ugh.... ALGAE! Please help

[gemini9]

It's ugly and it's all over. I'm trying to get rid of it and hoping some of you can help. I read through the articles about algae and that it's mainly a result of high nitrates or over feeding, but my nitrates are ok and I only feed once per day. I've tried Phosguard, but that hasn't helped anything. I've tried manually pulling it off the rockwork, but it's very tedious and it's got a strong root so it's hard to pull off and always leaves some left behind when I do.

Someone suggested I try Hydrogen Peroxide but I don't know what thread that was in. I'd try it if I could remember how much to dose.

Here are some pics of what's going on in there.

Lots of fuzzy green stuff with even some brown/dark red junk in the mix.

A shot farther back

This is the left hand side of the tank and it seems as though the algae on THIS side of the tank, isn't nearly as bad as it is on the right.

A full tank shot. Notice how much worse it is on the right.

Me

It's a bit overwhelming lol

Equipment
30 Gallon tank
Jebao RW4 with 300-1000 gph
HOB Penguin 350 filter with those Blue filter pads
Also running Phosguard past few weeks in there
Reef Octopus bh-100 HOB skimmer
Odyssea T5 light fixture with timer (2x 39w Blue 6500k Actinics and 2x 29w Daylight 10000k)

Timer Schedule:
Actinics on @ 11:00 am - 9:00 pm, 10000k Daylights on @ 1:00pm - 8:00 pm Moonlight LEDs on 9:00pm - 11:00pm Total Darkness from 11pm until morning

Tests
Nitrates are usually 10-20ppm
Nitrites are 0
Ammonia is 0
Phosphate is hard to read but may be .25
Salinity is 1.025
Temp is 78 - 81
(I know it's kinda warm on occasion because it's really warm in my room. Mostly stays around 79)

Fish
2 clowns, 1 firefish, 1 yellowtail blue damsel

CUC -- Do I need more???
1 Yellow Leg Hermit, 1 Scarlet, 2 Blue Legs, 1 Emerald Crab, 1 Lawnmower Blennie, 1 Cleaner Shrimp, 3 - 4 various odd ugly hermits, 6 Nerite snails, a bunch of Dwarf Cerith Snails and a few Nassarius snails

Others
1 Condy Anemone

2 mushrooms, xenias and some new zoas.

Lots of algae. Can someone further advise on the Hydrogen Peroxide?

 

[fishroomlady]

you could probably do a search to find out about hydrogen peroxide dosing - I would be apprehensive about trying that method though, I have used to spot treat and it works beautifully - you take out the rock, apply the 3% peroxide to the rock (use a q-tip or paper towel or something similar to apply) let it sit out for 10 minutes, rinse it off in saltwater and place it back in the tank. you should try to manually remove (by pulling or toothbrush) to get most of it off before applying. The other thing to mention is that it looks like bryopsis (possibly) - if that is what it is, I've read that manual removal and raising magnesium with specifically kent can eradicate it in time. You'll have to search for a thread on the specifics for that.

One suggestion I have for you is that your light cycle is pretty long given what you're keeping. You'll need to find the culprit to the high phosphates causing the algae otherwise it will come back. I'd cut back your light cycle to about 8 hours total - given what you're keeping, you don't need a ton of light. Adding some more hermits and various types of snails would help as well.

I hope you find the culprit because you look a little frightening at this point

 

[AAE]

I agree, spot treating can be effective but treating the tank with Hydrogen Peroxide can cause further problems down the road.
A natural approach to combat the algae may be a better way to go. If it is Bryopsis, lettuce nudibranch and fox face are known to eat them.
If it is hair algae, try removing them manually as much as possible.
Keeping the lights off for 48hrs and run the tank with ambient light could also help too. Corals can tolerate it but it will have an impact on the hair algae.
Afterward light the tank with actinics only for couple of days and then gradually add more white light to the light period everyday.
Adding more dwarf hermits and emerald carbs will keep the growth of algae under control.
Keep up with more frequent water change to reduce the nitrate and phosphates in the water column until the problem is under control (not sure what your water change regiment is)
High phosphate, warmer tank temperatures, and too much light could certainly help the algae to thrive.

 

[kilo5147]

I have same issue right now

 

[gemini9]

I change about 3 gallons a week, which is 10% of a 30 gallon tank. I've heard of the lights out, but have been afraid to do it since I just got hold of some corals. I've got 4 types of Zoas, 2 different shrooms, Xenias and just a week ago I put in a sps. Nudibranch is a seahare right? aren't they toxic if stressed? I may try the spot treatment with peroxide and toothbrush. I'm not sure how to lower the temp of the tank. My heater never kicks on, and the temp in the room itself is about that high. I can cut the lights back to 8 hours and something else I never thought of until now. I have no curtains on my window in the room so now that I think about it, that may be causing some of it. Might explain why most of the algae growth is toward the right hand side where the window is. ... hmm...

Ok so here's the plan then. Get some curtains. Cut back lights a bit. Toothbrush and spot peroxide.

I use store bought rodi water. Omega One Marine flakes with garlic and an occasional shrimp pellet for my hermits. I'll also look into getting some more snails and hermits. I didn't know hermits ate hair algae.

Taking the rocks out for 10 min, do I need to keep them in a bucket of water to prevent die off?

 

[NanaReefer]

IMO you have plenty of rock in your tank so that you could remove the most infected. Treat it, toss it whatever. But get it out before ALL your rock is covered.

 

[AAE]

You can do 10 gallon water changes for now to lower the phosphate and nitrate. If you have hair algae red tip hermits and emerald crabs to a pretty good job. With adequate number of them, you should see a difference in a few days.
If you are able to syphon out the most of the algae patches, there is not really any need to take out the rocks for peroxide spot treatment. be patient, we have all been there at some point.

 

[brandon429]

post your pics in our challenge thread five threads below this one

your tank w be algae free in 4 days, excellent candidate here

I can see the whiskers of a lysmata shrimp in your pictures we can factor around that easily. The thread gives full detail on how peroxide works in your tank. The algae you have will work best of all kinds for this action

 

[gemini9]

I do have the one emerald crab, and have been told keeping more than one would cause territorial issues in a small 30g tank. I may try to get one more and see what happens. But he doesn't ever touch the hair algae. He scrapes off some other stuff now and then, but I never see him eating any of that fuzzy stuff. I'll get hold of a few more scarlets and another emerald tho, and see what happens.

I'm gonna try to take that rock out and scrub it down. I can't siphon it off because it's attached too firmly.

Would another algae blennie be much on my bioload?

I'll also move up to more vigorous water changes and see if that helps much.

Yeah, I do have a cleaner shrimp in there. lol she's awesome. I'm gonna look for that challenge thread and see what responses I get there, too.

 

[brandon429]

it is a place to collect before and after pics and yours will be stunning, post em both places!

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/ma...42-reef2reef-pest-algae-challenge-thread.html


the removal approach is best for you. your rock is scaped in a way you can access it, excellent, that allows for resets. You dont have to use peroxide always, or even at all, but if you research peroxide threads you'll see quick cures for tanks like yours. spotty green algae growth is easy to fix.


regarding the shrimp, it can die if you get peroxide in the tank its the weakest of all aquarium animals for peroxide. so, just rinse well and there wont be a problem.

as you remove each rock, dont even scrub that casts around bits to regrow elsewhere, its actually important not to scrub it off

you just take a new, unopened bottle of peroxide so you know its strong 3%, and simply dribble some on each bad spot of a given test rock. let sit in the air about 2 mins 'cooking'

then rinse in clean saltwater very well. rinse in clean saltwater well a second time and put back in. the algae will look the same, and tomorrow too. but on the third day

zap

it turns white, and falls off. its no more waste into the tank than 1/4th of your daily feeding, who cares if you remove the dead algae or not just siphon it out along the way.


as you remove the rocks, clean and siphon for detritus up under them.

by day 4 the turnaround will be shocking and thats the pics I need the most for my challenge thread there are already a good set of a cure up there.

if you mess up and kill the cleaner shrimp, this is how I see it:

excellence in rinsing always works, external treatments kill nothing in the tank unless you make them not external lol.

a fully eutrophic tank costs more to fix and replace/repair than a cleaner shrimp and on the reef some death occurs, I dont feel particularly bad about it were he to die. If you resort to phosphate-only algae management, stripping with GFO, you risk killing the corals in the tank as threads show easily what occurs when we overstrip. There is no risk to anything in your tank other than the lysmata by running this method, and this method will have your algae gone in 4 days. treat and rinse them all, and in 4 days it w be almost totally free.

At that point, you can re engineer a preventative approach. and if/when that doesnt work, you'll be well versed in an excellent cheat

some dont want to take off and do each rock until a single test rock pans out, this is fine. it took more than a week for your tank to build up the algae, so waiting a week to chart the course of a single test rock cannot hurt. but your tank is easy to predict, seen a thousand of them and logged them into super long peroxide threads.

Not everybody wants to use peroxide, some dislike the idea of using it around a reef at all and thats an ok perspective. Have them link up a thread where ten or more tanks in one place successfully fixed the algae issues posted and that method w likely be legit. Trying to run on your tank what worked for 1 persons cure method likely wont work, you need bulk proof.

People who set up algae scrubbers are ideal examples, that method has a huge documented following and is polar opposite biology vs our peroxide method. Time is the major difference. both methods have pros and cons, your lysmata being one of our cons.

even though I would never use algae to try and prevent algae, the ats approach is the least risk of all methods. it just may or may not work.

 

[gemini9]

I just thought of something.

If I take out the affected rocks with my next water change and place them in the bucket of removed saltwater and add a powerhead to keep the water circulating and then place the bucket of LR in a dark area with the powerhead for 3-4 days, would this kill off the algae and keep the beneficial bacteria on the rock in tact without creating any die off? After keeping the affected rocks in a dark place for the 3 days, could I then place them directly in the tank without any issues?

 

[kilo5147]

Following

 

[brandon429]

The bacteria won't die with either peroxide dosing or lights out.

 

[gemini9]

Awesome. I might try that before the peroxide. I'm doing a water change this weekend and when I do, I'll keep the water instead of throwing it out. I'll put the affected rocks in a bucket with a powerhead running. I'll throw the bucket in the dark and see if the algae dies. Lights off, but on just those rocks. I can keep the aquarium lights on. hmm..... Just might work. And wouldn't have to worry about my corals going without light and my shrimp would be safe. So long as it won't start another cycle, that just might work.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Your phosphates are to high, giving the algae something to thrive on. Phosguard will work but will exhaust to quickly, thus you'd have to change it every couple of days, same with GFO. Once the level has to down to acceptable levels, its easier to maintain. Or you go with a Lanthanum product and knock it down in a matter of days, using just capfuls of the stuff, then you can go with GFO or keep using the Lanthanum, (of which I still use)
Using a crap ton of snails, mixing them up will get rid of it also. Turbos, Astreae Snails, Trochus Snails.

 

[kilo5147]

What is Lanthanum

 

[kilo5147]

I have algee I need to get rid of

 

[kilo5147]

And I don't want to take rocks out of the tank it's only on a couple rocks and in a cave

 

[brandon429]

It is a form of phosphate management, it is dosed to bind the phosphate and hopefully kill the algae by starvation. Lanthanum cl has the same ends as gfo, phosguard, and depending on your source refugiums and algal turf scrubbers

If phosphate management is the mode someone wants, however you attain acceptable levels isn't as important as getting the actual reading in line with target ranges.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Lanthanum removes phosphates from your system. thus removing part of a nutrient problem that grows Algae
SeaKlear is one product.
Brightwell Phosphate E is another.
SeaKlear is used for pool, but can be used in our SW tanks without issues, I use this myself. Its alot stronger than the Brightwell and costs a lot less, if you figure how long you will be able to use it.