please, how to save my tank

[Bigair]

this type of algea spreads so fast, is just beyond my control, but all water premeters are within normal range, of course no no3 problem, it is around 1~2

the question is if allow this algea attacking the othe creatures, some of my corals might hard to live, tried buy one algea fish but it overwhelm her ability…

any idea? turn over would be a huge work...

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

this type of algea spreads so fast, is just beyond my control, but all water premeters are within normal range, of course no no3 problem, it is around 1~2

the question is if allow this algea attacking the othe creatures, some of my corals might hard to live, tried buy one algea fish but it overwhelm her ability…

any idea? turn over would be a huge work...

Hi. Any idea of what type of algea you have here?

What size is the tank? What algea eater have you tried?

When algea gets that full, manual removal of as much as possible, is usually the First step. Some will use chemicals, others fish.

Give us some more info for a tailored solution.

 

[Reefing102]

Looks like a type of caulpera. Usually heavy pruning is required but I think some tangs may eat it.

 

[Bigair]

thanks for the quick reply, not sure what kind of algea it is, was braught in along with live rocks

my tank is only about 50gallons, I tried a small grundel fish, but it is only 4cm long, like useless

a Tang would be a good choice but not so fit with my tank size

at very beginning I think 3 months ago I tried with a brush, but that only helped the algae located in more places, and it has so hard root that clibms deep in the rock surface, very hard to manully fully remove

 

[ReeferSamster]

It could be C. prolifera. But I'd think they would be longer leaved. It could be the flow that makes them shorter.
https://reefs.com/magazine/a-look-at-the-macroalgae-caulerpa/

When you say "it was brought in with the live rock" Where is the live rock from ? Aquaculutured florida, such as tampa bay? If your rocks did come from florida, then further reinforces prolifera theory. They are native to florida waters. They are known to grow quick and successfully outcompete in Florida waters. That's caulerpa in general. They are like weeds!

Is your tank big enough for a yellow tang? Yellow tangs would eat them. Not the best food for them, but they are hardy, so still a viable method of natural pruning. How big is your tank?

Natural predation and manual pruning, lots of water changes, don't dose iron if you do. In order of certainty to less: A baby yellow tang is almost a guarantee, but only if you have future plans with him, rabbitfish eat them too. Don't feed the fish and they will be lawnmowers in the tank. Urchins will eat them and your coralline too: such as L. variegatus, E. lucunter and probably others. Algae blennies, like S fasciatus (hit or miss, i think they prefer micro) , lettuce nudibranch (hit or miss), emerald crab (hit or miss and risky they probably prefer micro), But hey, these are shotgun type recommendations in order.

Maybe try to outcompete them nutrient wise as well. Macroalgae will succumb to the tiny armies, such as those in Vibrant, or carbon dosing. But there could be post treatment bacterial fallout (i.e. cyano outbreak etc.)

 

[Bigair]

It could be C. prolifera. But I'd think they would be longer leaved. It could be the flow that makes them shorter.
https://reefs.com/magazine/a-look-at-the-macroalgae-caulerpa/

When you say "it was brought in with the live rock" Where is the live rock from ? Aquaculutured florida, such as tampa bay? If your rocks did come from florida, then further reinforces prolifera theory. They are native to florida waters. They are known to grow quick and successfully outcompete in Florida waters. That's caulerpa in general. They are like weeds!

Is your tank big enough for a yellow tang? Yellow tangs would eat them. Not the best food for them, but they are hardy, so still a viable method of natural pruning. How big is your tank?

Natural predation and manual pruning, lots of water changes, don't dose iron if you do. In order of certainty to less: A baby yellow tang is almost a guarantee, but only if you have future plans with him, rabbitfish eat them too. Don't feed the fish and they will be lawnmowers in the tank. Urchins will eat them and your coralline too: such as L. variegatus, E. lucunter and probably others. Algae blennies, like S fasciatus (hit or miss, i think they prefer micro) , lettuce nudibranch (hit or miss), emerald crab (hit or miss and risky they probably prefer micro), But hey, these are shotgun type recommendations in order.

Maybe try to outcompete them nutrient wise as well. Macroalgae will succumb to the tiny armies, such as those in Vibrant, or carbon dosing. But there could be post treatment bacterial fallout (i.e. cyano outbreak etc.)

the live rock was claimed from caribsea, my tank is only 50g, not big enough for a Tang I think

I rarely do a water change as my skimmer does a wet job, roughly 1g in a week, then I do a salt water top up to maintain a stable salinity

I have no coralline, but cyano on back glass, tried add some coralline stimulating chemicals but in vain

do I really need to start over, a big tank would bette but not very possible right now

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

You could have a bristletooth tang in a 50 gallon, no problem.
As for the algae, if you can pull out the rock (s) it will make things easier... Remove as much as you can manually. if you can take the rock out of the tank, use something like dental picks to get as much off as you can. Depending on the coral attached to the rock, you can try hydrogen peroxide to damage/kill what algae remains and maybe even get the roots.

 

[Bigair]

You could have a bristletooth tang in a 50 gallon, no problem.
As for the algae, if you can pull out the rock (s) it will make things easier... Remove as much as you can manually. if you can take the rock out of the tank, use something like dental picks to get as much off as you can. Depending on the coral attached to the rock, you can try hydrogen peroxide to damage/kill what algae remains and maybe even get the roots.

yeahp! I could consider a bristletooth tang, thank you for the advance

I also think about to exchange current live rock to ceramic rock, actually all corals are attached to the rocks, a hy-pe therapy would work, but all bacteria will also be killed I am afraid, can I really do a step by step rock replacement?

 

[zoalicious]

I had the same issue with the same kind of algae invasion as you and unfortunately for it to be completely gone I had to restart the whole system and get rid of all the rocks. This was the best way I was able to save myself the headache

 

[zoalicious]

Had to take down the whole tank rinse it out and restart with dry rocks

 

[Lavey29]

Bristletooth isn't going to work in that tank with that type of algae. This may be a rip clean type situation here and hopefully Brandon can chime in. With your smaller size tank it is very manageable to do.

 

[Bigair]

Had to take down the whole tank rinse it out and restart with dry rocks

I am very intrested how you did it step by step, I have no other tank to temporaly store corals and fishes. During restart, how did you manage that please?

 

[Lavey29]

I am very intrested how you did it step by step, I have no other tank to temporaly store corals and fishes. During restart, how did you manage that please?

Most just use brute 10g trash cans for temp coral storage

 

[Brian_68]

I would not waste time with a tang. When I had similar overtaking the tank I tried Vibrant and it worked and has not come back, but using Vibrant certainly comes with risk.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks like galaxaura which is a type of seaweed and most fish will not eat it but turtles do. You will literally need to pull by hand and like with bryopsis , get rid of the roots or it will keep coming back.

 

[damsels are not mean]

Remove by hand. You really shouldn't have let it get to this point to decide that it's an issue. Remove a bunch every week until you are tired and eventually it becomes manageable. Then it's like just cleaning your glass...

 

[Chrisv.]

Sounds like you need a sea turtle!

In all seriousness, consider vibrant. Especially if you're already considering starting over. Just start slow with half dose and then scale up. Worst case scenario, you're already talking about a reboot. I have used it with great results and others have too. Not much to loose.

Edit: before anything remove every bit that you can by hand.

 

[Bigair]

I would not waste time with a tang. When I had similar overtaking the tank I tried Vibrant and it worked and has not come back, but using Vibrant certainly comes with risk.

curious how vibrant works, as far as I konw it mostly made of mixture of bacterias, will that compete with algae?

 

[Bigair]

Looks like galaxaura which is a type of seaweed and most fish will not eat it but turtles do. You will literally need to pull by hand and like with bryopsis , get rid of the roots or it will keep coming back.

good idea but I would not put a turtle in my coral tank

 

[Chrisv.]

curious how vibrant works, as far as I konw it mostly made of mixture of bacterias, will that compete with algae?

Boy, that question is a big can of worms. The guys who make it say it's bacteria. Folks here have done some citizen science and have compelling evidence that it's an algaecide.

I don't know how it works, but I do know that it worked in my tank.