FIRST FIGHT WITH ALGEA

[TOMACONDA]

How would o go about determining what is the cause of algae bloom? tank is about 7 months old have to areas that have a thick greed flowing algae on it?
other then physically removing it what should my first steps be ?

I just added more crabs and snails of assorted mixes

 

[BasementBox]

How would o go about determining what is the cause of algae bloom? tank is about 7 months old have to areas that have a thick greed flowing algae on it?
other then physically removing it what should my first steps be ?

I just added more crabs and snails of assorted mixes

What size tank you have. When it gets too large and long the snails and crabs won’t mess with it. Do not use chemicals. Be patient. Manually remove. If you can. Get a tang. It’ll do huge husbandry for you.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Different algae is caused by different things, so first is always to ID the algae.

For this case, I assume you are talking about green hair algae, and that is caused by too many nutrients imported into the system and not enough exported from the system. Either you have a high bioload and/or feeding too much and/or have inadequate filtration to export the nutrients.

It comes down to tank size and how many fish you have and how often you feed and what you feed and what type of filtration you are running and how often you change the water. And flow is important because algae loves low flow and will grab root quicker in low flow area's.

If you can share pics of your system and the algae and tell us more about your system, then we might have more specific suggestions for you.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

What’s the parameters in your tank?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

How would o go about determining what is the cause of algae bloom? tank is about 7 months old have to areas that have a thick greed flowing algae on it?
other then physically removing it what should my first steps be ?

I just added more crabs and snails of assorted mixes

Manual removal, adding algaeovores, and (if applicable) adding a refugium are all good ideas. As others have said, the crabs and snails won't eat it if it's too long. Depending on tank size, adding a bristletooth or other tang, or a blenny, can help. A sea hare can also be useful but be prepared to pass it on to another reefer/return it to the store once your algae is taken care of or it will starve. (Sea hares also need ge algae to be relatively short, so manual removal is always the best first step.)

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Also, what specific snails do you have? Some are better at algae management than others.

 

[Peair]

What worked for me after I did a good cleanup was to cut down the LED Spectrum hours down to 6 hours a day, no adjustment just constant, and the shorter hours had no effect on my many corals, do it for awhile before any increase.

 

[exnisstech]

7 months in on what looks to be a dry rock start up (build thread) it sounds like this may just be part of the tanks progression. Have any images of what it is your fighting?

 

[TOMACONDA]

Also, what specific snails do you have? Some are better at algae management than others.

astrea, cirths, turbo, maybe another one i cant remember

 

[TOMACONDA]

What worked for me after I did a good cleanup was to cut down the LED Spectrum hours down to 6 hours a day, no adjustment just constant, and the shorter hours had no effect on my many corals, do it for awhile before any increase.

xr 30 rad blues x 3 on for 6 hours plus moon

 

[TOMACONDA]

Manual removal, adding algaeovores, and (if applicable) adding a refugium are all good ideas. As others have said, the crabs and snails won't eat it if it's too long. Depending on tank size, adding a bristletooth or other tang, or a blenny, can help. A sea hare can also be useful but be prepared to pass it on to another reefer/return it to the store once your algae is taken care of or it will starve. (Sea hares also need ge algae to be relatively short, so manual removal is always the best first step.)

display 233, total water vol roughly 300 I AM Currently running two yellow tangs a tomini and lawn blenny and royal tang, nori sheet every day

 

[TOMACONDA]

7 months in on what looks to be a dry rock start up (build thread) it sounds like this may just be part of the tanks progression. Have any images of what it is your fighting?

will get pic in a few

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

display 233, total water vol roughly 300 I AM Currently running two yellow tangs a tomini and lawn blenny and royal tang, nori sheet every day

Stop feeding nori and see if the fish go for more of the algae

 

[TOMACONDA]

7 months in on what looks to be a dry rock start up (build thread) it sounds like this may just be part of the tanks progression. Have any images of what it is your fighting?

 

[exnisstech]

Looks like it time to get your hands wet and do some manual removal. I agree with @EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal as far as feeding the nori. No way I would feed nori to my tangs untill that algae is gone. I have pretty much zero GHA in my two tanks with tangs. One tank too small for tangs is a mess.

 

[TOMACONDA]

Ok do you suggest I wait a few days to see if tangs get at it ? Or should I just get in there and get it out.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Ok do you suggest I wait a few days to see if tangs get at it ? Or should I just get in there and get it out.

Both. The tangs will probably never get it all. Let them get the pieces/places you miss.