It decimated your tank but you're still here to tell about it! So tell us about it!

[Kimberely]

Never had a problem with algae. I get a little bubble algae in spots from time to time but that's it. I did tear down my first tank due to multiple species of dinos though.

 

[Shawn Blevins]

Currently battling Bryopsis. Got busy with work and skipped a few water changes. Bryopsis started taking over. Spent a lot of time scrubbing and pulling along with water changes. Getting better but don’t think it will go away till I reset it. Good part is currently building a fish/sump room and gonna upgrade my tank. With the Bryopsis outbreak learned a valuable lesson quarantine quarantine quarantine. Bryopsis is no joke.

my small tank had a dyno outbreak during the same time. Started kalwasser raised ph and tank is back to thriving.

 

[ceruleanspiral]

Dealing with it now... I think it’s green hair algae and maybe some turf algae in my Biocube32. I just added about 15 more snails, a chiton, a conch, and another dozen crabs about 4 days ago. I want a blue spot sea hare- would pay anyone who had one, but they’re sold out everywhere. Tank is too small for the regular ones.

I have a Rowaphos media reactor, change water every week, added 2 power heads, got a lawnmower blenny.

I’m using Vibrant 2x/wk since Oct 16 and it doesn’t seem to be doing anything at all.

My tuxedo urchin died over the weekend. Totally fine, full spines, eating paths of algae. Then I was messing with my ATO and I think it was in the area close to the outflow where the fresh water mixed. It dropped its spines and was dead 3 hours later.

I’m definitely close to crazy.

And yes, I have been doing everything you're "supposed to" do. I have always done water changes weekly, change filter floss 2-3x/wk. Rowaphos renewed monthly. I also took rocks out to scrub with peroxide, which works for 4-5 days afterward. I pick and I brush with a toothbrush. I haven't in the past 2 weeks because it feels like there is no point. I have all these zoas growing on the rocks, now I don't know what to do. I would get new rock but not sure if that would even help at this point.

 

[BeejReef]

Been lucky or good. Not sure which. Fine with either. Coraline just came on SO strong and snails are breeding SO hard, hasn't been an issue so far (knocking on wood).

 

[Bob Escher]

I have had tuffs of it but never any amounts serious enough to do any harm

 

[brandon429]

what I think is the most updated gha prevention/remediation science, not found in books

a combo method.

first step is never allowing anything that could wreck your tank.

second step is take literally everything the hobby uses to battle GHA (when its infested, by waiting) and apply it to the clean condition aquarium only (uses step #1)

so that means your clean up crews, fluconazole, ATS, nitrate dosers, specialized fish, nitrate and phosphate management, all should occur after you have hand gardened the tank into no algae.

in my opinion this is the perfect alignment and it excludes hesitation, or allowed farming, which is why it works.

*the challenge then becomes how to reduce step 1 work, but nobody ever posts a wrecked or lost tank

i agree algae can come and go, not everyone wants the clinch win. this is for those who lost first round, and dont want to lose again. its for the unlucky large tankers.

nano keepers can be lazy, and undo it anytime, due to ease of access

 

[BeejReef]

what I think is the most updated gha prevention/remediation science, not found in books

a combo method.

first step is never allowing anything that could wreck your tank.

second step is take literally everything the hobby uses to battle GHA (when its infested, by waiting) and apply it to the clean condition aquarium only (uses step #1)

so that means your clean up crews, fluconazole, ATS, nitrate dosers, specialized fish, nitrate and phosphate management, all should occur after you have hand gardened the tank into no algae.

in my opinion this is the perfect alignment and it excludes hesitation, or allowed farming, which is why it works.

*the challenge then becomes how to reduce step 1 work, but nobody ever posts a wrecked or lost tank

Grandpa called that "nipping it in the bud."

 

[Mark Gray]

I have come close due to Dinoflagellates, in.my news tank but on the fown hill side didn't take to long to get rid of them. About 1 year is all.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Early 2018, accidently spilled 16oz of homemade coral food, everything died but 4 red chilli cactus corals. Today, the student is the Master.....Hahaha

 

[brandon429]

Beej funny you would say that

the method is modeled after my grandma's ability to keep a giant garden weed free.

with a butterknife, and a repeated stabbing motion down to the roots, never a lawnmowing motion leaving the anchors. soon the grass filled in and did the exclusion (coralline)

 

[vetteguy53081]

Worse one was my drop off tank. Took about 7 weeks to beat it. Went three months and now see it trying to come back. Bought another bottle of vibrant which worked the first time

 

[Wh00pS32]

I have honestly never had an algae problem in my almost 20 years of saltwater tanks.
I have had to close a tank because of aptasia though.

 

[ceruleanspiral]

Posts that say 'Well yerjustnotdoinitrite!" are not helpful. I did all the things. If anyone can name *one* thing for me to do that I haven't already tried for my tank size, I'd pay them $1.

Like, honestly...

 

[Brad Vaughn]

Had a bad outbreak of GHA once in a BTA tank that got just about 30m of sunlight partially hitting the tank. Nutrients were high at the time but bringing them down didn't stop the algae. I had to take out several of the larger rocks and scrub it off, leaving quite a bit of algae still in the tank. But it was reduced enough to eventually die-off and get eaten down. Never had another bought with it, but I do get cyano all the time in my refugium. It doesn't bother me much. And I've had Phyto-blooms before. Those call for 100% WC. I've seen bryopsis a few times and I immediately scrub it out. Never had it take hold. With algae and pests I have learned to get on it right away and not procrastinate.

 

[Brew12]

Why would you break down a tank with a free food supply?

 

[dansreef]

I had a 72 bowfront reef that I had for quite a few years. I foolishly set it up with a very dense rock similar to white "texas holley rock"?? I dont remeber the exact name of the rock, but it was dense, hard and weighed a ton. The tank looked great and the fish and the coral seemed to thrive. I added small pieces of "live" rock with mushrooms....etc... and started to notice the start of hair algae.

In what seemed like a matter of days....the hair algae bloomed... and really took off. Soon it looked like everything was topped with long flowing green hair. Nothing touched it. No crabs, snails, fish..... nothing. It got so bad, yes, I nearly shut the tank down. Honestly, if I had.... I probably would have found another way to spend my money.... or I would be independently wealthy at this point.... This hobby can be expensive.......

I tried everything..... GFO.... manual removal... My nitrates and phosphates seemed fine, when in fact the hair algae was sucking everything up as quickly as I put it in. I was feeding.... over feeding.... flake, pellets and frozen. I had a skimmer but it was woefully inadequate and inefficient. I started removing individual rocks. I would scrub and rinse them. In a couple of days they looked as bad as they did before.

Over time, I removed most of the original rock and replaced it with lighter reef rock that was much more porous. I used Dr Tims waste away... and I would add in other bacteria additives as well. I bought a better skimmer and I replaced my lighting with a better t-5 fixture on a timer to not overdo the light cycle. Over time the Coraline algae started to grow... and the hair algae faded away. I added a rabbit fish and he started to graze. Eventually, I would say over a year or so, the tank went from a "turd" to one that was much more pleasant to look at...and one that grew some really nice coral. It took time and persistence to rid the hair algae.... and it took some to improve my reefing approach to optimize feeding, nutrient export and allowing my tank to find its balance.

I would like to say it was a learning experience, and I guess it was. That said, I have had hair algae blooms in other tanks. I usually dont panic though. I start to address the usual suspects. I also use herbivore fish in my tanks that I have learned to manage better. For instance, a lot of tangs will ignore algae in the tank if you are feeding them nori, pellets and frozen. It is amazing when you take those food sources away...when they truly get hungry how quickly they start to graze. It may take a few days or even longer..... People get worried about not feeding their fish, when actually there is plenty for them to forage on when there is an algae bloom. Of course, some fish may need to still be fed. I will then hand-feed, or spot-feed these.... For instance.... Antias like fine particulate food... I would feed ovum to them and that would carry them over well .... and a trigger I would feed larger pieces of krill one at a time. The rest of the fish switched to grazing on algae... or the pod population that usually also exploded in an algae bloom.

I know this is a long reply, I am ultimately glad I did not break the tank down as I would have just fixed a short term symptom and not address the overall problem. I have also found that all tanks are different. What worked with one set up would not always work with another. For those struggling with Hair Algae now, I would challenge them to be patient.. and work to address problem areas. I have also found that, only bad things happen fast in reefing. Hair algae can be defeated. Find the source of the nutrients and remove it or manage it better. I hope this is in some way helpful.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I had a 180l tank that I had a major hair algae outbreak on, i priced up reactors etc and the things I'd have to buy to try and defeat it so I broke the tank down and bought a smaller tank a jbj24 as this was an easier option for me, this was all at the time my first child was about to be born so I thought I haven't got time to sort the algae issue and went for it, a plus was the 24 took up less space and the space It created made room for the baby stuff.
I'm so glad I went that route though, as my son came 3.5 weeks early and if I had kept the algae ridden tank, I think with a new born and the head ache of the algae I would have left this beautiful hobby years ago.

 

[playapixie]

The only thing algae I had ever hurt in my tank is a ponape birdsnest that got overtaken with bubble algae. Have had other episodes of annoying algae but have always been able to resolve them.

 

[eric.tech]

So I had a naaasty outbreak of GHA when I was transitioning from my 27gallon reef to my 75 gallon. I took over and wiped out a couple Zoa’s, almost took out a frogspawn, and an acan. My initial issue I later found was I didn’t have enough flow, but the green scourge had already taken root on my rock work. I had to remove each rock with GHA, scrub it down with a dish brush and a water/peroxide mixture. After putting a gyre in my tank and scrubbing the rocks, I haven’t had an issue since.

 

[sfin52]

June 6, Sept 12, November 17,

A lot of work but my 55g fowlr is coming along. Up till June it was tap water. After June rodi and waste away. Yesterday toothbrush and elbow grease