Bryopsis taking over tank

[lostsailor22]

I’m out of town for work for another few weeks, my brother who is taking care of my tank says there’s hair algae growing over all the rocks, the substrate and the glass. He says it’s thick.. I recommended knocking it down with a brush but I’m scared it’s just going to make it worse.
I don’t have parameters because I’m out of town, but before I left, they were:
Nitrate- 10ppm
Phos- .09ppm
Alk-9dkh
Salinity- 1.026
Cal 450ish
Mag 1500ish
Curious what the best plan of action is until I get home.. all my fish are in qt and have been in observation stage for the last week and a half. (He finished out the copper treatment and treated prazi twice)
I’ve already been gone almost a month so I’m not surprised it started to culminate while I was gone, I have the skimmer set to the lowest it can be so it doesn’t foam over while he’s watching the tank..
He’s smart enough to do what’s asked, but has no idea about any products or where to get them.
Someone give me an idea what to do to keep it regulated until I get home pleeeease!
I thought about throwing the fish back in and letting the algae eaters do their job.. he claims observation had gone well and no signs of infection or scratching.
Also says the corals look really happy and have been noticeably growing..
I’m stumped on what to do here
Any advice would be great
Keep in mind I’m very limited with ability to grab any product unless it’s at petco or Petsmart as those are the only stores nearby that he MIGHT be willing to go to for me.
I asked him to send some pics this evening when he goes over to feed the fish. I’ll post them when I get them!
I had him turn the white light completely off as soon as he told me.
Please help!
Thanks in advance

 

[Dan_P]

I’m out of town for work for another few weeks, my brother who is taking care of my tank says there’s hair algae growing over all the rocks, the substrate and the glass. He says it’s thick.. I recommended knocking it down with a brush but I’m scared it’s just going to make it worse.
I don’t have parameters because I’m out of town, but before I left, they were:
Nitrate- 10ppm
Phos- .09ppm
Alk-9dkh
Salinity- 1.026
Cal 450ish
Mag 1500ish
Curious what the best plan of action is until I get home.. all my fish are in qt and have been in observation stage for the last week and a half. (He finished out the copper treatment and treated prazi twice)
I’ve already been gone almost a month so I’m not surprised it started to culminate while I was gone, I have the skimmer set to the lowest it can be so it doesn’t foam over while he’s watching the tank..
He’s smart enough to do what’s asked, but has no idea about any products or where to get them.
Someone give me an idea what to do to keep it regulated until I get home pleeeease!
I thought about throwing the fish back in and letting the algae eaters do their job.. he claims observation had gone well and no signs of infection or scratching.
Also says the corals look really happy and have been noticeably growing..
I’m stumped on what to do here
Any advice would be great
Keep in mind I’m very limited with ability to grab any product unless it’s at petco or Petsmart as those are the only stores nearby that he MIGHT be willing to go to for me.
I asked him to send some pics this evening when he goes over to feed the fish. I’ll post them when I get them!
I had him turn the white light completely off as soon as he told me.
Please help!
Thanks in advance

Might be safer to wait until you get home to take care of it yourself, unless it is just ripping the stuff out

 

[PharmrJohn]

Without knowing your current parameters, I'd be wary of reintroducing your livestock. And anyway, fish are really only good for keeping algae at bay. Once the problem gets to where it is now, other avenues need to be explored. Turning off the lights was the first thing I thought of, but upon re-reading your post, I saw that you have corals, which need light. So that's out. Manual removal is your best bet at this time. And if Bryopsis is in the picture, your rock is going to need a thorough cleaning. And I mean thorough. You don't have to bleach it or anything like that, but you'll be using dental tools to get EVERYTHING off the surface and within the crevices.

Back to lighting, what kind of lighting schedule are you running at present? And are you able to control your spectrum from afar? I've seen posts that had some ideas along these lines but don't know what to do myself. I'm hoping another member may know. The post was recent. I'll try to find it.

 

[lostsailor22]

Without knowing your current parameters, I'd be wary of reintroducing your livestock. And anyway, fish are really only good for keeping algae at bay. Once the problem gets to where it is now, other avenues need to be explored. Turning off the lights was the first thing I thought of, but upon re-reading your post, I saw that you have corals, which need light. So that's out. Manual removal is your best bet at this time. And if Bryopsis is in the picture, your rock is going to need a thorough cleaning. And I mean thorough. You don't have to bleach it or anything like that, but you'll be using dental tools to get EVERYTHING off the surface and within the crevices.

Back to lighting, what kind of lighting schedule are you running at present? And are you able to control your spectrum from afar? I've seen posts that had some ideas along these lines but don't know what to do myself. I'm hoping another member may know. The post was recent. I'll try to find it.

I just have the blues on for 8 hours a day right now. Parameters should be decent still.. there hasn’t been any fish in there for over a month. So I’m pretty sure my nitrates and phos haven’t creeped up, if anything I’d suspect they’ve bottomed out with the algae running ramped. I have a handful of tangs that have been eagerly awaiting to return to their much larger home. Idk if it’s better or worse to wait it out till I get home

 

[PharmrJohn]

You've got a great point with your nutrients bottoming out. But I'd still wait it out on the fish. And your lighting is good as it is. As long as whites are dialed down I'd keep it as is.

 

[rayadog]

If you’ll be home in the not too distant future… I’d wait and scrape the glass, etc, and siphon out myself with a water change upon returning. As a start.