Ready to tear it all down

[thatmanMIKEson]

Also people don’t buy coral until 6 months mark because there is an ugly phase in the maturation of the rock at 6 month mark.

I've put corals in day one.

 

[chimbo84]

You could also install an oversized algae turf scrubber it would compete with the nuisance algae.

check out Reefer James on youtube, his setup probably wont work for you but you can see that he had the same stuff and he got rid of it by adding a competitor for water column nutrients (ATS).

I have a refugium that I run with chaeto but I haven’t seen any ability for it to control algae in my display. I am running my refugium light about 18 hours a day now.

 

[Dav2996]

That was not really applicable in my case and I dont think its really helpful.

This stuff does not die off by itself like an "ugly phase"

It stays as long as its allowed to.

It’s standard to get ugly phase. Your rock is a battlefield of algaes fighting each other until one wins. Unless you got cycled rock to begin with. Refugium is same concept fight algae with a rediculous amount of algae. I like skimmers and over sizing them.

 

[Dav2996]

I have a refugium that I run with chaeto but I haven’t seen any ability for it to control algae in my display. I am running my refugium light about 18 hours a day now.

Need refugium 20% of the tanks size for it to work correctly.

 

[chimbo84]

Fritz Algae Clean Out is the same active ingredient as Algaefix - an algaecide.

So just keep that in mind.

Your build thread mentioned a 12g tank and this being a 120g tank. Did you take the rock from the 12g? If so, assuming you put in a ton of new (dry?) rock to fill the space.

What does your clean up crew actually look like? Any sense of quantity of inverts? You mentioned tang(s) - how many?

My, opinion, is that using an algaecide isn't the end of the world. But you need to have something in place to prevent the algae from growing back -- so a healthy clean up crew, bacterial load, etc.

Reefcleaners would recommend a CUC sized like this for a 120 -> https://www.reefcleaners.org/store/all-algae-crew-120-long-detail. The owner is also a great resource if you ping him and ask for suggestions.

I have a sailfin tang, bristletooth tang, algae blenny, and Foxface. None of which seem to touch this stuff.
My CUC could use a refresh and I just placed an order with reef cleaners to arrive on Tuesday. It includes a lot of trochus, cerith, and turbo snails.

I have a bottle of Vibrant that I have never used. I know it’s chemically the same as algaefix so do you think I should give this a shot? My refugium and CUC just seem to need an upper hand to get on top of this stuff.

 

[xCry0x]

I'm by no means an expert outside if the fact that I've had a tank running in some capacity for 12 years and have had all sorts of problems in that time .

The turbos and nerites go to work on hair algae for me - the problem being they are inconsistent.

This picture from just now - the three snails completely cleaned half the power head. Then got full and haven't moved for two days

What I would say is:

- don't give up
- don't go nuclear and do anything crazy like throw the rock out (I've done this and then regretted it)

Reefs have algae. They also have a **** load of stuff that eats algae.

You wouldn't see a million tangs, snails, urchins, etc on a healthy reef if it was immaculate and had no algae ever.

You just need enough stuff consuming to balance it out. Then as corals grow in, they will out complete for space.

 

[Harold999]

Make a system that corals are easy detachable from you rockwork (keep them on a plug/fragrock instead of glueing the coral itself to your rockwork).
When needed, take the corals of the rock and brush the rocks outside the tank in a bucket. Way easier and better than doing it in your tank.

 

[Lavey29]

If you keep dumping chemicals in your tank, your ugly phases will be around much longer then now. I had a GHA jungle and never used harsh chemicals to remedy it.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Make a system that corals are easy detachable from you rockwork (keep them on a plug/fragrock instead of glueing the coral itself to your rockwork).
When needed, take the corals of the rock and brush the rocks outside the tank in a bucket. Way easier and better than doing it in your tank.

That is a good idea, the next large tank I do, I'm going to use Abe from coral euphoria's method of this.

 

[Harold999]

That is a good idea, the next large tank I do, I'm going to use Abe from coral euphoria's method of this.

My latest scape i used staxrock from two little fishies. You can glue the corals on some kind of tiles and put those tiles on the flat stax pleateau's without any putty or glue.
Taking them off the rockwork in seconds.

 

[Aqua Man]

I’m fed up. My wife is fed up. Even my five year old daughter is telling me the tank looks gross. Can’t say I blame her.

At least you have some nice and healthy fish! Algae will go away eventually.

I have a sailfin tang, bristletooth tang, algae blenny, and Foxface. None of which seem to touch this stuff.

Those fish should be helping you clean up those rocks. Lazy! Are you feeding the fish too much Nori?

 

[chimbo84]

If you keep dumping chemicals in your tank, your ugly phases will be around much longer then now. I had a GHA jungle and never used harsh chemicals to remedy it.

Yeah, that is something that I’m really trying to avoid.
I just went crazy with a toothbrush and removed probably 85% of it. The water is a mess but I am going to let my filter socks pull it out and I’ll change them in the morning. I have a big CUC order coming Tuesday so I am going to keep at it with scrubbing the rocks and hammering this dang algae into submission the natural way.
I set my skimmer to skim wet and will be watching the nutrients closely.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Yeah, that is something that I’m really trying to avoid.
I just went crazy with a toothbrush and removed probably 85% of it. The water is a mess but I am going to let my filter socks pull it out and I’ll change them in the morning. I have a big CUC order coming Tuesday so I am going to keep at it with scrubbing the rocks and hammering this dang algae into submission the natural way.
I set my skimmer to skim wet and will be watching the nutrients closely.

I scrubbed my rock in a Trash can filled with tank water I was throwing out. That way 100% algae gets thrown out.

 

[Lavey29]

Yeah, that is something that I’m really trying to avoid.
I just went crazy with a toothbrush and removed probably 85% of it. The water is a mess but I am going to let my filter socks pull it out and I’ll change them in the morning. I have a big CUC order coming Tuesday so I am going to keep at it with scrubbing the rocks and hammering this dang algae into submission the natural way.
I set my skimmer to skim wet and will be watching the nutrients closely.

Hand place your heavy duty cleaners in the middle of the jungle and force them to eat their way out. Once mine cleared up and my tank hit a year it went through a transformation and everything stabilized.

 

[xCry0x]

Can also suck it up with a siphon during water changes and as the siphon sucks it in, just use your thumb to pinch it off the rocks.

 

[chimbo84]

I scrubbed my rock in a Trash can filled with tank water I was throwing out. That way 100% algae gets thrown out.

That brings me to another issue I am having with this tank. I can’t remove the rock because the sand has calcified and all the rock is stuck together. It’s like my rock scape has become one solid piece with the sand. If that wasn’t the case, I would definitely have done what you suggested.

 

[xCry0x]

That brings me to another issue I am having with this tank. I can’t remove the rock because the sand has calcified and all the rock is stuck together. It’s like my rock scape has become one solid piece with the sand. If that wasn’t the case, I would definitely have done what you suggested.

Lol been there.

Before I went nuclear on my tank a few years ago, had the same thing.

I pulled all the sand chunks out. Pulled the rock. Chiseled the sand off the rock.

Did bare bottom for a while, realized I like sand.
Post in thread 'Sandbed turning hard as rock- pH the cause ?'

Here is a post from Randy explaining..

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sandbed-turning-hard-as-rock-ph-the-cause.851743/post-9276297

Id just go ahead and pull it all out. Not sure how beneficial concrete sand is.

 

[chimbo84]

Not GHA! Its Lynbya. My 200 gal was full of this. You can beat it, but not with clean up crews or fish. You have to get of fyour **** and do somw work
Tooth brush
turkey baster
run power filter after blowing tank at least 8 hours

Every day for at least 2-3 weeks

What makes you think this is lyngbya? Just curious because that would explain why it’s so persistent and why nothing touches it.

 

[dieselkeeper]

My RODI is perfect. I just did an ICP test on my RO to make sure it wasn’t the source of anything. I thought my phosphate level was actually pretty good… everything I’ve seen has suggested 0.06 to 0.1ppm.

Have you tested your new saltwater?

 

[TokenReefer]

Yeah, that is something that I’m really trying to avoid.
I just went crazy with a toothbrush and removed probably 85% of it. The water is a mess but I am going to let my filter socks pull it out and I’ll change them in the morning. I have a big CUC order coming Tuesday so I am going to keep at it with scrubbing the rocks and hammering this dang algae into submission the natural way.
I set my skimmer to skim wet and will be watching the nutrients closely

I think if you keep doing this, once you see some coral growth the tides will start to turn and you'll start seeing less and less between scrubs...