Green hair algae outbreak

[MissouriReefer31]

I have an out break of green hair algae been trying to get rid of it for 2-3 weeks. I have a Lawnmower blenny and he has been cutting it back some but its been growing too quick. I feed frozen fish eggs. I have a seachem 55 HOB I normally run the pad that comes with it and then a ammonia pad, nitrite pad and activated carbon and the bio media it comes with. I am feeding once a day. water changes every week.

stock:

6 damsels
4 clowns
1 blenny
2 peppermint shrimp
1 emerald crab
10+ red leg hermits
10+ blue legged hermits
5 cyrtih snils
3 BTA
1 LTA

It is a 40 gal breeder would a sump work better? Only issues I have had are cyano and used chemiclean and got rid of it and now this algae, besides that water has been crystal clear and parameters have been stable. I am trying to figure out what has changed only thing I can think of is the feed went from a frozen krill too fish eggs.

 

[Lowlandreef]

11 fish for a 40 gallon seems like a lot of fish to me. A high bioload can contribute to high nutrients.

However, I don't want to jump to conclusions too fast.
Can you provide some more information about your tank?

- How high is your PO4?
- How high is your NO3?
- How much water do you change every week?
- What is your water source for waterchanges? (RO/DI, tap water, natural seawater etc.)

 

[SPR1968]

It’s probably being caused by phosphate, but you may get false zero test results because it uses phosphate as a food source

Look into phosphate export methods such as rowaphos which I use, or maybe increase water changes

 

[MissouriReefer31]

It’s probably being caused by phosphate, but you may get false zero test results because it uses phosphate as a food source

Look into phosphate export methods such as rowaphos which I use, or maybe increase water changes

Alright I will look into rowaphos. and i do water changes every week maybe twice a week, every 3 days or so?

 

[SPR1968]

Alright I will look into rowaphos. and i do water changes every week maybe twice a week, every 3 days or so?

If it is phosphate personally I would use rowaphos and run it 24/7 that’s what I do in both my systems and heavy. I keep it locked down very low at less than 0.03 so hardly any. You can research the science on this,

You will need to change it frequently to start or it won’t work as it will become spent.

It works better in a reactor but that may or may not be practical for you.

Or you could try more frequent water changes, just smaller amounts maybe daily so you don’t affect the water parameters to much. This is probably the slower method as phosphate may leach out of the rocks for sometime.

 

[MissouriReefer31]

11 fish for a 40 gallon seems like a lot of fish to me. A high bioload can contribute to high nutrients.

However, I don't want to jump to conclusions too fast.
Can you provide some more information about your tank?

- How high is your PO4?
- How high is your NO3?
- How much water do you change every week?
- What is your water source for waterchanges? (RO/DI, tap water, natural seawater etc.)

I will run a test when I get home so I can get more accurate numbers as well as the info on the last test. water is RODI from a LFS. 10 gallons every week so 25%. and yeah I thought maybe the bio load might be very high. i can try the rowaphos and maybe remove some damsels.

 

[Lowlandreef]

I will run a test when I get home so I can get more accurate numbers as well as the info on the last test. water is RODI from a LFS. 10 gallons every week so 25%. and yeah I thought maybe the bio load might be very high. i can try the rowaphos and maybe remove some damsels.

Sometimes RODI from a LFS has a pretty high TDS. So it's possible that your RODI has some nutrients in them. Rowaphos can indeed be a good solution to remove phosphate right now. I don't think you necessarily need to remove fish, but maybe you need to adjust your maintenance to the bioload. So doing larger waterchanges or adding filtration for instance.

 

[MissouriReefer31]

Sometimes RODI from a LFS has a pretty high TDS. So it's possible that your RODI has some nutrients in them. Rowaphos can indeed be a good solution to remove phosphate right now. I don't think you necessarily need to remove fish, but maybe you need to adjust your maintenance to the bioload. So doing larger waterchanges or adding filtration for instance.

Ok I will look into filtration, any suggestions? Ive been looking into a HOB Refugium and HOB skimmer. But I am also thinking of doing a sump.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Also recommend you get in there and pull it out.

Little siphon hose during water change can help.

Take rocks out of water and scrub

EDIT - biopellet reactor is what finally enabled my nitrate and phosphate numbers to get good - they say it takes 4 weeks after setup, and yep - but during the 3 week point we noticed parameters improving and at 4 weeks ideal settings nitrate and phosphate

 

[MissouriReefer31]

Sometimes RODI from a LFS has a pretty high TDS. So it's possible that your RODI has some nutrients in them. Rowaphos can indeed be a good solution to remove phosphate right now. I don't think you necessarily need to remove fish, but maybe you need to adjust your maintenance to the bioload. So doing larger waterchanges or adding filtration for instance.

I will get a TDS

Also recommend you get in there and pull it out.

Little siphon hose during water change can help.

Take rocks out of water and scrub

EDIT - biopellet reactor is what finally enabled my nitrate and phosphate numbers to get good - they say it takes 4 weeks after setup, and yep - but during the 3 week point we noticed parameters improving and at 4 weeks ideal settings nitrate and phosphate

Ok I will look into that as well. doing a little more checking to get a sump and ill probably switch too sump so i have more space for filtration as well as more water volume and I can remove all the HO gear.

 

[Lowlandreef]

Ok I will look into filtration, any suggestions? Ive been looking into a HOB Refugium and HOB skimmer. But I am also thinking of doing a sump.

Personally I like a sump. You can put all your equipment in there so you don't have any eyesores in/around the tank. It also adds water volume to your system, with the added benefit of more stability.
If you start basic with some filtersocks and a skimmer, you will probably already notice a big difference. I'm also a huge fan of refugiums. Mine works so well that I don't have to do waterchanges. But if I were you I would just start with a skimmer and do a refugium later on. Just make sure you already reserve a spot in your sump where you can put it.

 

[Reef AquaCult]

you have excess nutrients....so feed less AND EXPORT more nutrients...skimmer, chaeto, turf scrubber, filter roller, etc

 

[MissouriReefer31]

Personally I like a sump. You can put all your equipment in there so you don't have any eyesores in/around the tank. It also adds water volume to your system, with the added benefit of more stability.
If you start basic with some filtersocks and a skimmer, you will probably already notice a big difference. I'm also a huge fan of refugiums. Mine works so well that I don't have to do waterchanges. But if I were you I would just start with a skimmer and do a refugium later on. Just make sure you already reserve a spot in your sump where you can put it.

Thank you for your time and knowledge. will def move to a sump then

 

[Sleepingtiger]

I had a brown algae problem. But my astrea snails and purple tang are cleaning my rock quite well. My rocks are now white again. I am at the point where I might have to introduce something before the snails die from starvation. I haven't had to clean my glass for a week now.

 

[MissouriReefer31]

I had a brown algae problem. But my astrea snails and purple tang are cleaning my rock quite well. My rocks are now white again. I am at the point where I might have to introduce something before the snails die from starvation. I haven't had to clean my glass for a week now.

Thats awesome. yeah wasn't having any issues
for a while and then boom algae started growing my Blenny has been munching away but its growing faster then he can eat

 

[Sleepingtiger]

Thats awesome. yeah wasn't having any issues
for a while and then boom algae started growing my Blenny has been munching away but its growing faster then he can eat

bristle tooth tang will help a lot

 

[Ghost25]

I am not a fan of those hang on back filters, they don't provide much utility. If you have live rock an ammonia/nitrite pad provides no benefit. The biomedia is also redundant, activated carbon is nice but won't change dissolved nitrogen or phosphate.

My number one recommendation is to get a skimmer and fluconazole.

Here is what I would do, and what helped me. Use a brush to scrub as much hair algae off the rocks as you can, ideally pull your rocks out to do this and scrub the algae into a bucket of saltwater water that you toss. Dose fluconazole (sold as Reef Flux) after a 2-3 weeks the remaining algae will look weak and graying. Repeat the scrubbing to get as much of the dead/weakened algae of the rocks. Start running an appropriate sized skimmer.

Fluconazole is reef safe, I've dosed 2X the recommended dose with no ill effects. Yes nutrients are the rot issue. If you use fluconazole but don't address the root issue it will just return. But fluconazole gives you a fresh start, and if you start running a skimmer after dosing you can largely stop it from coming back.