Urgent Advice Needed Re Hair And Turf Algae Control

[Janice]

Hi guys:

Everything has been going fantastic with our tank except due to a programming mistake with the lightening at the outset we got off to a bad start with a lot of algae. I reduced the lights to 9 hours per day as soon as I realized the programming error and we change the water weekly and test weekly. I brought in a great clean up crew who helped a lot, but it is still out of control. I just came back from a week away and it is much worse. I have read the 10 things that I need to do to prevent too much algae in the tank, but at this point I now need a quick fix before the tank deteriorates. HELP PLEASE! 32 gallon biocube with LED lights ; 6 fish; one cleaner shrimp; 3 narcissus snails; one banded starfish; 3 scarlet hermit crabs; 2 blue hermit crabs; 3 astrea snails; ; 2 trochus snails; 2 magerrita black turbo snails;and 2; 3 tiny acans; a blue discoma mushroom; 2 hammer corals

 

[Nick James]

1) Manual removal
2) Weekly Water changes of 10%
3) use small amounts of phosban/gfo and change every few days
4) tuxedo urchin <-- like a lawnmower
5) if you can remove a rock out of the water, spray with peroxide, let sit a minute, rinse it with the water you took out from your ten percent water change, put back in..

Just a few thoughts....

 

[Nick James]

And what fish do u have in there? 6 is a lot in a 30 gallon.. or at the high end.

I have two Blennies in my 29g biocube and probably wouldn't go more then 4 fish total.

 

[Janice]

And what fish do u have in there? 6 is a lot in a 30 gallon.. or at the high end.

I have two Blennies in my 29g biocube and probably wouldn't go more then 4 fish total.

We have:
1. 2 mated clown fish;
2. one six line wrasse;
3. one bengaai cardinal
4. one PJ cardinal
5. a blue green chromis

 

[nathan]

We have:
1. 2 mated clown fish;
2. one six line wrasse;
3. one bengaai cardinal
4. one PJ cardinal
5. a blue green chromis

You have a pretty large bioload with the size of tank per amount of fish. Plus being a new set up really ads to the issue.

 

[dale]

its not your lights, its your phosphates.... po4 is the food light is the energy to process the food... if you take the food away , you can have as much light as you want, 12 hrs +blues if you want...

 

[dale]

i dont think those fish are too bad, just dont feed them very much, the fish should always be hungry but without starving, the fish food will be your main source of algae...(po4)

 

[Salty Cracker]

GFO

 

[dale]

yea

 

[Nighthawk26]

You can't unilaterally say lights aren't the issue. You don't know that for certain. Does not mean PO4 isn't the issue either, suggested. Could be both.

At any rate. You can also add a Sea Hare. Crazy how much mine has removed. Otherwise GFO as mentioned after manual removal, and also make sure you have enough flow. Obviously run filter socks if not already.

 

[dale]

it is written that algae will not grow with a phosphate level less than .03 no matter the light, yes you can inhibit the growth with less/better quality light, but the food (potential) will still be there and the un removed po4 will inhibit the growth of hard corals plus if is not being removed and controlled it will continue to climb in levels ... waiting..

 

[dale]

manual removal is the best and quickest way... followed by controlling your feeding.. filtered water, gfo, water changes.. i am constantly battling po4 in my fowlr and i am going to try an instant removal product like phos rx, then run a better grade gfo...

 

[dale]

and i sprayed a rock with hydrogen peroxide last week and it worked great, i dont know how bad it affects the bacteria so i wouldnt do more than 5 or 10% of your rock at a time with that method,, and of course read up on any method before you start...

 

[AdInfinitum]

Agree with everyone...lol
Control the nutrients = Control the algae
The irony of CUC is they actually add to the bioload of the tank and make the nutrient problems worse than just discarded food. They just recycle nutrients they remove nothing...export (removal) is what is required.....

 

[Janice]

WHAT ARE GFO AND CUC PLEASE? I did about 50% manual removal last night by taking one piece of rock out of the tank and then some zoos and my baby can. then I reached into the tank, cut some with scissors and vacuumed it up. I cannot remove some rocks that need work without the whole design coming tumbling down.

 

[dale]

gfo is short for granulated ferrous oxide,,, cuc= clean up crew

 

[dale]

pick it off with your fingers..

 

[dale]

use a scrub brush on the rocks you can get out..

 

[dale]

po4= phosphate

 

[Kman]

Like people mentioned the best approach is a multi approach attack on it. Combined they work better then one or two options. Manual removal sucks but it is effective. By manually removing you act as a algae grazer. If you keep damaging the tissue it will switch from growth and reproduction phase to repair mode. If you are limiting nutrients by water changes and controlling input of things like foods and keeping your source water as pure as you can you will see a slowing in growth and the color of the algae will change as it starts to die off. It will take some time but if you keep hammering on it things will turn around.