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

[ScottJ]

I dose Vibrant after weekly water change on my 10 month old Evo 13.5. I think it's making my GHA grow more! Cyano on the sand is finally gone (knock on wood) Guess I'll just wait it out.

 

[JaimeIsNew]

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

Details or even the prototype plzzz

 

[brandon429]

When it’s a nano in distress we don’t even wait.

Algae Identification

Any opinions on what type of algae this is growing on my rocks and sand bed?

www.reef2reef.com

but I’ve got a friend with a 90 in distress and we are legit in distress. Tuning through the water is so hard...that’s legit artistic reefing

Disassembly cleaning is not hard it’s ordered barbarism, but wow after pics. Takes about 2 hours to run apparently and identification of the invader or the tank params are the top two things we don’t need to know.

 

[karees]

I have a refugium that the light is on 24 hours a day. I feed fairly heavy for my fish population. And haven’t had an allergy problem, knock on wood, for over a year and a half. When I do notice a little fuzz starting to develop on the rocks I treated with Vibrant for about two months. By the end of too much the rock is pristine clean once again. During the time I isolate the refugium I put some nutrient source in it for the macro algae. When the algae clears up I reconnect the refugium to the tank.

 

[mattdg]

90% of the time, the reef needs to cycle through such outbreaks. Even if it seems it is taking forever. You could introduce a rock into an 8 year tank that breaks out in a HA bloom, the little fragments that fall to the substrate breaking out in their own hairy explosion. If there is phosphate bound up in the rock, it has to work its way out somehow.

If you are experiencing a never ending bryopsis HA bloom, it may be time to knock it back with flucanozole. It's expensive, but REALLY works. It will come back, if you have not dealt with the root of the issue, but this treatment can be a useful tool, in the battle.

Here is a video I made about my experience with it.

 

[laverda]

I find my ATS-for-under $30.00 work excellent at controlling algae by adjusting the light schedule occasionally as needed.

 

[rhynobar]

I had a terrible GHA problem for months. Started using Vibrant and never looked back.

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

I have some phosphate reducer (Red Sea) and some Vibrant in case of an algae problem.

 

[LittleFidel]

I have had great success with the following:

Limit feeding. This minimizes the buildup of excess nutrients. Target feed fish and corals, making sure they eat as much of the food as possible.
Utilize mechanical filtration. This catches fish waste, leftover food, and other assorted detritus. Change floss or socks frequently.
Embrace algae. Grow macro algae (I use caulerpa prolifera in the display) to export nutrients in the water. In the freshwater planted world we utilize the same technique to keep water chemistry in check.
Change water frequently. This ensures the removal of all extra nutrients that are not used by corals and algae. Remove solid detritus whenever possible.

 

[William Morris]

Having a routine where you know what your parameters are.
I test Alk daily and dose accordingly.
The other parameters I test weekly unless something is out of whack.
I have reminders that tell me when to change some of the elements in the filter basket.
15% weekly water changes.

Mostly being conscious of what is happening in the tank.
Do I see more algae on the glass than usual?
Or, as is happening now, I see less algae that I need to clean off the glass which tells me my nutrients are in balance.
Beautiful tanks don't just happen - it takes a conscious effort everyday to do the little things that make the difference.

 

[vetteguy53081]

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

I am fortunate i dont, although my drop off tank is getting some matt algae so but an urchin today (see below)

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

Reduction of white light intensity, keeping tank away from a window, have clean up crew available and monitor phosphate and nitrate regularly which I run chemipure elite to keep it in check

 

[codycolina707]

Brightwell razor destroyed my gha problem and zero harmful effects on corals

 

[JosephM]

I have a brand new tank, less then three weeks old and so far I’ve had diatoms and GHA outbreak. I’ve dealt with this through skimming and chaeto. More recently I picked up a sea hare because the GHA was getting out of hand even with very good params and export methods. Time will tell if the sea hare will work as he’s only been in for a few hrs.

 

[codycolina707]

Ive been battling GHA since I set up my tank about 1.5 years ago (bought it completely set up, just had to move it) and GHA went nuts after everything was settled in my house. Recently I have started to get a handle on it, I have a pair of saltwater mollies that go HAM on it. Those little fatties are constantly mowing it down, better than my lawnmower blenny. Have a couple of mexican turbos and they have been annihilating the GHA on the walls. I have noticed my nitrates go up slightly and the amount of GHA go down. Still a ways to go, but this is the first time I felt like its not spiraling out of control.

If you been fighting it for a year try some brightwell razor took care of mine in 3 weeks and hasn't came back since

 

[CoreyBG]

I’ve had my tank up for 12 years now and for the past 11 I’ve barely tested anything. Just did water changes when things started to look not as happy. My nitrates were over 100 and everything was growing like crazy. Except algae. Never had outbreak until I started chasing numbers and lowered my nutrients. besides my Dino outbreak, I also lost about 10 huge colonies and some rare torches.

 

[David S]

I have found that Algae problems in my system are linked to PO4 levels.
As long as my PO4 levels are less than 0.10 PPMi have minimal algae (exception being film algae in glass).
However when PO4 rises to greater than 0.20 PPM algae becomes a problem

 

[aurora.k]

I agree with this

Maturity, stability is key

My new tank is going through the uglies, but with my first tank I battled and battled for like 12 months and then I just focused on stability and stopped trying to get nitrates and pho’s down and stopped adding things like Vibrant and never had another problem (plus decent, but not huge CUC) - basically clean tank for two years straight. Even when I moved cities there was just a minor outbreak when I set up my tank. If I ever got a minor outbreak, I’d drop a few more emerald crabs in there and give it a few weeks before adding anything that would mess up my chemistry and they always resolved quickly.

then again, I don’t keep one of those “spotless tanks” so maybe I’m just comfortable with more algae than other people. The other day I saw a photo on here and the guy’s water was so clear it was like fresh from a messing glacial spring...

 

[GlfFxtrtYnky]

Details or even the prototype plzzz

 

[Jeremy hall]

Ive been battling GHA since I set up my tank about 1.5 years ago (bought it completely set up, just had to move it) and GHA went nuts after everything was settled in my house. Recently I have started to get a handle on it, I have a pair of saltwater mollies that go HAM on it. Those little fatties are constantly mowing it down, better than my lawnmower blenny. Have a couple of mexican turbos and they have been annihilating the GHA on the walls. I have noticed my nitrates go up slightly and the amount of GHA go down. Still a ways to go, but this is the first time I felt like its not spiraling out of control.

Check wish app for uv sterilizer the bigger the better I've actually just asked the community about them and have gotten some good feed back so far
For my biocube 32
I'ma follow this

 

[yanton]

I use a roomy weir as one would use a refugium, with a lot of sea lettuce on strong red/blue lighting and no problems at all. My Ulva from Algae Barn acts like a nutrient sponge. I feed heavily. To stop it getting into the main display I use a sponge strip as well as the comb. Working great so far. I also have some prolifera in the main display.

I do think this macro algae is underated. It is one of those that absorbs ammonias at source. I have never been able to grow chaeto. If anyone in the UK wants some of my Sea Lettuce get in touch, as I throw out lots monthly.