Help with algae!

[senorsancho]

My 20g nano reef is only 4 months old now and it is not that bad with algae as I keep the sandbed pretty clean and there's lot of corals to help distract from the algae everywhere on the rocks and back glass. However, I do not want it to keep growing at the rate it is as this has only been occurring about like a couple weeks ago and spread pretty quickly :/

For sure I have bubble algae, some type of sea lettuce ( I think its ulva), and then there's this hair type algae but it doesn't look like GHA or Bryopsis to me, could someone help me ID it? Also, for the algae that's growing on the back glass, could I just scrape that inside the tank and let it go through poly filter pad and remove that way?

Now my 20g nano all I have right now is just a HOB aquaclear filter that only has some biomedia and polyfilter pad, usually I have ROX carbon, but have it out right now as I am starting to use Brightwell Razor to help with the algae issue. Looking at the pictures would you guys suggest anything else? I just started feeding wayyyy less than I was as I was probably overfeeding from the mistake of thinking I needed to boost nitrates and phosphates completely missing the fact that the algae was proobably sucking it all up lol.

I have no skimmer or anything and I had manually been removing the ulva lettuce, but I can't do the same for the other algaes. I don't have a skimmer, just relying on rock, sand, and my HOB filter for filtration. I only have 2 astrea snails and one blue legged hermit. Would you guys suggest that I beef up my CUC a little? I was thinking of getting an emerald crab or two, 3 trochus snails, and 2 more red legged hermit crabs.

Any suggestions of steps you guys would take to solve this issue would be great! All pictures are below with what I was referring to!

 

[Big G]

Does the algae in the first pick break apart easily or is it difficult/wiry texture?

 

[senorsancho]

Does the algae in the first pick break apart easily or is it difficult/wiry texture?

It's more of a difficult, wiry texture! Can't really pick it off like GHA, have to scrap it with a razor

 

[Big G]

Yes, I've had that one. It's a type of green turf algae. Pretty tough to remove. Scrapes off glass with a bit of effort. But for the rocks, I used a type of a dental pick like the one the dentist scrape your teeth for cleaning. Got the tool from my dentist. Slow work for sure.

 

[senorsancho]

Yes, I've had that one. It's a type of green turf algae. Pretty tough to remove. Scrapes off glass with a bit of effort. But for the rocks, I used a type of a dental pick like the one the dentist scrape your teeth for cleaning. Got the tool from my dentist. Slow work for sure.

Oh okay that's what I figured it was! Yeah I really gotta scrape it! Do you think it's fine if I scrape it and just let it get sucked up by filtration? Or should only do it during water changes?

 

[Cwentz758]

Oh okay that's what I figured it was! Yeah I really gotta scrape it! Do you think it's fine if I scrape it and just let it get sucked up by filtration? Or should only do it during water changes?

Water change time would probably get most of it and not allow more to float away and hide somewhere else.

 

[senorsancho]

Water change time would probably get most of it and not allow more to float away and hide somewhere else.

And what are some good tips you have for handling this algae situation right now? Probably just reducing feeding to a bare minimum to cut out nutrients and let it starve out right?

 

[Jonify]

1) This is a common problem, and you don't need fancy equipment to fix it! 2) It will require a bit of work up front, and then a weekly commitment to stay on top of it.

To start, you'll need to pick/pry/pluck/sift as much of the algae as you can off your rock and sand. Then do a large (50% or more) water change and use your vacuum to capture the pieces floating in the water column, and the pieces that have settled on the sand. In addition to removing the visible algae, this large water change will help remove nitrates/phosphates in your water column that are fueling the algae growth.

To maintain and clean your water/reduce algae-fueling nutrients even more, you'll need to do two things. 1) Feed less. Much less. Your animals can get by with a feeding every couple of days, though it wouldn't seem like it (most of our pets are PIGS! ). If you want to feed a little more, do, but keep it to once a day, and don't pour food in. Put just enough in so that each small fish captures a couple of pellets/flakes each day, larger fish a few pellets/flakes more, and 2) do at least a 20% water change every week, 30% if you can.

Lots of reefers have success without skimmers, carbon dosing, etc., and you can too! Just stay on top of weekly water changes and feed sparingly. Good luck!

 

[Cwentz758]

And what are some good tips you have for handling this algae situation right now? Probably just reducing feeding to a bare minimum to cut out nutrients and let it starve out right?

I’m not 100% how this specific algae works, for GHA it would be manually remove as much as you can then blackout the tank for a few days.

 

[Cwentz758]

I guess another question is what and how much do you feed?

 

[senorsancho]

1) This is a common problem, and you don't need fancy equipment to fix it! 2) It will require a bit of work up front, and then a weekly commitment to stay on top of it.

To start, you'll need to pick/pry/pluck/sift as much of the algae as you can off your rock and sand. Then do a large (50% or more) water change and use your vacuum to capture the pieces floating in the water column, and the pieces that have settled on the sand. In addition to removing the visible algae, this large water change will help remove nitrates/phosphates in your water column that are fueling the algae growth.

To maintain and clean your water/reduce algae-fueling nutrients even more, you'll need to do two things. 1) Feed less. Much less. Your animals can get by with a feeding every couple of days, though it wouldn't seem like it (most of our pets are PIGS! ). If you want to feed a little more, do, but keep it to once a day, and don't pour food in. Put just enough in so that each small fish captures a couple of pellets/flakes each day, larger fish a few pellets/flakes more, and 2) do at least a 20% water change every week, 30% if you can.

Lots of reefers have success without skimmers, carbon dosing, etc., and you can too! Just stay on top of weekly water changes and feed sparingly. Good luck!

Alright sounds like a good plan and awesome information to hear! Thanks a lot!

 

[Jonify]

Alright sounds like a good plan and awesome information to hear! Thanks a lot!

No problem. As your tank ages, you may find you're able to get by with water changes every couple of weeks instead of every week, but for tanks our size, it's just a good practice to change water every week to ensure the tank will always be sparkling without having to add equipment and dose stuff. Down the road, you can explore strategies for vacuuming sand (most do a small section each time they do a water change), but at this point you might want to let your sand be ... kicking all that stuff up in your sand at this point will negate what you're doing with water changes--and might make it worse for a while. So save that until you're a few months further down the road.

 

[Big G]

Oh okay that's what I figured it was! Yeah I really gotta scrape it! Do you think it's fine if I scrape it and just let it get sucked up by filtration? Or should only do it during water changes?

I used a siphon hose kinda attached to the scraper. Sucked most of it as I worked. If you have a sump, run the other end into the sump with a mesh bag on the end. You can scrape for quite awhile before the bag gets blocked and needs emptying so the water will flow through it.