Ready to tear it all down

[Aquadude1]

I used chemiclean but the stuff comes back I do not like stuff like this because it doesnt prevent it. Nitrates and phosphates lead to algae growth of GHA and Bubble

Agreed it is not a treatment but instead it can be a final step. I did not use it, I allowed the cyano to decompose on its own.

 

[G Santana]

Holy… I’m surprised meds didn’t work.

You’ve already diagnosed the type of algae it is?

I have no clue what type of algae it was I just lost my patience trying to manage parameters and just decided to declare war on it and Vibrant worked.
But again I got my Nitrates down to 6 and phosphates down to .03 and that has been my major focus to prevent it returning.

 

[G Santana]

My tank looked exactly like this right around the one year mark with no signs of improvement. Carbon dosing vodka as advised by a few people on this forum was the silver bullet that finally got rid of it for me. I still get a few patches here or there but it’s much easier to manage with carbon dosing.

Dosing Vodka got my nitrates down from almost 80 to 6. This is a great tool and easy to use. My daughter asked me the other day if I was still getting the fish drunk and I said yes lol.

 

[WVNed]

.1 P and 10 N is what I try for. If it isn't I take steps to head it that way. It isn't a issue to freak out about.
I think the solution you seek is in a better clean up crew, flow, a proper light level and time.

I have used fluconazole and Vibrant in the past. They did what they said they would. There are massive threads on here about them. They have upsides, downsides and risks.

Or take it down. It belongs to you.

This isnt easy to do. Some people never do it well because there is ZERO instant gratification. Some things die, some things grow too much, some just plain disappear and some do well.

It's more like having a nice garden. What you do today shows results 2-3 months later. That can not be changed.

I have used Chemiclean many times. There is nothing in your pic that indicates you need to think about using it.
It works for cyano.
I have been through what you are going through. Not so long ago either.

the 75 when I started it

54 column I had when I came here.

4 1/2 years ago

It's hard but you get lots of cool pics and to see amazing things.

 

[chimbo84]

See right here you are chasing numbers. I never tested my nutrients throughout my whole ordeal it was pointless.

Driving the nutrients down is a good thing in this case. But what you are really doing with carbon dosing is you are increasing bacterial population which will outcompete the cyano/hair algae. I'm not sure the biologic/chemistry interaction here such as the bacteria may then be exported in your skimmer, but it works. Carbon dosing got rid of that stuff and the nutrients were fine for my corals.

You have to remember that the ocean has very low levels of nitrates and phosphates. It's not going to kill your corals to carbon dose conservatively. And on the whole, reducing the "hair algae" is more important to saving the Corals than worrying about too low of nutrients. It's not really "starving the tank," It's starving the hair algae. So when you said you starved the tank before, what did you mean?

I mean I ran my fuge 24/7, limited feedings, and maintained ULNS conditions (0.03ppm Phosphate and <1ppm Nitrate).

 

[Hermie]

I mean I ran my fuge 24/7, limited feedings, and maintained ULNS conditions (0.03ppm Phosphate and <1ppm Nitrate).

Running lights on any plant 24/7 will stress it out IMO. In fact it may be more detrimental to run 24/7 refugium lighting than 12/12 for example or 16/8. But that's something that can be found in available scientific literature I'm fairly certain.

Either way, like I said, carbon dosing is not about lowering nutrients as much as it is increasing competitors to the "algae." The goal of carbon dosing is not to lower nutrients in this application (to get rid of turf algae). The goal is to increase the population of bacteria that will compete against the nuisance algae for resources in the water column. The secondary effect is that nutrients are lowered in the water column.

Check my build thread if you don't believe me, I had the exact same stuff at first glance. I spent months and months and nights and hours and hours with manual removal. I also did chemical treatment, and it destroyed my chaeto the second time which forced my refugium to be restarted. Once I started carbon dosing it was a night and day difference. The stuff started to turn gray and was easier to remove. It was the beginning of the end.

Edit: And I didnt starve my fish in there either while doing this. I kept feeding as normal IIRC. I was feeding about a mussel a day again IIRC. I also tried to turkey baster as much detritis from the "turf algae" as possible daily because that will help remove a key nutrient source. Its better to turkey baste it daily than to vacuum it once a week IMO. That way the detritis (fish waste/food) does not accumulate which is I believe a key reason why this algae thrives in our tanks.

 

[Rp8]

I went through similar around the 7 month mark. Your tank is going though an evolutionary process. Raise nitrates to 10. Cut light to 6 hours with blue and uv only no whites. Raise magnesium to 1500. Daily manual removal to help cleaners get ahead. It will eventually be replaced with tons of coraline but not an overnight process. Give it 2 months.

+1 same here. 2-3 more months of good routine tank care and monitoring and you should see a difference. Mine was worse than that. Patience is key and remember the end goal!
Good luck!

 

[Karen00]

7 months is new. For my tank the uglies took hold at about 5 months. It's now almost 1-1/2 years and I'm only just starting to see success and stabilization after battling all the nasties and uglies which was cyano and various algaes. I haven't used any chemicals so there has been a LOT of manual work. Scrubbing, plucking and siphoning then more scrubbing, plucking and siphoning. My cuc might've been doing a little bit but the majority was elbow grease from me.

I posted that I recently purchased a leaf nudi more for how cute he was than for cuc given my previous cuc was quite lazy but he has turned out to be a powerhouse. Even my sandbed is starting to sparkle. I haven't had to touch my tank for 10 days which is when I got him. I'm not saying this nudi/sea slug is the right creature for every tank and I should've done more research before buying him but WOW he has been amazing for mine so I hit the jackpot with him.

In all my years of freshwater keeping I have never experienced what I have in saltwater keeping. This hobby can break your spirit and will. Just stay strong. You will get through this.

 

[Lavey29]

+1 same here. 2-3 more months of good routine tank care and monitoring and you should see a difference. Mine was worse than that. Patience is key and remember the end goal!
Good luck!

I think this is the point a lot of reefers have a hard time with. "the End Goal", and the patience to get there. They want that reef now and by tossing all these various chemicals into it they just slow the process or completely stop the tank from its natural evolution. A few have success with chemical additives but more often then not they end up going from GHA to dinos which is worse in my opinion. Stay the course is key and control what you are able to control to give your tank what it needs to mature properly.

 

[chimbo84]

I would stop doing treatments to remove nutrients and cut back somewhat on waterchanges. I would focus on Manuel removal and actually raise nutrients. A good general level to shoot for would be phosphates of 0.1 and nitrates of 10. I will probably take 3 weeks to a month to completely clear out but you should notice some change within 2 weeks.

My tank looked exactly like this right around the one year mark with no signs of improvement. Carbon dosing vodka as advised by a few people on this forum was the silver bullet that finally got rid of it for me. I still get a few patches here or there but it’s much easier to manage with carbon dosing.

I almost regret asking this but how the heck do I reconcile this contradictory advice? Raise nutrients? Lower nutrients? Carbon dose, algaecides, manual removal, refugium, algae scrubber….. all of the above?

Logically, it does not make sense to me to increase nutrients. The algae outbreak happened in the first place because I had an excess of nutrients. And my nutrients are artificially low *because* of the algae that I now have.

 

[Dav2996]

I almost regret asking this but how the heck do I reconcile this contradictory advice? Raise nutrients? Lower nutrients? Carbon dose, algaecides, manual removal, refugium, algae scrubber….. all of the above?

Logically, it does not make sense to me to increase nutrients. The algae outbreak happened in the first place because I had an excess of nutrients. And my nutrients are artificially low *because* of the algae that I now have.

Carbon dosing adds more algae that you can't see with naked eye that battle and use up nitrates. I don't recommend algicides because it won't fix your issues which is high nitrates and high phosphates.

Some people like to in balance phosphates and nitrates to throw off the algae. I have tried it but It has worked for me personally.

Options
Carbon dosing
Larger more efficent larger then your tank rated skimmer ( Have a high bio load rated skimmer for 40 gallons on my 20 gallon tank it makes nitrates so low I dont need to do water changes).
Do 0 nitrates when fighting algae. (this is what i had success with and I had corals while doing this but I feed extremely heavy and lots of coral food) This can be achieved easily with carbon dosing but watch (PH). Carbon drops PH a lot.
Do lots of hand removal with these options as well. You will win!!!!! I believe in you!!!!
I have had my own out breaks.

 

[Dav2996]

I almost regret asking this but how the heck do I reconcile this contradictory advice? Raise nutrients? Lower nutrients? Carbon dose, algaecides, manual removal, refugium, algae scrubber….. all of the above?

Logically, it does not make sense to me to increase nutrients. The algae outbreak happened in the first place because I had an excess of nutrients. And my nutrients are artificially low *because* of the algae that I now have.

Here is what my tank looked like before and after adding super large skimmer over rated for my tank size. Had algae over back wall over rock over power heads over the sand. None sparkly clean. Still have 5 nitrate 0 water changes.

 

[Dav2996]

Here is what my tank looked like before and after adding super large skimmer over rated for my tank size. Had algae over back wall over rock over power heads over the sand. None sparkly clean. Still have 5 nitrate 0 water changes.

I have large aptasia outbreaks too they went aqua with the skimmer because they had less nitrates to get ahold of from the skimmer. Makes it harder for them to grow

 

[Aquadude1]

I almost regret asking this but how the heck do I reconcile this contradictory advice? Raise nutrients? Lower nutrients? Carbon dose, algaecides, manual removal, refugium, algae scrubber….. all of the above?

Logically, it does not make sense to me to increase nutrients. The algae outbreak happened in the first place because I had an excess of nutrients. And my nutrients are artificially low *because* of the algae that I now have.

I do not think you should directly add phosphorus and nitrogen but instead try every other or every day amino dosing. This can help fuel beneficial bacteria and help the overcome the other algae that is currently soaking up the tanks nutrients. Once this beneficial bacteria grows it can out compete the algae. This is a way to balance a tank that I have found to work. Carbon dosing is another way to encourage bio diversity. I personaly like methods where the number itself is not only improved but also the driving force behind it. Hope this helps! Sorry if I caused confusion.

 

[Aquadude1]

Also if a method doesn't make sense to you I think it is good to try the ones that do. That way it keeps you motivated. It's hard to do something you don't think will work

 

[Hermie]

I almost regret asking this but how the heck do I reconcile this contradictory advice? Raise nutrients? Lower nutrients? Carbon dose, algaecides, manual removal, refugium, algae scrubber….. all of the above?

Logically, it does not make sense to me to increase nutrients. The algae outbreak happened in the first place because I had an excess of nutrients. And my nutrients are artificially low *because* of the algae that I now have.

Look at the tanks people had (when infested with algae) and if what they had was the same thing you had and look at their results with what they did (once they did their treatment methods).

Oct '20

Build Thread - Hermie's 23 Gallon Nano Build

Looking very nice. :)

www.reef2reef.com

November '20:

Build Thread - Hermie's 23 Gallon Nano Build

Looking very nice. :)

www.reef2reef.com

Feb '21

Wowie Zowie just spent like 10 hours working on the tank, namely tweezering green hair algae from the rocks to be sure I got the roots... or at least try.

Build Thread - Hermie's 23 Gallon Nano Build

Just tested: Alkalinity 7.5 dKH

www.reef2reef.com

That was all before I carbon dosed, I did manual removal like an insane amount and did some chemical dosing


May '21 (Started carbon dosing)

Build Thread - Hermie's 23 Gallon Nano Build

Just Tested Alkalinity: ~7 dKH (just under) The Kalkwasser kicks on at 10PM, then again once more before 9AM for a third time, so I think the alkalinity is pretty well balanced right now. I want to raise it just a tad, maybe 0.5 dKH or 1dKH but I'll leave it alone for now and test again...

www.reef2reef.com

Started carbon dosing (vinegar) today based on the ratio the guy with the 20,000 gallon tank uses.

• Adding 25mL vinegar to 3 gallons of kalkwasser (fully saturated). The tank will get somewhere around 1mL per day in conjunction with the kalk dosing.

September '21 (the hair algae is almost 100% gone, only surface algae remaining)

(hj

 

[Hermie]

I'm telling you man I was battling this stuff for over a year, it's not a phase like some people are saying, if the tank has the right conditions then it will grow. The picture I show are only the good days when I already scrubbed the rocks really hard with toothbrushes and removed a bunch. It looked way worse than in the pics some times.

 

[dixons_reef]

I had the exact same problem and looking at your pictures from your very first post, I regret to tell you that this is most likely a Bryopsis.

I have tried almost all of the solutions that are listed. Kent Marine Magnesium levels 2000+, flucanazole treatment etc. were among them. Every time I treated with flucanazole, my corals had to go through a lot of stress (esp SPS corals).

After a year of treating it and getting it back, I finally decided to take down the 40b tank that had the issue. I sold all the fish and the corals that did not have any signs of them having bryopsis locally. Also, moved a few that had just a bit of bryopsis to a small frag tank.

My new tank has no bryopsis anymore and has been running without any algae issues for 6+ months now. However, the bryopsis has been getting worse in my frag tank. I am on the verge of taking down my frag tank now. I absolutely hate bryopsis and I am very very careful when I buy corals and add them to my new tank now.

 

[dixons_reef]

I hate that I am not of any help here but I just feel that not everything is an easy fix (or even a fix) in this hobby. And bryopsis outbreak is just one of them.

 

[dieselkeeper]

I haven’t but that was also something I suspected and recently switched from Fritz RPM (blue) to Red Sea Blue. I also upped my daily auto water change volume from 8.5L to 10L per day and my corals definitely seem happier. The STN I was experiencing has stopped and the corals appear to be recovering.

It's going to take while, but it will clear up. Pull as much as you can out and continue using GFO. When I started out, my tank did the same thing. Faucet water was the cause. I thought because I was on well water I didn't need to use RO water.