Desperate plea for algae ID / remediation steps!

Reef Knub · Mar 22, 2023

Hey guys! New to posting to the forum here, but this community has been an amazing resource for me on my saltwater journey the past year. Looking to see if y'all could help with my specific situation:

I've had the pictured tank for about a year now, and over that last week and half I've seen this outbreak of this algae come through twice. I scraped it off 3 days back and swapped out my filter sock / cleaned my protein skimmer, but this stuff came screaming back quick.

I'm hoping that an accurate ID of what this various stuff is can help determine what exactly I should use to get rid of it. I've used chemiclean in the past for red cyano, and algae fix in the past for a green hair algae outbreak. But this stuff looks a bit different, so don't want to commit to using one of those just yet if there's another way I can tackle what y'all see here.

Water parameters:
- will update tomorrow after testing, won't have a chance to test until tomorrow

Other tank details:
- 75 Gallons
- Refugium with a filter cup & floss, octo protein skimmer, and some dying chaeto growing in the last chamber (this stuff used to grow awesome until I had to dose algaefix to kill the green hair algae)
- jebao CP 120 cross wave maker
- last water change was about 4 weeks back

My observations:
- bubbles on the backwall are likely air bubbles stuck to the hair algae
- This seemed to happen soon after feeding nori 2 weeks back after purchasing the convict tang

Thanks in advance and happy to provide any other info to help!!

taricha · Mar 23, 2023

I see mostly hair algae covered in cyano.

cooltowncorals · Mar 23, 2023

That’s the way it looks to me as well

I would start doing some form of regular water changes. Try using a small diameter hose so it drains out slowly and suck as much out as you can.

when the hair gets long enough pull it out by hand in between.

I would run 50-70 small hermits

30-70 snails depending on size (less if using large turbos)

maybe a sea hare for a while

then start running a phosphate reduction plan GFO or lithium or carbon dosing if you have nitrates

even if your phosphates are testing 0 now it’s because you have so much hair algae growing it’s sucking it up probably out competing your macro

could try a stronger light or looking into dosing iron for cheato if you want to stay that route

hsosa · Mar 23, 2023

I would shorten your lighting cycle . get more tangs or fish that eat algae. you can take one rock out at time and give it a peroxide bath to kill the algae and then go on to the next rock . water changes . u dont have enough fish I wouldn't get too many clean up crew just a few it can create more of a problem if the clean up crew dies off .

All_talk · Mar 23, 2023

Watch this...

paintman · Mar 23, 2023

All terrible advice so far.

Bucs20fan · Mar 23, 2023

First things first.

MANUAL REMOVAL to get the process started. Scrape and pull as much as that stuff off as you can and dispose of it. Then shorten light period.

Dosing 1ml hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons can help.

Test phosphate asap.

This also appears to have some dinos mixed in. So its looks like it started as a hair algae outbreak, then cyano and dinos caking up on top of it. Cyano and dino would line up with the three day massive regrowth.

bushdoc · Mar 23, 2023

paintman said:
All terrible advice so far.

Waiting for your input............

hsosa · Mar 23, 2023

bushdoc said:
Waiting for your input............

lets see his reef tank !

Soren · Mar 23, 2023

Testing for parameters may be difficult, since the phosphate and nitrates are being absorbed by the algae.
This looks to me like a combination of all 3 of green hair algae, cyanobacteria, and dinoflagellates. I've had similar in my QT's and Work Desk 40B system.
When I last tested nitrates and phosphates in my Work Desk 40B system, both were at zero, but GHA is still active and growing, so I know the actual levels are not zero. I also feed fairly heavily to a system with a high level of stocked fish, so nutrients should be high but are still unmeasurable on tests.

Manual removal has been the most help for my systems, though it alone does not cure the problem.

paintman said:
All terrible advice so far.

It would be a lot more helpful if you offered your own advice or countered the specifics of the previous advice rather than just making your critical statement...

All_talk · Mar 23, 2023

hsosa said:
lets see his reef tank !

I think this question should be asked of anyone giving advice.

Show me your tank and if it looks like something I want, then I may follow your path. If not...

I will included a picture of my humble tank so you can judge my advice as well.

cooltowncorals · Mar 23, 2023

I’ll play along

hsosa · Mar 23, 2023

All_talk said:
I think this question should be asked of anyone giving advice.

Show me your tank and if it looks like something I want, then I may follow your path. If not...

I will included a picture of my humble tank so you can judge my advice as well.

sic

hsosa · Mar 23, 2023

here s my waterbox

Jared Bryant · Mar 23, 2023

paintman said:
All terrible advice so far.

So a MACNA talk by Rich about controlling algea is terrible advice? lol

All_talk · Mar 23, 2023

Jared Bryant said:
So a MACNA talk by Rich about controlling algea is terrible advice? lol

I assumed that wasn't included in the comment. Or at the vary least the poster has never seen it.

vetteguy53081 · Mar 23, 2023

Reef Knub said:
Hey guys! New to posting to the forum here, but this community has been an amazing resource for me on my saltwater journey the past year. Looking to see if y'all could help with my specific situation:

I've had the pictured tank for about a year now, and over that last week and half I've seen this outbreak of this algae come through twice. I scraped it off 3 days back and swapped out my filter sock / cleaned my protein skimmer, but this stuff came screaming back quick.

I'm hoping that an accurate ID of what this various stuff is can help determine what exactly I should use to get rid of it. I've used chemiclean in the past for red cyano, and algae fix in the past for a green hair algae outbreak. But this stuff looks a bit different, so don't want to commit to using one of those just yet if there's another way I can tackle what y'all see here.

Water parameters:
- will update tomorrow after testing, won't have a chance to test until tomorrow

Other tank details:
- 75 Gallons
- Refugium with a filter cup & floss, octo protein skimmer, and some dying chaeto growing in the last chamber (this stuff used to grow awesome until I had to dose algaefix to kill the green hair algae)
- jebao CP 120 cross wave maker
- last water change was about 4 weeks back

My observations:
- bubbles on the backwall are likely air bubbles stuck to the hair algae
- This seemed to happen soon after feeding nori 2 weeks back after purchasing the convict tang

Thanks in advance and happy to provide any other info to help!!

I see lyngbya which is a filamentous type of cyano and can be shave off glass with an old credit card or similar. For rocks, will require manual removal with scrubbing using a firm toothbrush or automotive detail brush best accomplished by placing rock in a container of tank water.
After scrubbing , agitate the loose matter and return rock to tank. If you try to blow loose, you will notice it hangs on to surface unlike cyano which separates.
Afterwards, add some cleaners such as Pitho crabs, caribbean blue leg hermits, Nerites snails, margarita snails, Cerith snails, and chiton snails.