The war on algae - proven methods to eradicate the reefer's worst enemy

revhtree · May 17, 2012

Let's put together a list of proven methods to eradicate and control algae whether it be natural, chemical, husbandry, etc..

PLEASE LIST ONLY ONE proven way per post! This is hopefully going to be a sticky. :tongue:

ALGAE WANTED DEAD!

CJO · May 17, 2012

Gfo

cj

cdness · May 17, 2012

Wife/Girlfriend with tweezers... (One not both)

jcharrsn · May 17, 2012

1. Remove rocks
2. Scrub vigorously
3. Dip in fresh water
There are consequences to this method(killing your live rock) but it is definitely effective

Chameleon · May 17, 2012

Ro/DI water

sirevans reef · May 17, 2012

Hydrogen Peroxide 1 ml per 10 gal.

Reef keeper · May 17, 2012

Foxface and sailfin!

lol they eat litteraly any algae (bryopsis, cyano, dyno etc) only prob they decided acans taste good!

beaslbob · May 17, 2012

1) grow algae/macros away from the display area.

2) Kill lights and suspend feeding in display area until display algae dies off.

3) adjust display lighting and feeding so display algae stays away.

4) ditto for cyano.

my .02

beaslbob · May 17, 2012

geeee :squigglemouth:

I kinda though we liked algae in our display. :nerd:

Especially corraline algae on the rocks.

:wink:

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

pumarjr · May 17, 2012

Husbandry is key, in knowing what your putting in your system.

Loki · May 17, 2012

I did lights out for three days it did a decent job. This must also be followed up with getting rid of the problem/source.

Loki · May 17, 2012

Algae kept in fuge with lights on reverse to display. Hopefully they will consume all of the nutrients and the display will be kept algae free!

steamer51 · May 18, 2012

Manual removal works for me. Small syphon in case of cyano.

Cigar Sherlock · May 18, 2012

GHA on a newly cycled tank + one hungry emerald crab = Much less GHA everyday

Reefer Addict · May 18, 2012

Vodka Dosing

Young Frankenstein · May 18, 2012

1) A good skimmer, the heart of the system for lower nitrates and higher PH, a good refugium with chaeto, and hair algae rocks, keep the light on 24/7, clean your filters more, denitrator etc.

myzislow · May 18, 2012

sirevans reef said:
Hydrogen Peroxide 1 ml per 10 gal.

any truth to this?? somebody mentioned this to me when I was talking about how bad my bubble algae problem is, needless to say I a extremely hesitant to do so as y tank is pretty much SPS dominated.

Im getting desperate though, willing to try anything cause it's getting out of control and extremely frustrating.

Loki · May 18, 2012

Young Frankenstein said:
1) A good skimmer, the heart of the system for lower nitrates and higher PH, a good refugium with chaeto, and hair algae rocks, keep the light on 24/7, clean your filters more, denitrator etc.

Won't leaving the lights on 24/7 cause the algae to go sexual? I run my fuge lights opposite of my display lights and it seems to be working fine. They are on about 18 hours a day

reefknight · May 18, 2012

cdness said:
Wife/Girlfriend with tweezers... (One not both)

lol!

Hydrogen Peroxide applied directly to offending algae outside the aquarium, let stand 3mins, rinse in saltwater and put the rock back in. Kills even the toughest algae. Using this treatment to eradicate gelidium.

Ace25 · May 18, 2012

My only filtration is an algae scrubber on both of my reef tanks and the displays are algae free, as well as nitrate and phosphate free. Algae is very beneficial to a system, just not in a display with corals.