Algae Outbreaks: What's your BEST defense against it?

[revhtree]

Algae is the kryptonite that keeps our aquarium super powers from becoming to powerful for our own good! - author unknown (ok it was me)

But really is nuisance algae just something that we will always have to battle from time to time each year or can it be very rare to non existent in some reef tanks? For those that rarely deal with nuisance algae what do you think your best defense is against it? Let's moan and complain a little and see what comes up!

PS. I hate algae

1. How many times a year do you have to do battle with nuisance algae?

2. If you rarely deal with nuisance algae what do you think is your best defense against it?


image via @Chiefmaster30

 

[itsken37]

for GHA that I am currently dealing with, I have a sea hare, some crabs, and some turbo snails. Its going quick!

 

[noobreefer2]

Refugium, filter sock every other day, skimmer, boatload of snails, gotten past the ugly phase, I think I am prepared

 

[TheDuude]

I think one of the best defenses is actually not trying to remove every bit of algae that grows in my tank. Algae is a natural part of reefs. When I have algae crop up I try to remove it only when it is inhibiting coral growth or is in other visually unappealing locations. The hope is that the algae will continue to grow in the areas I do not care about as much and bring the nutrients back in balance.

It definitely does not always work but at least its a plan.

 

[revhtree]

I deal with a "major" type of outbreak every single year at least.

 

[Ippyroy]

I have to vote other. For the first 9 months I kept everything nice and clean. Then winter hit. I am no longer able to safely order CUC and the nearest LFS is 2 -5 hours away one direction. I had a huge GHA outbreak about 3 -4 weeks ago. I have been able to get a lot of it to die off by cutting my lighting schedule down to 3 hours a day and feed only once a day.
Extreme arctic conditions and being in the middle of nowhere create a few issues.

 

[kenchilada]

Algae defense? This has always worked for me...

Step 1: Remove sand
Step 2: Place sand in cat's litter box
Step 3: Increase flow to "ludicrous speed"
Step 4: Change filter socks every 2-3 days
Step 5: Plug in big skimmer

 

[Doglips56]

1. How many times a year do you have to do battle with nuisance algae?

2. If you rarely deal with nuisance algae what do you think is your best defense against it?

1. My big battle is red cyano on the rocks. At least I think that’s what it is. Don’t deal with any nuisance algae
2. Best defense by far is having algae eating critters! Between our blenny and tangs, 2 urchins, too many snails to count (and they breed like mice!), and hermits I no longer even see algae. Our nutrients also run very low even though our staple diet is our home made “reef chili”. Maybe we’re just lucky?

 

[Paul B]

I never battle anything. I have been using a DIY algae scrubber for decades.

 

[DiefsReef]

I have to vote other. For the first 9 months I kept everything nice and clean. Then winter hit. I am no longer able to safely order CUC and the nearest LFS is 2 -5 hours away one direction. I had a huge GHA outbreak about 3 -4 weeks ago. I have been able to get a lot of it to die off by cutting my lighting schedule down to 3 hours a day and feed only once a day.
Extreme arctic conditions and being in the middle of nowhere create a few issues.

felt like you needed a hug

 

[Rubberfrog]

My last tank, I had a big ball of chaeto in the refugium. It was magical.

 

[driftin]

I'm hesitant to answer because, Murphy's Law this will result in an uncontrollable outbreak...

In my last set up I fought algae for years and years - well over a decade. Never really got ahead of it to the point I was "winning", I always felt like I was playing catch up. Tried so many methods of eradication... to the point I decided to break down the tank and start again from scratch.

This set up I took a different approach. It started before I had the tank running, and it's been very successful for me.
1. I got my algae scrubber set up and running as soon as I had rocks and water in the tank, before I even added my first clean up crew. I was running this for many weeks before I turned on the lights over the tank. Theory was, this scrubber is where I want algae to grow freely. Let it get good and established before I create an environment in the display tank that would be conducive to algae growth. Let the scrubber outcompete the display.

2. Lots of rock in the display. I went with the old school rule of thumb of 1lb per gallon. I coupled this with an intentionally slow cycle - extended by dosing ammonia for weeks. Before I started adding inhabitants to the tank I upped the ammonia dosing to simulate having living creatures in the tank, to help get the biological cycle acclimated to a higher load.

3. Good clean up crew in the display tank. I ordered from numerous sources and tried to get a wide variety of algae eaters. The package I ordered from IPSF included a variety of snail that has been prolific in the tank. I haven't needed to supplement the CUC for two years (but I do so anyway out of habit).

4. I went super slow in this build. Many weeks of running just the scrubber and skimmer while not running lights over the display and no fish or CUC; very slow fish additions to the tank to allow the system to adjust; months after adding fish before slowly dialing up the lights to a "normal" intensity and then starting to add corals. I feel that these slow changes helped my algae scrubber and biological filter adjust to changing loads in the display tank and stay ahead of the algae growth. CUC had time to populate up to the new loads in the display, since the additions were slow. [again, whatever snails I got from IPSF are amazing at reproducing quickly and must be voracious algae eaters]

5. Routine water changes. I don't know if this directly has had an impact but I'm going to keep it up. I've recently changed from 15% weekly to 15% every two weeks, and so far no issues.

6. As much stability with nutrients as possible. I try to feed the same amount each day and through frequent small feedings, figuring this will help keep nutrients at a stable point all day and also day by day. The more stable, the easier it is for my algae scrubber, clean up crew, and biological filter to stay on top of the nutrient export. Using dosing pumps and an automated feeder has helped a ton with lots of small feedings all day, and I manually feed a same amount of frozen twice a day.

7. Diligence in being careful with what I add to my tank. In my first tank a LFS sold me a mix of strains of caulerpa when I asked for chaeto. I didn't know better and I paid the price for years. Now I carefully check what I add to the tank, tend to not use vendors frag discs, prefer to buy homegrown frags rather than wild, etc. Obviously algae will grow, but this helps keep out some of the undesirable macro algaes.

It was hard to go so slow on this build, but after fighting algae issues for close to 13 years I'm really glad I took this approach. I'd rather watch the tank very slowly evolve over a couple years and be relatively pain free, than get the instant gratification and have a maintenance nightmare to fight with.

 

[Quietman]

I do not have any serious algae issues currently, but strongly suspect my tank is just biding it's time and playing games with me. At some point it's going to decide that I've been happy too long and throw a bubble algae fit or perhaps a GHA conniption, or heaven forbid another dino tantrum. But for now...I'm happy to take credit for keeping my tank content enough so it doesn't completely ruin my reefing life....again.

 

[DungSl1nger]

My only issue right now is some patches of turf algae. I have never been able to keep macro alive and my current nitrates are at 2 according to my Red Sea test kit. Since my tank has been up I have never seen more than 7.

 

[southerntnreefer]

Tanks still new, so i got through the first few months of algae fun, although delaying starting to light the tank helped. I run a algae reactor, and carbon. I test for nitrate and Phos weekly, and adjust what i need to. Im trying to keep nitrates up at this point.

 

[Chrille26]

My main line of defense is Fluconazole.
Low nurients, good grazers and all the long term natural methods are great and I use them also, but dosing Fluconazole and seeing the algae deteriorate within two weeks is above all for me personally.
I dont mind it not being natural, I havent seen any negative aspects of using it this far, what I have seen is it making all types of algae wither and dissolve, and my grazers eating whats left.
Results of my last round of Flux:

 

[zalick]

My main line of defense is Fluconazole.
Low nurients, good grazers and all the long term natural methods are great and I use them also, but dosing Fluconazole and seeing the algae deteriorate within two weeks is above all for me personally.
I dont mind it not being natural, I havent seen any negative aspects of using it this far, what I have seen is it making all types of algae wither and dissolve, and my grazers eating whats left.
Results of my last round of Flux:

What's your dosage? Do you run carbon after?

 

[Doglips56]

I never battle anything. I have been using a DIY algae scrubber for decades.

I’d love your building plans. I gave up on Chaeto, too much of a hassle.

 

[LRT]

My main line of defense is Fluconazole.
Low nurients, good grazers and all the long term natural methods are great and I use them also, but dosing Fluconazole and seeing the algae deteriorate within two weeks is above all for me personally.
I dont mind it not being natural, I havent seen any negative aspects of using it this far, what I have seen is it making all types of algae wither and dissolve, and my grazers eating whats left.
Results of my last round of Flux:

Would also like to know your method of using it. Does it kill coraline algae? Any negative effects on soft corals and inverts?

 

[aquakj]

I cry and then I tell myself well you wanted a piece of the ocean and you got it. and then I cry a little more, get a little CUC watch them fail miserably and then cry a bit more lol. then i leave it alone unless its growing on my coral. If your tank is big enough though certain fish will keep nice and short for you.