Need advice/reassurance

[Steve27]

Hello all.

I pretty new to saltwater and have a 83g in wall tank with 20g sump. My tank is about a month old, but prior to filling it, I cycled 60# dry rock (dead shrimp, Macrobaceter, Dr. Tims) for 4mo in a large trash bin. The last month I added 20# of live rock. Once the tank was filled, the rock was added and the tank was cycled within a week. About a week later, I added two clowns. They have been doing great. There is some coralline growth on the dry rock. A couple weeks after the clowns were added, I noticed some hair algae, so clean up crew, about 20 snails were added. All has been doing well, but the hair algae has spread a bit. I use RO/DI, have a UV sterilizer. Parameters are great, maybe too good with nitrate 0, Phos 0.05, salinity 1.026. My plan is to just watch the hair algae and be patient with it for a couple of months. Continue some manual removal during weekly water change. Watch params. I only feed the clowns once a day, frozen mysis, and don't want to overfeed despite my nitrates and phosphates being so low. I also have a protein skimmer that I haven't turned on yet because my nitrates and phosphates aren't very high. If hair algae worsens, I'll add more CUC or get a tang (was going to anyway but wanted to wait about 4mo). I also want to add some softies, but want to wait until the hair algae declares itself and tank matures more in the next month or so. Does this sound like a legit plan? Thanks in advance.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Flaws with your plan:
- green hair algae gets progressively harder to control the more it spreads
--- do not be 'patient' with it - get busy now or even busier later!
- tangs don't like it (at least not yellow, sailfin or blue in my experience)
--- your tank is smallish side so smaller tangs, but don't get tang because CUC (not)

The best remover is likely to be you - keep getting in there and pull/siphon it out. Keep your nitrates and phosphates down. I kicked green hair algae 1x with Vibrant, but first Vibrant killed everything else (refuguim macro algaes too) then about 3 months got it... but either only killed 99% or it snuck back in on frag plug that didn't get enough hydrogen peroxide. GHA is back worse than ever. I've got UV, I've got snails, I've got biopellet reactor, I get busy with siphon tube... Its the devil.

I've got all this hair algae my tangs refuse to eat, but they must be fed algae or risk long term health problems, and Vibrant wiped out my refugium (again - but who wants to 'save' any macros just to reintroduce GHA when reintroducing (infected) macro algae) - so my 5g QT has been repurposed to growing Red Ogo to feed tangs daily. They love it way better than dried nori, and macro is in its natural state so likely better roughage for their digestive system. Tangs look gorgeous.

A Simple Guide To Common Problematic Algae And The Means To Control It..

As we all know algae is inevitable in both Marine and fresh water aquariums and if not watched and without proper procedures for removal can quickly turn a beautiful aquarium in to something that resembles a scene out of a old Swamp thing episode. Some are easy to control some are a non stop...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Dan_P]

Hello all.

I pretty new to saltwater and have a 83g in wall tank with 20g sump. My tank is about a month old, but prior to filling it, I cycled 60# dry rock (dead shrimp, Macrobaceter, Dr. Tims) for 4mo in a large trash bin. The last month I added 20# of live rock. Once the tank was filled, the rock was added and the tank was cycled within a week. About a week later, I added two clowns. They have been doing great. There is some coralline growth on the dry rock. A couple weeks after the clowns were added, I noticed some hair algae, so clean up crew, about 20 snails were added. All has been doing well, but the hair algae has spread a bit. I use RO/DI, have a UV sterilizer. Parameters are great, maybe too good with nitrate 0, Phos 0.05, salinity 1.026. My plan is to just watch the hair algae and be patient with it for a couple of months. Continue some manual removal during weekly water change. Watch params. I only feed the clowns once a day, frozen mysis, and don't want to overfeed despite my nitrates and phosphates being so low. I also have a protein skimmer that I haven't turned on yet because my nitrates and phosphates aren't very high. If hair algae worsens, I'll add more CUC or get a tang (was going to anyway but wanted to wait about 4mo). I also want to add some softies, but want to wait until the hair algae declares itself and tank matures more in the next month or so. Does this sound like a legit plan? Thanks in advance.

Just some random thoughts but no algae cures. Sorry.

Separate animal care from algae management.

Feed the fish well. Fish tend to feed a little bit all day. Once a day is a prison ration.

Algae can be eliminated by predation but some really good grazers are big and can knock over unattached coral. Grazers need algae to stay healthy and doing their job. Once the algae becomes grazed down, they begin to starve. You need to sustain them to keep them doing their job.

Controlling algae by adjusting nitrate and phosphate levels is a fools errand. Algae and coral use both. Algae manage to grow with the smallest amounts in the water. So, go ahead and enjoy feeding the fish

Turn the skimmer on. It is a good aerator and it removes all sorts of organic molecules and small debris that tend to accumulate in an aquarium that your animals have no use for.

I am not sure hair algae ever goes away, it just becomes a minor player in the system’s photosynthetic biofilm. I would love to test the idea by having everyone on the R2R forum shine a bright light on a one liter sample of aquarium water with air bubbling through it for a month or two and report back what grew in the sample.

By the way, what is happening in your aquarium today likely started happening a month ago, long before you see it happening and long after the “cause” has disappeared.