H202, Coralline and Nitrifying Bacteria

[ben5impson]

I have a massive explosion of algae.
I've dimmed my lights, lowered nutrients, stepped up the water changes and reduced feeding to ever second day for fish and once a week for coral.
ive also bought a more effective skimmer and i pluck as much of the algae as i can twice a week.

it appears to be some sort of turf algae but my blenny turns his nose up at it and so does my molly. my CUC also have 0 interest in this algae.

I can not buy fluconazole in Australia without a prescription so I plan on trying to convince my GP to prescribe it for me to add to my tank.

but I also plan on spraying down the scape with Hydrogen Peroxide. the only thing preventing me doing this is I am worried it will also kill my coralline algae and crash my tank by killing the bacteria on the rocks.
I'm also concerned that if I kill off the coralline I will end up with this algae taking over completely as it doesn't seem to grow on the coralline but the coralline doesn't seem to be spreading anymore with I think is due to this algae taking up available realestate.

I can handle losing a few corals with this approach as the algae has already irritated a few to the point they have died off.
but yeah if anyone has any experience with this approach I'd love to hear about it.

Kindest regards to all,

Ben.

 

[AydenLincoln]

What are you nutrients? And hydrogen peroxide will not crash your tank, kill corals, or kill everything in fact some use it as a coral dip. You want to manually remove as much as you can, drain it, and only apply it to the spots with algae then fill it back up just don’t go dumping it in the tank or pouring it all over the rock.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

You can try adding 1ml per 10 gallons which is don't for ich control sometimes and see if that helps...I wouldn't add more than that if you're talking about just pouring it in

 

[andye81]

I have a massive explosion of algae.
I've dimmed my lights, lowered nutrients, stepped up the water changes and reduced feeding to ever second day for fish and once a week for coral.
ive also bought a more effective skimmer and i pluck as much of the algae as i can twice a week.

it appears to be some sort of turf algae but my blenny turns his nose up at it and so does my molly. my CUC also have 0 interest in this algae.

I can not buy fluconazole in Australia without a prescription so I plan on trying to convince my GP to prescribe it for me to add to my tank.

but I also plan on spraying down the scape with Hydrogen Peroxide. the only thing preventing me doing this is I am worried it will also kill my coralline algae and crash my tank by killing the bacteria on the rocks.
I'm also concerned that if I kill off the coralline I will end up with this algae taking over completely as it doesn't seem to grow on the coralline but the coralline doesn't seem to be spreading anymore with I think is due to this algae taking up available realestate.

I can handle losing a few corals with this approach as the algae has already irritated a few to the point they have died off.
but yeah if anyone has any experience with this approach I'd love to hear about it.

Kindest regards to all,

Ben.

Australian Reefer also, who has also had issues with algae. What has worked wonders for me is

1. Continuum Bacter Clean M.
2. Running Aquaforest Zeomix and Phosphate Minus in a reactor
3. Using Redsea NOPOX
4. A month of adding Bacter gen-M and Bacter gen-MD
5. Water change 30% every 2 weeks.

Also keep your Alk, Calcium and Mag as stable as possible.

 

[ben5impson]

What are you nutrients? And hydrogen peroxide will not crash your tank, kill corals, or kill everything in fact some use it as a coral dip. You want to manually remove as much as you can, drain it, and only apply it to the spots with algae then fill it back up just don’t go dumping it in the tank or pouring it all over the rock.

Nitrate is hovering around 4 phosphate not known as I did note the nuber or keep the paper it was written on as everything was below the maximum recommended level.
I don't have a phosphate test kit but I test my nitrates twice a week
previously my nitrates had been up around 20 which was which the problem started but then after some serious water changes I have managed to get them down to 4.
I did dip a few corals just to kill back as much as possible due to them being smothered but yeah was mostly worried about the coralline algae as I think one I have better coverage that it will help keep the algae under control. and was worried about the bacteria as I'd be devastated if my tank crashed

Australian Reefer also, who has also had issues with algae. What has worked wonders for me is

1. Continuum Bacter Clean M.
2. Running Aquaforest Zeomix and Phosphate Minus in a reactor
3. Using Redsea NOPOX
4. A month of adding Bacter gen-M and Bacter gen-MD
5. Water change 30% every 2 weeks.

Also keep your Alk, Calcium and Mag as stable as possible.

currently using the continuum as well as pristine with minimal results. I'm seeing it clear in spots but then get worse in other spots. I don't have a reactor unfortunately and have no room on this tank for one as it's only a nano and once this algae is under control I will be doing larger more technical setup with reactors and dosing though that's a while away for me.
I will look in to NOPOX tonight as I've not some across it yet
the other bacters I will definitely get on to as I have seen them at my LFS from memory.
I do a 25% weekly water change with redsea coral pro at the moment as i don't have auto dosing so that's how I maintain my levels of calcium alk and mag as well as export any nutrients being added as well as remove algae that might be in the water often manual removal.
have you had good results with that method? is the aquaforest and reactor a vital element of this approach?

really wishing I had started put by dipping for algae. also seeing the odd bubble algae which will probably what takes the place of this lot but I imagine that's going to be easier to manage as I am only seen around a single bubble a fortnight. just wishing we had emerald crabs in Australia for that one. thanks for the great responses

 

[ben5impson]

You can try adding 1ml per 10 gallons which is don't for ich control sometimes and see if that helps...I wouldn't add more than that if you're talking about just pouring it in

I was more talking about just spraying the rockwork while the tank was drained.
as for dosing HP I didn't realise that was a thing until I watched something about it the other day which I found really interesting and will probably start doing after more research. I don't actually know the exact water volume of my tank which makes me a bit nervous. is that 1ml per 10gal of 3% HP? would 6% be 0.5ml per 10gallons? sounds like a stupid question I know but I don't get why people aren't using 6% and halving the dose.
do you know of any threads about this?

 

[Gatorpa]

Can you post a picture…

What about loading it with snails and crabs?
Can you get blue leg hermits and a stream snail in AUS?

 

[ben5impson]

I have a few hermit crabs they have blue legs with white tips not sure of the species they were just purchased as janitor hermit crabs, I have 3 trochus snails, 15 turbo snails and 3 zebra snails. I haven't seen stream snails though unless they are sold under a different name here but I'll look them up now. I'm not too keen to add more snails or crabs until I'm on top of this then I will add more to keep on top of small outbreaks if i see them pop up.
this is a picture of the main 2 algaes which seem to be battling it out. unless it's one algae that at different life stages with a vastly different appearance. the shot pieces are dead straight and look like spikes then the longer peices look like long GHA. I'm talking up to 10cm if unchecked. then I also have a bit of regular gha which isn't a bother to me as my bicolour blenny can't get enough of it. he cleared it off my whole scape in 2 weeks and barely fit in his hide during that time.

 

[Gatorpa]

I have a few hermit crabs they have blue legs with white tips not sure of the species they were just purchased as janitor hermit crabs, I have 3 trochus snails, 15 turbo snails and 3 zebra snails. I haven't seen stream snails though unless they are sold under a different name here but I'll look them up now. I'm not too keen to add more snails or crabs until I'm on top of this then I will add more to keep on top of small outbreaks if i see them pop up.
this is a picture of the main 2 algaes which seem to be battling it out. unless it's one algae that at different life stages with a vastly different appearance. the shot pieces are dead straight and look like spikes then the longer peices look like long GHA. I'm talking up to 10cm if unchecked. then I also have a bit of regular gha which isn't a bother to me as my bicolour blenny can't get enough of it. he cleared it off my whole scape in 2 weeks and barely fit in his hide during that time.

Old rule of thumb was 1 cleaner per gallon.

I once helped by friend who did maintenance with a tank that had terrible GHA and turf algae, it was a 220 we put 250 crabs and 300 snails in that rig. in two weeks it was nearly clear…

 

[ben5impson]

I'm probably around there it's only a 25g tank and that's total volume I also have 4 or 5 zombie snails and probably a few baby turbos not that I've seen any but yeah might end up getting a few more as an extra measure and give them away after they have done their job if things seem too out of balance as far as not starving them when the algae is gone goes

 

[brandon429]

Ben you need to do exactly this, here's your exact peroxide plan in action in 6 reefs:

Algae Identification

Any opinions on what type of algae this is growing on my rocks and sand bed?

www.reef2reef.com

study the thread, it takes 30 mins for you to never own an invaded nano reef ever again. specifically look at gator reefer's algae challenge.

look what we do to sandbeds in that thread, don't skip or customize any step, do what we did.

 

[brandon429]

matter of fact, please do so well that I have a reason to add example #7 (your tank job done and added as the most recent example for readers to copy)

we must do 10 tank rip cleans a week, only six are linked above from me because they're cream of the crop. total surgical cleaning of rocks, total sand rinsing, and water so clear upon rebuild that the tank looks devoid of water though it's full. be that thorough, for the win.

within 24 hours, your tank shines....

You will not recycle your reef from using peroxide on the rocks, as we did. the bacteria are simply too numerous and housed in biofilm shields to be harmed by our kid gloves mode of cleaning.

 

[ben5impson]

Ben you need to do exactly this, here's your exact peroxide plan in action in 6 reefs:

Algae Identification

Any opinions on what type of algae this is growing on my rocks and sand bed?

www.reef2reef.com

study the thread, it takes 30 mins for you to never own an invaded nano reef ever again. specifically look at gator reefer's algae challenge.

look what we do to sandbeds in that thread, don't skip or customize any step, do what we did.

ok so yes going to do this hopefully next week as the air is cold bone dry here at the moment. still going to do more reading tonight but makes more sense the more I read. my big question is, I do plan on replacing substrate I had planned on using the same type of live sand. is that an exception as it does go in cloud but clears rapidly. I can't get dead sand around here is the reason I ask. my sand bed has been getting thinner and thinner everytime I remove this algae.

I have made it to the peroxide part yet but just the whole rip clean in general makes a lot of sense. even just as part of routine maintenance it's like spring cleaning the aquarium thank you so much for the link. I'm sure I'll have questions by the end as I'll over think it for sure haha

 

[brandon429]

EMERGENCY - Substrate change

Hi all, I’m really confused and need advice. I currently have crushed coral in my flu all evo 13.5g which due to a month in hospital the sand bed got so badly stained I can’t clean it and it looks gross. It’s a mixed tank with a clown, fire fish and 2 cardinals. I’ve ordered caribsea live pink...

www.reef2reef.com

study that one, a direct sandbed swap


Rinse your new sand, it doesn’t matter where it comes from


it’s not possible to read both those threads and think there is any type of sand you shouldn’t pre rinse. No matter where your sand comes from, do what we did above. A cloudless perfect rinse. Between just those two threads all bases are covered for your tank to get fixed overnite

*your type of algae will be best handled by rocks sitting on the counter, surgical rasping and digging out algae with a kitchen knife, saltwater rinse the algae down the drain, and when rocks are manually detailed clean you then do the peroxide application as the last step, on clean rocks with zero algae. Wait a few mins, rinse and repeat. For growths on the zoanthids just tweezer pull off the algae as best you can

 

[ben5impson]

EMERGENCY - Substrate change

Hi all, I’m really confused and need advice. I currently have crushed coral in my flu all evo 13.5g which due to a month in hospital the sand bed got so badly stained I can’t clean it and it looks gross. It’s a mixed tank with a clown, fire fish and 2 cardinals. I’ve ordered caribsea live pink...

www.reef2reef.com

study that one, a direct sandbed swap


Rinse your new sand, it doesn’t matter where it comes from


it’s not possible to read both those threads and think there is any type of sand you shouldn’t pre rinse. No matter where your sand comes from, do what we did above. A cloudless perfect rinse. Between just those two threads all bases are covered for your tank to get fixed overnite

*your type of algae will be best handled by rocks sitting on the counter, surgical rasping and digging out algae with a kitchen knife, saltwater rinse the algae down the drain, and when rocks are manually detailed clean you then do the peroxide application as the last step, on clean rocks with zero algae. Wait a few mins, rinse and repeat. For growths on the zoanthids just tweezer pull off the algae as best you can

sorry for taking so long to respond couldn't find my way back here what exactly is my type of algae as I'd like to do some research on it as I'm half wondering if I should do a complete reset by moving everything to a new tanks stripping this one down and doing a whole rescape. the only reason I haven't done that is the zoas that are on my scape have change from green tentacle to gold similar to the colour of my gold mauls and I haven't yet fragged zoas but I really like the look of them now not sure why they changed but I'm digging them