How To Get Rid Of Most types of Algae Journey/Guide ( Green Hair Algae, Turf Algae ,Diatoms and More)

[Cali Reef Life]

Here is going to be a Journey/Guide on how to get rid of most types of algae in your reef tank in under 4 months.

I am tired of reading someone saying I tried everything to get rid of algae and I want to reset my tank there is no cure. Have you really tired everything, or do you just want instant results? There is almost always a reason for the algae and it’s finding the right balance and putting in the work. This hobby sometimes requires a lot of patients and dedication to get the tank where you want it to be but once there it’s a lot easier to maintain.

That's right this guide is going to require you to put in work into your tank and its not a simple magical snake bottle cure overnight. Some people get lucky or are skilled in exporting out nutrients and starting off with the right CUC.

I do not have the worst algae, but I have it enough where I want it gone and I am going to take you down the journey of how I got rid of it in less than 4 months. I will be posting weekly updates and show you the progress and how to take notes on what was successful. I work full time and travel for work. I do not have the most expensive equipment and I QT all inverts for over a month before they go into my tank. So, you can probably beat me in the required time.

Current Algae red turf and green hair algae and I believe some diatoms. Here is a picture of the algae as of last night after being away from the tank for 4 days. These will not be my high moments in the hobby but my journey getting there since I had a tank crash late last year, I never fully got rid of the algae just kind of maintained the same levels but decided to get back into the SPS game after tank stabilize 2 months ago. Please take the pledge to rid the algae with me and let’s take notes and get the right tools to battle this microorganism to a desired level. Tank is a little over a year old and its time to get it where I want it be.

Will update first instructions tonight after I put the first step to removing my algae problem “Only you can prevent Algae outbreaks” Smokey the fish!

 

[lapin]

Nice.

 

[Dryan]

Following along.

 

[Cali Reef Life]

Step 1 identify the source of the problem and the algae your facing and get to work cleaning the tank. What is causing this algae to bloom in your tank lack of CUC putting off maintenance or too much live stock.

I tested my perimeters and I had about 10 nitrates and about .03 phosphates. Know this sometimes algae is consuming all of the nutrients so you get a false sense your numbers are in check. I went to town in my sump and with a turkey baster and started to manually remove all the detritus there was a good amount.

I also did a 10% water change and used a gravel vacuum on about half of my sand bed. I will do another water change in a couple of days and do the rest of the sand bed. I bought a mini hard brush and dentist pick to scrape the rocks with. At first the algae is strong and healthy the goal is to weaken it and get it down to where the CUC will do the rest. I also grabbed the turkey baster and blasted the rocks and scraped all of the film of the glass. I have a foxface and tang that will eat algae 7 margarita snails and 2 couch snails and maybe 5 -10 hermits. I didn't feed my fish till after I scraped my glass they ate a bunch of algae and I was able to only feed 1 cube without any flakes.

I also bought a golf size algae barn chaeto ball and placed it in the refugium . I need to QT a few different types of snails and buff up my CUC. The key is to get a decent amount of different kinds. Do not go crazy and buy too many without looking them up. Do this in steps so you don't increase the bio-load. Next steps this week keep cleaning and research the right clean up crew. Next update we will discuss feeding habits and light cycles as well.

 

[Cali Reef Life]

Step 2 getting my nutrients at a good level and continuing to do more water changes and keep filter socks and detritus down. I bought 9 new cuc members and have them in my 10-gallon qt tank which they have cleaned all the algae up in 6 days. I got a mix of 8 snails and 1 emerald crab. 3 Mexican turbo snails 2 nassarius snails 3 Astraea snails. The trick is to get the algae under control and weak so the clean up crew can do the rest. Unfortunately, I must keep them for 5- 6 weeks in QT because I don’t have ICH in my tank.

I also keep scrubbing one rock per water change and am focusing on keeping algae at bay. If you have a large amount of algae you can put one end of siphon in the sump through a filter sock at the bottom to siphon the algae without having to change the water.

After they finish QT I will place them in my tank since the algae will be weak at this point. I will then get another 5 snails for the last month. Sometimes people raise nutrients to get rid of dinos and dose a bunch of magic fixers in the tank and it causes more problems. If you are losing a battle stop dosing anything that’s not essential for the tank and only make 1 or 2 adjustments at a time. Do this for a week or 2 to see if this has a positive effect.

Write notes about the change. If your seeing positive results after 2 weeks and need a little more add another step in the removal process. See if this makes the problem worse or better. This way when you figure out what worked you can replicate it in the future. Taking a 5-day vacation will be back and hope reef tank is fine.

 

[Lwaynebowen1975]

Following

 

[Cali Reef Life]

I returned from vacation and I did a 10% water change and cleaned my socks and Skimmer. I was looking at the tank and I noticed that the algae was at bay. Meaning I didn't notice any more growth the algae is still there but I believe I now have my parameters at the correct level. What this means is I have fixed the source of the problem. This is where people get discouraged they want instant results.

After 2 or so weeks of upping my maintenance I have fixed the source of the problem but it will still take some time to get rid of the algae.

I QT my CUC so I unfortunately will be another couple weeks before I can get them to help finish the job. The Coral QT tank has zero algae in it and I know they will get to work on the main display once I transfer them.

Image this is like hitting the gym the first few weeks you feel better but your body looks the same. You have fixed the problem and now you can continue to work out and maybe cut back on some junk food. Basically I did this to the tank and now I will continue to work and once I get the CUC in the algae will begin to disappear over the next couple of months.

This is not a miracle fix this hobby takes time and patience. I only increased about an hour or so a week of extra maintenance so its very do able for everyone else. This is not the time to be mad the algae is still there but excited that your over the hump.

 

[Rp8]

Following

 

[Nytmare]

I am following, I love your approach on this.

 

[mandyvan]

Following. I love this approach, too! I’m right there in the ugly phase 4 months in with two tanks. A rose pincushion urchin and 5 turbo snails are the biggest helpers currently. If they mow it down too well, they also like sea veggies on a clip. They make their rounds quite slowly. It’s so true that patience is key.

 

[mrjoe]

following also.. so I have a hair algae problem for the last 2 months or so.. I have a cuc with an urchin and a couple of emerald crabs.. haven't made a dent.. my #'s are good but as you say I'm probably getting false phosphate readings due to the algae.. sooooo how do I really know what my phosphates are?? I was about to move everything and take the rock out and do a peroxide dip and scrub.. other than that I'm at a loss.... the fish and zoa's for the most part are very happy tho...

 

[hmc]

Following.

 

[Sonatine]

I read and was inspired to make another pass at my tank with the turkey baster and give the glass a scrub last night. It actually does look a bit better. Good luck to all of us as we fight off our ugly stage.

 

[Cali Reef Life]

You know what day it Maintenance Saturdays time to clean filter sock do some water changes and check your skimmer. If you are dealing with long green hair algae your CUC wont touch them. The goal is to get it short and let them eat it. I would add a few different types of snails that way you have a diverse CUC. Clean that Sand bed and address the problem. What are you feeding the tank are leaving a Nori in the tank all week so your clean up crew is lazy I feed later on days I do water changes so my tang and rabbit help catch the film and loose algae.

I bought a few different types of tweezers and I pull the hair algae to a shorter length. This way your cuc can get to them and finish the job. Is your algae easily pull off the rock? If not its still strong and you haven't addressed the problem. Is it you feeding to much not doing the chores? Only you can answer this remember patients is key and sometimes it takes awhile to get there this is the 4 month fix. If your tanks new the rocks hold a lot of Phosphate and it takes time for them to leach into the tank. I got my algae from a tank crash last year. This is time for question and to know your not alone were doing this together and will tackle it but going to require some work. Keep it up guys will address deeper solutions if you can honetstly say you tried all these steps for a month.

 

[Mehlvis]

Posts like this give me hope that I can overcome my issues. I am very new to the hobby, took over a tank from my friend a little over a month ago. I’ve been trying to learn and adjust. Following as this seems a very realistic and reasonable approach.

 

[mrjoe]

ok all so here are my numbers from my lfs (wwc) using a salifert kit..

Salinity- 1.025
PH-8.0
Nitrate-0
Amm-0
Alk-11.8
calcium-490
magnesium- 1320
phos-.03

so I'm not really seeing anything that stands out to me.. My lights (16hd) are one from 0800-21230.. getting a bit ticked at this point..

 

[Cali Reef Life]

ok all so here are my numbers from my lfs (wwc) using a salifert kit..

Salinity- 1.025
PH-8.0
Nitrate-0
Amm-0
Alk-11.8
calcium-490
magnesium- 1320
phos-.03

so I'm not really seeing anything that stands out to me.. My lights (16hd) are one from 0800-21230.. getting a bit ticked at this point..

I am assuming your referring to Prime HD16. Okay lets talk about simple steps to removing longer hair algae.
1. Fix the source of the problem parameters are within range (Even though they could be slightly higher due to algae consuming them)

2. Lights have removed green and red settings out of them at least till algae is gone? There is a reason refuge lights are normally red it grows algae better. What's the Par output on lights if you don't know that's fine but a lot reefers use SPS level par when they have no SPS. This being said don't change light settings all the time but if your dealing with a bad case of algae you can dim the lights 5 -10% until algae goes down and slowly raise them after a few weeks.

3. Seeing a messing room or house can feel overwhelming when thinking how your going to clean it. If you pick a portion to clean each day or every other its much more manageable. Pick a rock or a small portion of tank and pull that algae off and then scrape it with a hard tooth brush or mini scrapper. Use a turkey baster to get any detritus out of the rock. Put those snails on the area you just scraped.

Did you know there's water proof sand paper I just bought some and will attempt to use it after rinsing it first I will update you how that goes. Do a water change after this and you can have a red cup with water to drop the algae you pulled.

4. Diverse Clean up crew I see you have no snails I recommend going and getting a couple turbos and other types of snails. Think of snails like workers without a manager they will do whatever they want. This means place them where you want them if you see them on glass or a rock without algae move them to desired location. You are in charge here I see my snails on glass and I move them back to the rocks.

Step 5 post a picture of the rock you cleaned so we hold you accountable for your own good and clean your sump I am sure there is detritus. Clean sleep scrape repeat! (If you listen to EDM might get that reference). Remember good things come from hard work you got this!

 

[Rkdunn1]

I returned from vacation and I did a 10% water change and cleaned my socks and Skimmer. I was looking at the tank and I noticed that the algae was at bay. Meaning I didn't notice any more growth the algae is still there but I believe I now have my parameters at the correct level. What this means is I have fixed the source of the problem. This is where people get discouraged they want instant results.

After 2 or so weeks of upping my maintenance I have fixed the source of the problem but it will still take some time to get rid of the algae.

I QT my CUC so I unfortunately will be another couple weeks before I can get them to help finish the job. The Coral QT tank has zero algae in it and I know they will get to work on the main display once I transfer them.

Image this is like hitting the gym the first few weeks you feel better but your body looks the same. You have fixed the problem and now you can continue to work out and maybe cut back on some junk food. Basically I did this to the tank and now I will continue to work and once I get the CUC in the algae will begin to disappear over the next couple of months.

This is not a miracle fix this hobby takes time and patience. I only increased about an hour or so a week of extra maintenance so its very do able for everyone else. This is not the time to be mad the algae is still there but excited that your over the hump.

Why qt cuc?

 

[Cali Reef Life]

Why qt cuc?

There is a chance that ICH or other parasites can encrust on their shell. The snail itself wont have it but if its kept in a fishless tank the parasite will die without a host when it releases it spawn. It's a very small chance but I don't have ICH in my system and throwing some CUC or coral in qt for 5-6 weeks is easy enough for me.

 

[DanConnor]

Yeah, the most important thing, IMO, is a good clean up crew. A wild reef, or a captive reef with perfect water quality will end up buried in algae without them. I always have an urchin, along with turbos, trochus and astrea snails. Plenty of them. You do need to have your frags glued down however, as the urchin and turbos will bulldoze.