Suggestions - Algae Eaters

[driftin]

I am really battling some algae and I'm just about at wits end here... could really use some advice on something that has a voracious appetite for various types of algae.

I tried shutting off all lights for 3 days - no effect.

I've reduced feedings of Rod's food to twice a week max for the last month+, and only so much that the fish eat it all within 2 minutes or so. We're talking a dime/penny sized chunk.

I've been using RODI water for top-off, and a month ago replaced all the membranes to make sure it's at 0 TDI.

My cleanup crew seems to be going strong... lots of snails, a handful of hermit crabs, emerald crabs, two conch's... the sandbed is pristine. But they don't touch this algae.

Skimmer is going strong.

Phosphates are testing at 0, as far as I can read it - but that may be due to the algae consuming it all?


I can't keep this algae off my live rock. I haven't been able to identify it, it's a deep black color. Filament-like, but stays very short. And it's growing everywhere, and thick. Doesn't seem to be effected by flow - it grows in low flow, it grows in high flow. It grows in low light, it grows in high light. It seems to stick to the live rock, nothing on the tank walls. In fact, except for coralline algae build-up I rarely need to scrape the walls at all.


Please, some advice? I can't figure out where this algae came from, or what it's living off. I even have this suspicion that it's somehow depleting my alk and Ca levels, which I'm having a nightmare time keeping at the correct levels.

I'd love to add something that would eat this stuff, keep it in check. Or better yet eat it ALL.


70-gallon tank, so I figure tangs are ruled out. I have a 6-line wrasse (willing to get rid of if compatibility is an issue), starry blenny, some pajama cardinals and a pair of clowns.

[Engine 7]

Sounds like you are doing things correctly. Maybe increasing the clean up crew would help. Check out Reeftopia.com. They have great packages.

Mods, I dont work for Reeftopia, I am simply a past customer that was very satisfied and wish to help others by encouraging them to have sucess like I did. Thank you and have a great day

[ostrow]

Is it the stuff that is turflike, really hard to pull off the rock?

[driftin]

Turf-like sounds like a decent description, and it's virtually impossible to pull off the rock. I was able to pull out one rock and had to scrub the heck out of it with a brush to get through this stuff.

[ostrow]

IF and I repeat, IF it is the same stuff I had, it can, at least I suspected, be toxic and sometimes fatal to some animals. I had a couple sea hares that ate it, and died. I witnessed a couple of tangs get sick after witnessing them eat it, and they died. Can't be certain that was the cause but I suspect strongly.

I found lights-out to be extremely effective. How long did you try and how did you bring the lights back?

What skimmer are you using and do you have pics of the performance?

Are you running anything like carbon, Purigen, Chemi-Pure, phosphate removers? Please list all you run and how you run them.

[driftin]

I'm not running any of those... maybe I should be?

For lights out, I did an abrupt lights out (halides & actinics) for three days. To come back on I did the normal actinic schedule (12 hrs) for the first day, and then added the halides (8 hours). If it worked for you I'd be more than willing to try it again!

I don't have pics of the skimmer, but could grab some tonight. I'm using an AquaEuro 135recirc.

Hmmm definitely don't want to kill any livestock with this stuff, although it's encroaching on corals now and I'm concerned about that. I have been wondering if an urchin would be able to put a dent in this?

[sh0tyme83]

I would agree with Engine and add some more clean up crew. For a 70 gallon tank, you should have more than 70 hermits. etropicals sells 77 hermits for a 75 gallon. I have about 50 hermits in my 37 gallon show and I barely ever see algae.

[ostrow]

Originally posted by sh0tyme83
I would agree with Engine and add some more clean up crew. For a 70 gallon tank, you should have more than 70 hermits. etropicals sells 77 hermits for a 75 gallon. I have about 50 hermits in my 37 gallon show and I barely ever see algae.

Except that you'll have no luck with hermits eating this stuff (can you get a photo?). Nerites and margaritas are your best bet, in a lot of 50 of each I had 5 or 6 of each that mowed the stuff down.

A photo of the skimmer's performance would be good.

I'd look for my thread on a quick, cheap fluidized reactor and run Purigen.

[madadi]

can you post a picture of this algae. is it brown, encrusting and grows in a circular pattern that seems to grow up around the edges like a mini montipora. not the best description, hope it helps. i have the same stuff. its horrible! i hear naso tangs can eat it and foxfaces. the naso is way too big for you tank, even for my 90gal also.
if i run a cup of carbon and 3tbs of GFO in a phosban reactor changed every month, is that enough?
here is some pictures of what i think your talking about. the last two are just for kick since i never seen any algae like that. i think my tank has every nuisance algae you can think of.

[driftin]

Wow. No, my algae doesn't look anything like that. I'll try to get a photo of it, but so far my attempts haven't been successful.

I agree, my hermits don't seem to eat this stuff. They pick in it, but I think they're pulling detritius etc out of it. I don't have margarita snails and maybe I'll give them a try. I do have nerites, astrea, cerith, and nassarius but maybe not in the right quantity.

Found your thread on the fluidized reactor, thanks. One more thing to cram in the cabinet!

[jmick]

Looks like scroll algae, I had a bunch of it in my tank years ago and thankfully it was easy to prune...believe it's a calcerous algae like halmida. I didn't mind it because it was very cool looking and its growth was rather slow.

[madadi]

ya i kinda like the scroll, if it bugs me i can just yank it off easy. the first algae is the worst one in the world! ive seen a thread on here about its name but i cant search right now, i got to stop being a cheapo and pay for the RC membership already!

[driftin]

I didn't manage to get any photos last night, but did try removing some of this stuff manually (pretty fruitless) and started another lights-out period.

I am also going to try doing a 30% water change this weekend and see if that cuts back whatever nutrients these things are thriving on.

Hopefully this will help put a dent in the stuff until I get Purigen running in a reactor and get some more snails in the tank.

[jjjimmy]

Do a search for Maiden's hair and compare it to what you have. If it is, then I wish you the best of luck. I battled it for months and finally gave up and broke my setup down. Nothing will eat it because it is toxic and it will grow faster than you can remove it.

[driftin]

I just did a google image search, and if the first 6 returns or so are what you had - no, thankfully I don't think this is the same stuff. [whew]

[pkolenda]

Hit it with a tooth brush and lots of current. Put a powerhead on it.
Scrub the sh*t out of it every day. Over time it iwll help and help take the load off your crew.

[madadi]

i cant believe some places sell maidens hair as macro algae, it cant be so bad lol

[driftin]

It's been a month and I'm still in about the same boat. Scrubbed a few rocks best as I could, some massive water changes, still on a reduced feeding schedule, but no real change overall. Which I guess is good - it's not getting worse.

I just purchased the fluidized reactor components and if everything ships on time I'll be putting that together this weekend.

I accidentally purchased Phosban instead of Purigen. Would running Phosban be of any benefit here?

[PSam]

Cowrie? I have Cypraea caputserpentis in my tank, very cool looking

[broke1]

The pictures look like they were taken of a nice mature fuge. I wish my fuge grew what your tank does.

I trade you my bubble algae.

[Sullyman]

Jim, have you used a small power head to really blow your rock out?
I've been dealing with an issue for a while, stuff that can grow anywhere, and seems to only need light to grow. Once I started really blowing the rock work out after pruning and before a water change, it's slowly going away. Unbelievable how much silt/waste came out the first time but every time there's still more. Put the power head right up to holes in the rock and see what comes out.
I was a turkey baster fan before but after seeing what comes out with continuous flow, baster's only good for feeding.
The tank will love it too.
Yes, use the phosban in the reactor and you should see improvement, maybe very quickly.

[driftin]

Thanks!

I've been using the baster, but I'll give the powerhead a try during this weekend's water change. I think there's a light at the end of the tunnel! A long long tunnel haha

[driftin]

Wow, Premium Aquatics ships fast. Order arrived yesterday and my payment hasn't even been processed yet. Got the phosban reactor up and running a little earlier than expected.

[hebygb]

I have not had any algae issues since putting two Hydor Koralias in my 65gal show. I agree that snails are a good thing in this situation and I would try many types, turbos, narcissus, astria, along with emerald crabs. What kind of fish do you have?

Also, have you considered a refugium... my refugium has chaeto and mangroves in it along with a damsel (see my gallery). I am even breeding snails in there. Increase your flow... keep the cleanup crew stocked and on the rocks, remove as much manually as you can. At some point, you may just find it time to swap out the rock.

[msu spartan]

when i had my old tank, i had algae, i bought a cherub angel and he ate all of it, i was surpriseed