuck around because it was bound up in the rock and I had a really annoying turf algae that decided to take root. How I beat it was to take out half of my rocks and soak them in a solution of ro/di and hydrogen peroxide overnight. The next day I manually scrubbed them to remove whatever residual algae I could and then they went back into the tank. I could see an obvious and immediate difference between those rocks and the ones that had stayed in the tank. Whatever algae was left on those rocks was dead, no question. So I repeated the process with the other half. While they were soaking, I tested my nitrates and found that had jumped from zero to around 4ppm. Now was a good time to generate some nutrient removal competition in the system, so I added a little bit of beneficial bacteria (seachem stability in my case but anything would probably work) and ten ml of vinegar to my 65g system to get a slight bloom, which I did. The next day, all of the rocks were back in the tank and the water looked a little murky, but my fish seemed fine and ph stayed pretty much normal. Skimmer output was vile, lol. Over the next week my nitrates stayed around 4ppm and all traces of algae vanished from my rocks. I had some dinos too and they stopped popping up the moment the lights turned on and gradually disappeared entirely. I’ve since always tried to keep nitrates over 2ppm and now have coralline algae covering my rocks with no trace of nuisance anywhere in the system.

Would that help with the algae on the glass and my power heads and such?

 

[Victor_C3]

Keep doing what you’re doing, you said yourself that you think you are seeing slow improvement.

I’d remove the rocks and shake them in a bucket of old tank water to remove excess detritus and maybe scrub them s bit, but I wouldn’t recommend destroying all the life on them with bleach. It sounds like you basically a big pile of live rock that has cycled for a long time in dirty water. That is a great starting point to have.

I’d buy a bunch of dwarf hermits and maybe a blue tuxedo urchin. I’ve found the urchins to be algae eating monsters.

Something needs to eat the algae in the display in order to add phosphates back into the water column. From there, some of the phosphates will be consumed by the chaeto growing in your refugium.

As far as lighting in your fuge, what are you doing? Leaving the lights on 24- hours a day will cause chaeto to not grow at all. It needs alternating period of light and darkness to grow.

Last thing, watch the video below. These guys really know what they’re doing.

Can't beat algae in your tank? This is probably why! Top 20 Algae Fighting Mistakes

Algae is perhaps the most annoying of pests that can plague a reef aquarium but many of these outbreaks can be avoided or controlled with just a few simple steps or proactive measures. Our BRStv hosts, Ryan and Randy, sit down to discuss the various mistakes that lead to algae in a

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Mental health issues are a *****. I’ve been dealing with them really bad since 2014. I usually end up hospitalized for a month or two a year as a result of them and I haven’t been able to hold a job in over 5 years.

Many aspects of my life are pure crap, but having a hobby that requires constant attention like reefkeeping does a lot for me. It gives me something positive to think about and look forward to and something I can be proud of when I get things running smoothly.

Stick with it and keep chugging along. Things won’t be crap forever, mental-health wise or in you aquarium!

 

[Crustaceon]

Would that help with the algae on the glass and my power heads and such?

The glass and powerhead algae is an easy fix. Scrape the glass and clean your powerheads. Either way, algae will come back even in the best tanks just due to the fact that we all have to keep some nutrients in our systems. I’d say cleaning glass every three days or so is completely normal even in the most advanced acropora-heavy tanks. Eventually you’ll have so much coralline algae and corals that you’ll have to dose nitrates and phosphates and will want to see algae on your glass and powerheads periodically, lol. I also understand where you’re coming from on the mental health topic. I finally bit the bullet last year and went to counseling for it. It was the toughest thing I’ve ever done, but was well worth it. Everyday is still a struggle but at least it made it a little easier to find ways to get through it.

 

[Knamei]

Keep doing what you’re doing, you said yourself that you think you are seeing slow improvement.

I’d remove the rocks and shake them in a bucket of old tank water to remove excess detritus and maybe scrub them s bit, but I wouldn’t recommend destroying all the life on them with bleach. It sounds like you basically a big pile of live rock that has cycled for a long time in dirty water. That is a great starting point to have.

I’d buy a bunch of dwarf hermits and maybe a blue tuxedo urchin. I’ve found the urchins to be algae eating monsters.

Something needs to eat the algae in the display in order to add phosphates back into the water column. From there, some of the phosphates will be consumed by the chaeto growing in your refugium.

As far as lighting in your fuge, what are you doing? Leaving the lights on 24- hours a day will cause chaeto to not grow at all. It needs alternating period of light and darkness to grow.

Last thing, watch the video below. These guys really know what they’re doing.

Can't beat algae in your tank? This is probably why! Top 20 Algae Fighting Mistakes

Algae is perhaps the most annoying of pests that can plague a reef aquarium but many of these outbreaks can be avoided or controlled with just a few simple steps or proactive measures. Our BRStv hosts, Ryan and Randy, sit down to discuss the various mistakes that lead to algae in a

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Mental health issues are a *****. I’ve been dealing with them really bad since 2014. I usually end up hospitalized for a month or two a year as a result of them and I haven’t been able to hold a job in over 5 years.

Many aspects of my life are pure crap, but having a hobby that requires constant attention like reefkeeping does a lot for me. It gives me something positive to think about and look forward to and something I can be proud of when I get things running smoothly.

Stick with it and keep chugging along. Things won’t be crap forever, mental-health wise or in you aquarium!

I actually just watched that video and planning to really look into what they were talking about. The refugium lights 10pm-6am. My display lights are 8am-6pm.

 

[Knamei]

The glass and powerhead algae is an easy fix. Scrape the glass and clean your powerheads. Either way, algae will come back even in the best tanks just due to the fact that we all have to keep some nutrients in our systems. I’d say cleaning glass every three days or so is completely normal even in the most advanced acropora-heavy tanks. Eventually you’ll have so much coralline algae and corals that you’ll have to dose nitrates and phosphates and will want to see algae on your glass and powerheads periodically, lol. I also understand where you’re coming from on the mental health topic. I finally bit the bullet last year and went to counseling for it. It was the toughest thing I’ve ever done, but was well worth it. Everyday is still a struggle but at least it made it a little easier to find ways to get through it.

Is the algae causing no coralline? Because i have never seen an ounce of it. I’m trying to hop back on the hobby to have something to focus on but I get discouraged when I do water changes yet see all the crap that gets stirred up from the rocks

 

[KimG]

I would not destroy the rock.
Good, old cycled live rock takes a lot of time to get.
Especially if you are seeing improvements.
As other mentioned, up you cleaning crew.
I find mexican turbo snails to absolute beasts at eating algae. They are fairly cheap and if you buy a few to many, when your algae is under control you can pass them on. Urchins also seem to be super good.
If you keep the manual removal, together with the help from the cleaning crew, your refugium should slowly start to build up the algae and all put together, auto compete the algae in the display.

Good luck. You will have plenty of people here ready to help out.

 

[Crustaceon]

It

Is the algae causing no coralline? Because i have never seen an ounce of it. I’m trying to hop back on the hobby to have something to focus on but I get discouraged when I do water changes yet see all the crap that gets stirred up from the rocks

It can. You’ll typically notice coralline will take off as water parameters become less favorable for algae so long as alk and especially cal/mg are elevated. The problem with algae is how fast it strips nutrients from the water column. Little else has a chance to get a mouthful, coralline included. It may seem tedious and frustrating, but the more frequently and thoroughly you remove algae, the better chance things like coralline will be able to gain a foothold and eventually fill the niche left behind by the algae.

 

[Crustaceon]

In my case, manual removal was impossible. IMO turf algae is magnitudes harder to get rid of than green hair algae. It called for extreme measures. I’ve also won against green hair algae with nothing more than an old toothbrush scrubbing rocks in the tank, waiting a hour, changing the filter sock and doing a 10% water change, making sure to siphon the sandbed in the process. It’s best to look at algae as weeds in a garden. Keep pulling them and they’ll go away or be shaded by more desirable plants to the point where they can’t come back easily.

 

[Knamei]

I appreciate all the advice. I just did my weekly water change and took a few rocks out to really scrub. And then because they were out I was able to really clean up that side of the tank and got a lot of crap out. For the time being while I’m fighting the algae what is the appropriate % water change I should do. The more I replace the dirty water with clean water, the better chance of fighting algae yes?

I fee like a complete newbie but all the advice I can get is very much appreciated. I want to be able to add a few more fish and not wait to eventually find them passed

 

[Crustaceon]

Try to do no more than 10-15% a week. And keep telling yourself that every bit of scrubbed off crud that comes out of your system is algae that isn’t in there anymore and will prevent it from coming back so easily. We’ve all been there I assure you. This could take weeks. Just the course.