It decimated your tank but you're still here to tell about it! So tell us about it!
- QUESTION OF THE DAY
- Thread starter revhtree
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I finally eliminated my GHA using H2O2 / rock scrub / dosing and then cyano came in. Amazingly, my new tuxedo urchin has been ripping it apart on the rocks, but that doesn't help the sand / glass / pumps. So a Chemiclean treatment is in progress.
I'm hoping once this is done I'll be finished with the algae for a while. At least done with the mess, a little is fine for the urchin.
I'm hoping once this is done I'll be finished with the algae for a while. At least done with the mess, a little is fine for the urchin.
Thaxxx
Valuable Member
Not if you use nothing but "REAL" from the ocean alive rock. I always get mine from Tampa Bay live rock. I go there and cherry pick the pieces I want. It never leaves water. No die off.
It cracks me up the terminology used today. "live rock"
Nothing live about it.
Magellan
2500 Club Member
THIS!! when I was first getting started, and got my first algae, an old guy at the LFS said “learn to love your algae”. Of course I thought this was crazy...who wants algae? Now I think I’m starting to understand what he meant. If the environment you create is inhospitable for algae (the building block for just about all life on earth!) how would it be very hospitable for other forms of life? Keep a healthy and active CUC and don’t underestimate the value of fast growing softies to soak up extra nutrients.
yes but the only part I veer from is im the most vengeful gha killer here. what we do to gha rocks looks like a Jason Friday 13th movie, knives included, caustic agents.
but Im in agreement we're crazy and algae are normal and show up because reef, not bc of anything we do wrong. when I list detritus as a common feed for them, part of the causative side that keeps us having to remove algae by hand, that's not meaning detritus is bad (marine snow coral feed) just that its not marine snow when its packed in rocks, sand, or in the algae. I advocate studying its appearance via natural means, but we chop it out on the counter while wearing hockey masks if we're using time wisely.
algae stood zero chance here. we asked for no tank measure, no tedious hesitation. what we got was a willing participant not about to lose the tank, to algae. I use this as my #1 example that an invaded reef is a matter of psychology vs plant. This person=resolved. we knew what the after pics would look like before the method was ran.
www.reef2reef.com
but Im in agreement we're crazy and algae are normal and show up because reef, not bc of anything we do wrong. when I list detritus as a common feed for them, part of the causative side that keeps us having to remove algae by hand, that's not meaning detritus is bad (marine snow coral feed) just that its not marine snow when its packed in rocks, sand, or in the algae. I advocate studying its appearance via natural means, but we chop it out on the counter while wearing hockey masks if we're using time wisely.
algae stood zero chance here. we asked for no tank measure, no tedious hesitation. what we got was a willing participant not about to lose the tank, to algae. I use this as my #1 example that an invaded reef is a matter of psychology vs plant. This person=resolved. we knew what the after pics would look like before the method was ran.
Is this Lyngbya?
I've been having a heck of a time with some flavor of nuisance algae/cyano. Several months back, it would mat on my sand bed. I could clean it up, vacuum it away, then it would return within 48 hours. I thought removing the sand bed would help, but this stuff just grown on everything. I can get...
www.reef2reef.com
DesertReefT4r
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Hey, Pinocchio here. Thought that was too funny. I almost was at the point of a tank reset.
Scorpius
2500 Club Member
I had a specific version of turf algae that survived 3x dosage of fluconazole. It stayed green even sitting outside in the sun. I fought it for years and I gave up last month. Had so much wrong design wise anyways.
New system is five weeks old currently and I'm still paranoid that i didn't get it all.
New system is five weeks old currently and I'm still paranoid that i didn't get it all.
H3rm1tCr@b
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I had a terrible bout of dinos for a while. It was rough stuff. Eventually if I remember correctly I just stopped water changes and I think I figured out I didn’t have enough phosphates or something (0ppm?) I also had tons of caulerpa at one point. Dang now that I think about it it took me like a year and a half to be able to grow coral!
Scorpius I’m highly interested to know what you would do if some showed up on a rock, mid aquascape
of all the range of actions possible, what would you honestly do given the prior learning about that kind of algae persistence
of all the range of actions possible, what would you honestly do given the prior learning about that kind of algae persistence
DEWreefing
Well-Known Member
I break down tanks every year and a half due to upgrades never a pest.
Started with a 125 gallon made it 1 year moved up to the 180 gallon still running but will not make it to 2 years moving on to the 225 gallon.
Started with a 125 gallon made it 1 year moved up to the 180 gallon still running but will not make it to 2 years moving on to the 225 gallon.
Ugh, yes... vacation, wedding preparations and general lack of enthusiasm.... my reef is seriously suffering. I'm to the point where I want to tear down and start over with a new tank but it isn't in the budget for a while.
Dabcrusher
Valuable Member
I had a bad bryopsis and hair algae outbreak about a year ago I t smothered a few corals but with hesitation used reef flux hd (didnt know how it affected ulva and that's what I use instead of cheato and highly reccomend the ulva (sea lettuce) and with no I'll effects the ulva was fine and the bryopsis and hair algae was gone 11 months later still good.
PhreeByrd
Active Member
"Have you ever had an algae outbreak so bad that you had to break the tank down and start over?"
Maybe the worst question, or at least the worst wording of a question, ever.
Nobody has ever HAD to break down a tank due to an algae outbreak. Impatience or ignorance would be the only reasons to due so.
In a forum where we regularly (and rightly) propose patience as a keystone to success, this question tries to make lasagna out of spaghetti. And fails.
Maybe the worst question, or at least the worst wording of a question, ever.
Nobody has ever HAD to break down a tank due to an algae outbreak. Impatience or ignorance would be the only reasons to due so.
In a forum where we regularly (and rightly) propose patience as a keystone to success, this question tries to make lasagna out of spaghetti. And fails.
No
It's the prudent way of regaining ground when following all rules didn't work. It's being able to set back up the clean algae free system without filthy detritus feeding everything that matters as a rescue ability.
Not cleaning the feed source is why you read about succession invasions where cyano or a new headache replaces the prior
Consider sourcing some GHA tanks to work on in nuisance algae forum and see how well any method works. Link back examples fixed with no takedown or with patient means, it’s tough to earn for sure
when rev mentions a takedown that to me implies take down, clean, put back in the same day without algae. A positive control option which has been used a thousand times with excellent results, we show. Others may take the framing of the question as giving up but it's how we collect happy after pics in my work threads
The problem with takedown cleaning is it's a last option vs a preventative one.
It's the prudent way of regaining ground when following all rules didn't work. It's being able to set back up the clean algae free system without filthy detritus feeding everything that matters as a rescue ability.
Not cleaning the feed source is why you read about succession invasions where cyano or a new headache replaces the prior
Consider sourcing some GHA tanks to work on in nuisance algae forum and see how well any method works. Link back examples fixed with no takedown or with patient means, it’s tough to earn for sure
when rev mentions a takedown that to me implies take down, clean, put back in the same day without algae. A positive control option which has been used a thousand times with excellent results, we show. Others may take the framing of the question as giving up but it's how we collect happy after pics in my work threads
The problem with takedown cleaning is it's a last option vs a preventative one.
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PhreeByrd
Active Member
I don't know who you're addressing, Brandon, but if it's me, then I really don't need to "go out and source some GHA tanks to work on". Already been there and done that.
I haven't felt any compulsion to break down an infested tank yet. Maybe I'm just stubborn. But I have no infested tanks, don't use chemicals, and don't do anything unusual as far as husbandry.
I haven't felt any compulsion to break down an infested tank yet. Maybe I'm just stubborn. But I have no infested tanks, don't use chemicals, and don't do anything unusual as far as husbandry.
That's no prob. just didn't want there to be the implication that takedown cleaning is bad or harmful, we use it to save tanks. Hardly anyone wants to make work threads / agreed not popular / but they are the best way to see what works for the public or not. It's shocking how participant tanks in algae help threads are nearly always following all pertinent rules for algae control when they show up needing algae help, that is a real standout event we see in work threads
GrumpyAlison
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I've never taken a tank down because of algae, but I've had a bunch of outbreaks. Had a tank full of byropsis at one point and that kind of magically disappeared. Now it's hair algae, cyano and bubble algae, so I picked up some urchins because I've always wanted one and just clear the worst of it off my corals, prevent my caulerpa from attaching to frags and am just waiting for my herbivores to get to the rest. One of my tanks is basically a lumpy green lawn that a golf course would envy - everything is covered in what I assume is really low growing hair algae and it's actually a really nice lush green color
My boyfriend's tank on the other hand... Literally everything is covered in a solid 1/4" of red cyano... It's super gross...
Btw, if anyone needs grape caulerpa for some reason, I have at least 2-3 lbs of the stuff in a bucket... I'm too much of a weenie to eat it myself.
My boyfriend's tank on the other hand... Literally everything is covered in a solid 1/4" of red cyano... It's super gross...
Btw, if anyone needs grape caulerpa for some reason, I have at least 2-3 lbs of the stuff in a bucket... I'm too much of a weenie to eat it myself.
TinCanHero
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I ended up having a really bad outbreak of GHA, everything was covered.. Rocks, "glass", sand, coral... it was crazy how fast it grew. it took me a few months to get it under control. in the end i didn't break down the rock i got my neuts under control with GFO and a better reactor set up along with my best friend.. the toothbrush and alot of manual removing! at one point id remove alot of it only to see it back in a few days, it was disheartening!
Fine example of a work thread. It takes fifty solicitations to get two willing participants and of the two, one is willing to apply most of the method. Will take that. Do this obsessively for sixteen years, collect outbound work examples, inevitable patterns emerge.
www.reef2reef.com
Cerulean is a willing ground taker, they’re considering the actions that test out forced control over a tank. I’m trying to sell them on disassembly cleaning because it’s such a powerful sustain but even less will buy into that. The efforts and collections of the willing will reveal patterns over time that shape the way we do things in the hobby
Every one of you here can be sourcing out work to test your theories, get choppin, get linkin’
Search every forum for algae challenges, and work more than one thread at once.
We accept your work examples here from any forum...reefcentral especially. We want to model link stewardship and open information exchange to them- ways to stay relevant in the hobby.
Collect the links, good and bad outcomes...show how you manage patterns.
Making algae challenge tanks that are not yours comply will change you as an aquarist. It’ll make your own reef stronger even if it’s already strong.
B
Tearing my (green) hair (algae) out- it's driving me bananas!
What I have: Biocube32 LED, stock lights. Running since January. Light schedule- Day 12-8, Rise/Set 11-9, Moon 9-11. This is an increase as of yesterday. Previous lights were Day 1-6, Rise/Set 12-7, and moon 11-10. I figure if everything looks like poop anyway, I might as well be able to see...
www.reef2reef.com
Cerulean is a willing ground taker, they’re considering the actions that test out forced control over a tank. I’m trying to sell them on disassembly cleaning because it’s such a powerful sustain but even less will buy into that. The efforts and collections of the willing will reveal patterns over time that shape the way we do things in the hobby
Every one of you here can be sourcing out work to test your theories, get choppin, get linkin’
Search every forum for algae challenges, and work more than one thread at once.
We accept your work examples here from any forum...reefcentral especially. We want to model link stewardship and open information exchange to them- ways to stay relevant in the hobby.
Collect the links, good and bad outcomes...show how you manage patterns.
Making algae challenge tanks that are not yours comply will change you as an aquarist. It’ll make your own reef stronger even if it’s already strong.
B
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