algae thread........update and suggestions needed

[CHSUB]

Can anyone help me

tank has been up and running for 2 years (come March 1st

Not trying to be insensitive or insulting, but your tank is a filthy mess. You say you’re cleaning it but I don’t see it. Instead of asking for advice, just clean the aquarium. That is basically all it needs. My aquarium that I clean vigorously, run appropriate filters, feed lightly and do weekly WC is also two years old in March. I don’t do anything special or rely on magical nutrient values. I only keep my aquarium as clean as possible.

So you can compare here is the “clean approach” I use…

 

[reef tank 2.0]

I get it...im telling you, i have removed 50% of the rocks, snd replaced with new. within a few weeks those are covered. I scrub the rocks eqch nite and net out all the floaties.

This is an ongoing process of scrubbing. I literally dont know what else to do

 

[reef tank 2.0]

I wish o could remove all the fish and coral and scrub every inch and leave the lights off. I notice when the lights are off, all the algae almost disappears.

As soon as i scrub, its back 1-2 days after. Its fierce.

 

[mcarroll]

1. tank has been up and running for 2 years (come March 1st)
2. I still do manual removal. I brush, blow, and net out as much as I can each night. once I do that, it's all back within 1-2 days. I don't scrub every inch every night, but it's a constant task.
3. a lot of my snails died. The only ones that have made it through all this, are my bumble bee snails, and Nassarius snails
4. Dynos came back 2 days after they disappeared. they are back now.
5. yes, GFO is no longer being used. My current phosphate levels are holding at .04 ppm.
6. 2 doses of Flucon did NOTHING. 4-6 week runs with no skimmer or carbon. each dose.

I made this for tanks like yours:

Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

I don't know what percentage of folks had luck battling dinos with any of the methods in the old Dino thread but it's obviously a very low percentage, so I'd like refresh folks on the natural alternatives and lay out three areas of info: some of the factors that contribute to a dino outbreak...

www.reef2reef.com

You don't have to read all 10K posts, just the first post. (Reading a few comments might be helpful too tho.)

To get you started, heed Randy's advice and get phosphates up...IMO ≥0.10 ppm.

If you don't have a microscope – at least a $10 toy scope – then I suggest getting one. (≥$50 wll get you a much nicer scope....look for used):

Selecting a microscope

(Ed: You can start with post #66 if you want to see what I picked for my first scope.) 40X-2500X LED Trinocular Compound Microscope w 3D Two-Layer Mechanical Stage $225 (on sale) seems like a great price. And it seems to have all the necessary features. But they have so many similar models...

www.reef2reef.com

It will be useful to know which dino's you are experiencing.

I'm also curious about the hairy algae.....green hair algae doesn't usually seem to survive dino's, but cyano seems to "cohabitate" at least under some circumstances. I wonder if your hairy algae is (eg) Lyngbya cyanobacteria? I've heard about it, but never seen it.....supposedly looks like hair algae to the eye, but might be more slimy. Under a scope we should be able to tell the difference.

There are some more basics from that thread you might want to observe though (eg UV filtration)....so read that first post (links too).

 

[dvgyfresh]

I wish o could remove all the fish and coral and scrub every inch and leave the lights off. I notice when the lights are off, all the algae almost disappears.

As soon as i scrub, its back 1-2 days after. Its fierce.

Whenever you scrub you may be spreading the algae though the tank , do you run UV? I think you probly need to up your clean up crew as well - include more pincushion urchins , additionally you need to add nutrient competition by way of either macro algae or coral - else I fear the algae will just keep coming back

 

[dvgyfresh]

I had a very similar issue to you . I am pretty sure I had lygnbya it’s a a nasty algae that looks like GHA but gets into clumps. It’s more bacterial than algae and is toxic to cuc. I would have to manually remove it , I also dosed silicate like crazy to bring about competition by diatoms . That and manual removal allowed it to lose its foothold

 

[CHSUB]

I don’t believe removing the rock is a good idea, only in extreme cases and not more than once. The basic principles of a successful reef tank are consumers and surface area. You have a lot of bare surfaces and available nutrients, no amount of dosing and tinkering is going to prevent algae. I believe you are over feeding and under cleaning. You need more easy fast growing leather corals, CUC, and maintenance.

If you do all the basic stuff correctly algae is never a problem. Go back to square one and don’t bother with advice that deals with the margins of the hobby. Here is a good book to get and probably cost as much as a po4 additive.