How to get rid of Lyngbya

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ReefSlice

ReefSlice

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Just an update. I've been dosing Microbacter Clean daily for close to a month as well as phosphate and although this has done a nice job getting rid of small patches of cyano I had on the sand and 1 or 2 tiny patches of hair algae, the lyngbya is still all over the tank. I will keep up with the dosing but I am doubtful I'm going to defeat it with just this technique. Anyone out there have experience beating this stuff back?
 

ryshark

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Just an update. I've been dosing Microbacter Clean daily for close to a month as well as phosphate and although this has done a nice job getting rid of small patches of cyano I had on the sand and 1 or 2 tiny patches of hair algae, the lyngbya is still all over the tank. I will keep up with the dosing but I am doubtful I'm going to defeat it with just this technique. Anyone out there have experience beating this stuff back?
This stuff is the worst! Thanks for updating the thread, please keep doing so.
 

paintman

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I am also dealing with a wicked case of this stuff in my 200 gal. since this is a bacteria and not an algae, I am wondering if we are not inadvertantly introducing this into our tank with all the new hip//trendy bottled bacteria stuff that we are using to cycle our tanks. Years ago we never cycled our tanks with any of these witch potions and never did we have this lynbya in our tanks. At least I didn't.
When we dump in a bottle of MB7 or Dr. Tim's, or whatever the snake oil dujour of the day is, how do we/they know exactly what type of bacteria is in it, and if it's 100% pure? Just look at how much trust we all put in Vibrant, not to mention Tropic Marin Pro salt.
I'm not trying to flame these companies, it just seems impossible to have a bottle with millions of microscopic organisms/bacteria of different strains in it and not have a nasty unwanted one sneak it's way in.
 

monkeyCmonkeyDo

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No don't worry they live in a bottle on a shelf. It's 100% reef safe. Dump it in. Lol.
Idk what kinda fancy algae word that is or bacteria. Whatever u wanna call it.

I'm old school. That's deprived hair algae. The beginnings of what they call the ugly stages now these days.
It's would darken up and grow long and dark green with light and nutrients. Lol.
If it's truly just the light brown algae than it will die off on its own. Blow it off with a turkey baster and do a wc. Run the carbon.
Stop putting things in your water other than clean saltwater.
Hths you
D
 

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I think I have had sucess with api algaefix on a tank with this. I say I "think" because it seemed to go away after dosing it.
 

ryshark

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It's definitely a tough one, but I'm determined to treat it in tank without killing everything on the rock if possible. Razor scares me but I think dosing bacteria (although I already dose biodigest 1x week) may be a good idea. Thanks!
Anyone else ever deal with this stuff?
I just watched a @ReefBum video and he mentioned using RAZOR and his tank full of sps which is doing great. I know I mentioned trying Razor before, but maybe at this point its worth a chance.
 

ryshark

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I am also dealing with a wicked case of this stuff in my 200 gal. since this is a bacteria and not an algae, I am wondering if we are not inadvertantly introducing this into our tank with all the new hip//trendy bottled bacteria stuff that we are using to cycle our tanks. Years ago we never cycled our tanks with any of these witch potions and never did we have this lynbya in our tanks. At least I didn't.
When we dump in a bottle of MB7 or Dr. Tim's, or whatever the snake oil dujour of the day is, how do we/they know exactly what type of bacteria is in it, and if it's 100% pure? Just look at how much trust we all put in Vibrant, not to mention Tropic Marin Pro salt.
I'm not trying to flame these companies, it just seems impossible to have a bottle with millions of microscopic organisms/bacteria of different strains in it and not have a nasty unwanted one sneak it's way in.
When I had what was possibly Lynbgya, I don't recall dosing any bottled bacteria before it appeared. At that point in time I was all about "bio-diversity" and I was getting lots of real live things which came out of the ocean. However, not from the Indonesia area where we got stuff from years ago.
I have no idea where it comes from, but I doubt from bottled bacteria.
 
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ryshark

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No don't worry they live in a bottle on a shelf. It's 100% reef safe. Dump it in. Lol.
Idk what kinda fancy algae word that is or bacteria. Whatever u wanna call it.

I'm old school. That's deprived hair algae. The beginnings of what they call the ugly stages now these days.
It's would darken up and grow long and dark green with light and nutrients. Lol.
If it's truly just the light brown algae than it will die off on its own. Blow it off with a turkey baster and do a wc. Run the carbon.
Stop putting things in your water other than clean saltwater.
Hths you
D
This stuff is totally different from regular light brown algae that dies off. Also, when blowing it off with a turkey baster, it spreads like crazy.
 

MBruun

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I have been dealing with Lyngbya for some years ago, and tried a lot of things with no luck for like a months. They appeared just after I used ChemiClean..
I got rid of them in a few days using a large UV sterializer.
 

sixty_reefer

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Have you considered blocking the light with some poly pads and some rubber bands or a few dots of super glue to keep them in place?
 

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I tried complete lights out for 3 days and they just returned - it had no effect (for me)
 
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No don't worry they live in a bottle on a shelf. It's 100% reef safe. Dump it in. Lol.
Idk what kinda fancy algae word that is or bacteria. Whatever u wanna call it.

I'm old school. That's deprived hair algae. The beginnings of what they call the ugly stages now these days.
It's would darken up and grow long and dark green with light and nutrients. Lol.
If it's truly just the light brown algae than it will die off on its own. Blow it off with a turkey baster and do a wc. Run the carbon.
Stop putting things in your water other than clean saltwater.
Hths you
D
I assure you this is much different than your run of the mill hair algae, I've been keeping reef tanks for 15 years and have never seen anything like it up until now. It's also been present for 4 months now, and water changes or nutrient export have no effect on it.
I just watched a @ReefBum video and he mentioned using RAZOR and his tank full of sps which is doing great. I know I mentioned trying Razor before, but maybe at this point its worth a chance.
I'm hesitant to use something like razor just because I can't see how an algaecide will work on a bacterial problem, but it is something I've considered.
I have been dealing with Lyngbya for some years ago, and tried a lot of things with no luck for like a months. They appeared just after I used ChemiClean..
I got rid of them in a few days using a large UV sterializer.
Interesting. I didn't think that lyngbya was released into the water column for any time, but this may be worth a shot. Thanks for the reply.

I'm trying to be very patient with this problem. I don't like quick fixes and believe in a reef finding its own balance over time, but as my tank begins growing tons of sponges, pods, specks of coralline and all the indicators of a maturing reef, it is very evident that the lyngbya is causing problems for my corals. Whether that be from sucking up all available nutrients in the water column or releasing toxins, I'm not sure, but none of my corals have grown or looked healthy since this all started. I believe I introduced it from a zoanthid frag in February, and for the last week or so it has been strangely disappearing on certain sections of my rockwork and then returning or changing it's growth patterns, but not spreading. Hopefully this is an indicator that it's struggling and will be on it's way out soon. I've also been dosing a bit more po4 to try and grow some form of algae to outcompete the lyngbya. I'll give some other gentle methods of removal a try and continue the good fight with updates.
 

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Reefslice, I THINK I'm in the in same boat as you. I just created a separate thread on this thinking it's GHA.. but it might be the same thing you're battling, thread here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/gha-and-dosing-nitrates.918472/#post-10318722

At this point, I'm afraid to dump another batch of snails in here if it's ineffective. I may start just dosing some peroxide as that does seem to be effective at spot treating the rocks I had which completely covered the corals.

One thing I've noticed, is that these can be ripped off easily, but the roots are still there. It's not something I can use a turkey baster to blast off. Would this be more of a characteristic of GHA or lyngbya?
 

ryshark

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Reefslice, I THINK I'm in the in same boat as you. I just created a separate thread on this thinking it's GHA.. but it might be the same thing you're battling, thread here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/gha-and-dosing-nitrates.918472/#post-10318722

At this point, I'm afraid to dump another batch of snails in here if it's ineffective. I may start just dosing some peroxide as that does seem to be effective at spot treating the rocks I had which completely covered the corals.

One thing I've noticed, is that these can be ripped off easily, but the roots are still there. It's not something I can use a turkey baster to blast off. Would this be more of a characteristic of GHA or lyngbya?
I tried dosing peroxide to the display water and it didn't help. I looked at your thread and it looks more green than whatever I had, also, I don't think there is any root left behind when blowing lyngbya with a baster.
 
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Reefslice, I THINK I'm in the in same boat as you. I just created a separate thread on this thinking it's GHA.. but it might be the same thing you're battling, thread here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/gha-and-dosing-nitrates.918472/#post-10318722

At this point, I'm afraid to dump another batch of snails in here if it's ineffective. I may start just dosing some peroxide as that does seem to be effective at spot treating the rocks I had which completely covered the corals.

One thing I've noticed, is that these can be ripped off easily, but the roots are still there. It's not something I can use a turkey baster to blast off. Would this be more of a characteristic of GHA or lyngbya?
Your problem algae is definitely looking more like GHA to me, the way it's growing in green tufts and can be grabbed and ripped off. Mine is majorly very short brown hairs that carpet rocks and can be blown off but just turns to nothing when touched. I think some turbo snails and nutrient control would be your best bet! Also I'd recommend microbacter clean, because it killed the tiny patch of hair algae and 2 small tufts of bryopsis in my rockwork as well as all red cyano on my sand in just a few weeks of daily dosing.
In other news, my trochus snails began spawning a week or two ago and I now have hundreds of tiny trochus snails mowing over my rocks. No effect on the lyngbya, but still cool nonetheless.
 

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I had this horrible horrible plague in my reef tank and it almost caused me to throw in the towel once and for all.

I'd be willing to bet that the problem is with your RODI water and inadequate filtration. I went from a 4 stage under sink RODI system to an 8 stage system that I configured after better understanding the composition of my tap water. No more lyngbya!!
 

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paintman

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I had this horrible horrible plague in my reef tank and it almost caused me to throw in the towel once and for all.

I'd be willing to bet that the problem is with your RODI water and inadequate filtration. I went from a 4 stage under sink RODI system to an 8 stage system that I configured after better understanding the composition of my tap water. No more lyngbya!!
Along the lines of water filtration I was also wondering if perhaps we are introducing this through our well water. I remember when we built our house, the board of health official came out to inspect our new well and told us to treat/ sanitize our well once a year with bleach. (something I havn't done).

Anyways, apparently what your supposed to do is remove the cover on top of the well head and dump 2-3 gallons of bleach down the well and let it sit overnight. The next day take your garden hose and run it for a few hours to remo the bleached water from the well, thus removing any dead bacteria.
It would be interesting to know how many of us are on well water and have lynbya. Could this be getting past our RO units?
 

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I think your tank just needs time to mature. At one year old my system is just now beating the ugly phases after going through green hair algae, then chrysophytes, then Dino’s, then cyano, than GHA again that lasted for about 5 months. The 400 lbs. of dry rock I added finally looks like live rock. Your rock still looks pretty young.
 

ryshark

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Along the lines of water filtration I was also wondering if perhaps we are introducing this through our well water. I remember when we built our house, the board of health official came out to inspect our new well and told us to treat/ sanitize our well once a year with bleach. (something I havn't done).

Anyways, apparently what your supposed to do is remove the cover on top of the well head and dump 2-3 gallons of bleach down the well and let it sit overnight. The next day take your garden hose and run it for a few hours to remo the bleached water from the well, thus removing any dead bacteria.
It would be interesting to know how many of us are on well water and have lynbya. Could this be getting past our RO units?
My tap water is treated with both chlorine and chloramines and I run a 6-stage Spectrapure with all of their best filters. So in my case, I don’t think it was from my water.
 

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