Algaefest 2021. IDK what to do. Remove all rock?

[austibella]

What kind and how many snails did you put in?

I have a 180 gallon tank so I have probably 100 snails or more. Peppermint Shrimp. Red and blue hermit crabs .cleaner shrimp. Stars ..I feed alot so I have a good clean up crew .

 

[austibella]

I have a 180 gallon tank so I have probably 100 snails or more. Peppermint Shrimp. Red and blue hermit crabs .cleaner shrimp. Stars ..I feed alot so I have a good clean up crew .

I also have 10 urchins they clean up the best

 

[CookieRdReef]

I also have 10 urchins they clean up the best

Yeah you are loaded. I should pick up more. My Melanarus wrasse loves when I add more snails unfortunately. I also want to add more pods. I have read good things about adding pods to fight large algae outbreaks.

 

[brandon429]

any replaced rock will get the same challenge, this is what the sum total of the environment selects for in your location and sourcing. It needs to be beaten in place. In my sandbed threads we never partially clean it’s a full disassembled cleaning run and skip cycle put back with the rock dentistry in between. All at once but only after test modeling, don’t experiment with your reef as a guess.

 

[DanConnor]

3 tiger conchs, Nassarius x 12, Trochus x5
Astrea x10.

So for cleaning your rocks- that's 5 trochus and 10 astrea. No really an overabundance for a 75. I usually suggest to people as a first step with hair algae is to increase herbivores and make sure flow is very strong. Big turbo snails are good.

As a personal example- I have a relatively clean 5 year old 200 display attached to a 180 frag tray- growing acros and all kinds of corals happily with no algae, other than a bit of valonia. Recently I attached a 40 breeder lit by T5s to the system, and at the same time started lighting my 150 livestock sump with an LED. Both had no herbivores and low flow.
I was then sidetracked by other things for a bit. The 40 became absolutely covered with thick hair algae- there were no rocks- just a bare tank with walls and bottom covered. The sump got coated with cyano, interestingly.

I put an urchin and a bunch of big turbo snails in the 40, and some decent flow. They have almost completely cleared it- they work in on the big patches from the edges. I just turned off the light in the sump, for now.

I would also do a bunch of water changes siphoning the sand while you do.

Edit: my system that grew all that algae has low nutrients- I feed a lot but all the corals suck it up. I have to dose phosphate and ammonia to get anything to show up on a test.

 

[austibella]

Thanks I will be trying. I'm willing to have algae/ugly tank but dying corals is another thing.

Turf algae grows and spreads rapid it will kill your corals by growing all around them...I know I lost corals .I would spend hours pulling it off rocks then the spores would grow some where else fluxrx was the only thing that worked. I was ready to tear my rocks apart and start over. Im glad I didn't. I was at my wits end then I heard about Flux RX took 14 days. All gone!!! But don't pull any out while treating the tank within 14 days you will see it dyeing make sure you change filter socks every day on day 3 put on protein skimmer very important!! You don't have to change sand or pull out rocks. Just after 14 days do water change clean all your power wave pumps.

 

[CookieRdReef]

Also my hob fuge light probably added or caused this problem as much as anything. It does not turn on until late at night so I usually never see it

So for cleaning your rocks- that's 5 trochus and 10 astrea. No really an overabundance for a 75. I usually suggest to people as a first step with hair algae is to increase herbivores and make sure flow is very strong. Big turbo snails are good.

As a personal example- I have a relatively clean 5 year old 200 display attached to a 180 frag tray- growing acros and all kinds of corals happily with no algae, other than a bit of valonia. Recently I attached a 40 breeder lit by T5s to the system, and at the same time started lighting my 150 livestock sump with an LED. Both had no herbivores and low flow.
I was then sidetracked by other things for a bit. The 40 became absolutely covered with thick hair algae- there were no rocks- just a bare tank with walls and bottom covered. The sump got coated with cyano, interestingly.

I put an urchin and a bunch of big turbo snails in the 40, and some decent flow. They have almost completely cleared it- they work in on the big patches from the edges. I just turned off the light in the sump, for now.

I would also do a bunch of water changes siphoning the sand while you do.

That's crazy. Yeah next trip to the LFS I will load up. The list I put was my recent additions. I have added snails 10-20 at a time usually. I will try a heavier load plus some urchins if I can find them.

 

[CookieRdReef]

Turf algae grows and spreads rapid it will kill your corals by growing all around them...I know I lost corals .I would spend hours pulling it off rocks then the spores would grow some where else fluxrx was the only thing that worked. I was ready to tear my rocks apart and start over. Im glad I didn't. I was at my wits end then I heard about Flux RX took 14 days. All gone!!! But don't pull any out while treating the tank within 14 days you will see it dyeing make sure you change filter socks every day on day 3 put on protein skimmer very important!! You don't have to change sand or pull out rocks. Just after 14 days do water change clean all your power wave pumps.

I feel that. My tank went from pretty clean and healthy to horrible in about 4-6 weeks. Its demoralizing. I will try theflux for sure.

 

[austibella]

I was looking into flux. I was unsure if it worked on turf algae or just GHA? Mine is thick and dark green not long and stringy.

Its for turf algae

 

[Alexreefer]

Keep us updated, I went through the same thing except with dinos, it really beats you down but once you win its the best feeling ever

 

[austibella]

I feel that. My tank went from pretty clean and healthy to horrible in about 4-6 weeks. Its demoralizing. I will try theflux for sure.

Same thing happened to me a 10 yr reef tank and i saw this algae and thought cool all my tangs will love it cause I never have algae in my tank. So tangs don't eat turf algae and I had no idea what turf algae was .tried to pull it out and it wouldn't come out but the spores went everywhere and the nightmare started. Look on utube on fluxRx and you will see how good it works.people that complain about it didn't do directions as the company tells you. .I called the company to make sure I did it right. The best of luck to you keep us informed on your progress .

 

[CookieRdReef]

Keep us updated, I went through the same thing except with dinos, it really beats you down but once you win its the best feeling ever

The sandbed has dinos thanks I will update. Here is a pic before things turned ugly

 

[Alexreefer]

Here was my tank after the big rip clean, rinsing all the sand and hydrogen peroxide the rocks for a day

Here was my tank prior, gnarly I know

Here is a bucket of sand getting rinsed, This sand was only about a year and a half old and I could believe the amount of nasty things

Here was 2 pics of the tank dinos before the clean

And after 2 months of hard work and lots of tlc My tank is happy now, Still working on getting funds for some more corals and livestock but being a teen is tough. I'll get a Full tank shot tmr when the lights are on. In the mean time enjoy some photos I took with my camera. Your tank will look amazing one day, We all know it will. Not so sure why the computer ruins the quality so much be here you go

Ok sorry for all the pics, Now back to ur tank

 

[CookieRdReef]

Here was my tank after the big rip clean, rinsing all the sand and hydrogen peroxide the rocks for a day

Here was my tank prior, gnarly I know

Here is a bucket of sand getting rinsed, This sand was only about a year and a half old and I could believe the amount of nasty things

Here was 2 pics of the tank dinos before the clean

And after 2 months of hard work and lots of tlc My tank is happy now, Still working on getting funds for some more corals and livestock but being a teen is tough. I'll get a Full tank shot tmr when the lights are on. In the mean time enjoy some photos I took with my camera. Your tank will look amazing one day, We all know it will. Not so sure why the computer ruins the quality so much be here you go

Ok sorry for all the pics, Now back to ur tank

Good job beating the dinos. I'm sure that was a ton of work. Your tank looks great now.

 

[Alexreefer]

Yea I'm proud, Seeing your rock work and all the corals a big rip clean will be tough. Have u started any countermeasures such as Flux?