Horrible algae outbreak in tank. Algae ID

[XxAlex_OhxX]

I have a horrible algae outbreak of basically all diferent types. Diatoms, red slime, green slime, green hair. I have a tank full of snails, 2 brittle stars and 1 RBTA anemone whose health has been declining since the outbreak. Protein skimmer is only helping with water clarity. I also have a weird type of algae that almost looks like mini kelp or caulerpa but i still dont know. I have chaeto in the tank as well, so did little fragments break off and attach or is it something else? I bought my very first RODI filter so im going to be doing water changes and top offs with it from now on and ditching tap indefinitley. Are there any safe algaecides or remedies for destroying these?

The algae i need help identifying is the zoomed in photo

 

[Pod_01]

My suggestion, since it seems to be 20gal/30gal tank is to do 4 or 5 20% water changes with fresh salt water using RODI water. One a day or one every other day to get your water chemistry corrected (using tap water is too unpredictable).
Before each water change manually remove/scrub what you can.
You can add your choice of bacteria in a bottle or try to get piece of real live rock. You do need biofilm for the snails to eat.

Once done and water looks good/clear start to populate with easy to keep corals. Zoa, softies, GSP (on its own rock) etc… Likely you still will need to scrub the algae.
You want corals to outcompete the algae and cover the exposed surfaces. If not you will grow algae again.
Once easy corals are growing and tank is stable consider other corals or additional RBTA.

There is no easy potion that will make that go away without creating other problems.

Good luck,

 

[XxAlex_OhxX]

What corals

My suggestion, since it seems to be 20gal/30gal tank is to do 4 or 5 20% water changes with fresh salt water using RODI water. One a day or one every other day to get your water chemistry corrected (using tap water is too unpredictable).
Before each water change manually remove/scrub what you can.
You can add your choice of bacteria in a bottle or try to get piece of real live rock. You do need biofilm for the snails to eat.

Once done and water looks good/clear start to populate with easy to keep corals. Zoa, softies, GSP (on its own rock) etc… Likely you still will need to scrub the algae.
You want corals to outcompete the algae and cover the exposed surfaces. If not you will grow algae again.
Once easy corals are growing and tank is stable consider other corals or additional RBTA.

There is no easy potion that will make that go away without creating other problems.

Good luck,

What would be my best bet for a coral to control the algae? Would Xenia or GSP do it?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a horrible algae outbreak of basically all diferent types. Diatoms, red slime, green slime, green hair. I have a tank full of snails, 2 brittle stars and 1 RBTA anemone whose health has been declining since the outbreak. Protein skimmer is only helping with water clarity. I also have a weird type of algae that almost looks like mini kelp or caulerpa but i still dont know. I have chaeto in the tank as well, so did little fragments break off and attach or is it something else? I bought my very first RODI filter so im going to be doing water changes and top offs with it from now on and ditching tap indefinitley. Are there any safe algaecides or remedies for destroying these?

The algae i need help identifying is the zoomed in photo

This looks like a fern-like algae known as Derbesia. Similar to algae known as Bryopsis, this is one of the more challenging of algae due to need of its complete removal. Removal is best accomplished by taking the rock out of tank and placing in a container of tank water. Then you will want to pull as much as you can by hand and discard. With a dental pick or small crochet needle, pull the roots off the rock. YOU MUST GET EVERY ROOT OR IT WILL SIMPLY RETURN !!
After you are done return rock to tank and reduce white light intensity and even hours of white light and add the following cleaners which will help with control. These guys will consume bryopsis but not as fast as bryopsis can grow - They will never keep up.
Pin cushion urchin, Chiton snails, pitho crabs, and larger astrea snails

This procedure is not as bad or time consuming as it seems. Assure phosphate levels do not become elevated which helps feed this algae

harbor Freight:

 

[Pod_01]

What corals

What would be my best bet for a coral to control the algae? Would Xenia or GSP do it?

My preference is GSP. I don’t think Xenia is ideal starter coral.

Here is what I have on its own rock:

Good for back wall, pleasant to look at.

For GSP to really show its beauty you do need good water parameters. It tolerates bad parameters/swings but it will look sad and won’t grow.

Paly are also nice but there is chance they contain paly toxins so my suggestion is to get Zoas.
Paly

Zoa:

Nice and dense so algae should not get a hold. Only problem with zoa, they are temperamental.