Need help with getting rid of ULVA

[lbacha]

So I have a nuvo 25 black (drilled with a sump vs AOI). The tank is doing great but I’m starting to get ulva growing and getting a little out of hand. If I had a larger tank a couple fangs and the issue would be taken care of but with this smaller tank my herbivore options are limited. I believe the issue started when I increased my lighting to get the par for my acro’s up from 300 to 300 (I did the slowly over a month or so and now that it’s at 300 the ulva is definitely growing faster)

Some tank parameters (as you can see everything is in check)
Alk - 8.5 to 8.7
Cal - 480
Mag - 1350+
Temp - 78
Ph- 8.25 to 8.4
Par - 150 on the bottom 300 at the top
No3 - Po4 -
Acro’s have great polyp extension, monti’s are growing like weeds, zoas add a couple polyps a week.

Everything is doing great except I have to harvest ulva and clean it off frag plugs every couple days.

I do run a fuge for about 8 hrs at night and lighting is 12 hrs with ramp up to a 5 hr full intensity period. I also have snails (verity, nassarius and trocus) plus 2 emerald crabs for bubble algae control.

My options
1. Reduce lighting (don’t really want to do it as I have acro’s at the top of the tank)
2. Get a tuxedo urchin or two and deal with frags taking trips around the tank (they seem like the only herbivore option I have in this size tank)
3. Peroxide treatment of the ulva (I hate the thought of adding chemicals to the tank since it is doing so well
4. wait it out - as the acro grow and shade the lower part of the tank and outcompete the ulva for light and nutrients it should recede.

Some pics

What are everyone’s thoughts.

 

[AaronFReef]

I’ve got a tang in my similar tank (which I don’t recommend) and a sailfin blenny. The blenny does work on algae though he is semi aggressive. Have you considered a blenny?

 

[lbacha]

I’ve got a tang in my similar tank (which I don’t recommend) and a sailfin blenny. The blenny does work on algae though he is semi aggressive. Have you considered a blenny?

I have a tailspot but he like the pellet food and frozen more than algae

 

[brandon429]

Vs animals, waiting to see if they work while mass builds, consider peroxide. Ulva is highly sensitive to peroxide it's nearly a guaranteed cure.

Lift out a rock with ulva on it, set on the counter in air. Corals aren't harmed a few mins in air, I have a video of me draining my whole nano with 13 yrs of corals for 30 mins, yours is a few mins.

Pour peroxide on target, avoiding corals, wet the target creatively

Let sit two mins cooking

Rinse area w saltwater, leave algae in place, set rock back

Compare that treated section to anything else you do, if it's the best section after a week, do it all. This method contacts peroxide only to the target, its coral safe and predicted best cure.

Ulva is requisite hitchhiker, when killed off, cannot come back.

 

[lbacha]

Vs animals, waiting to see if they work while mass builds, consider peroxide. Ulva is highly sensitive to peroxide it's nearly a guaranteed cure.

Lift out a rock with ulva on it, set on the counter in air. Corals aren't harmed a few mins in air, I have a video of me draining my whole nano with 13 yrs of corals for 30 mins, yours is a few mins.

Pour peroxide on target, avoiding corals, wet the target creatively

Let sit two mins cooking

Rinse area w saltwater, leave algae in place, set rock back

Compare that treated section to anything else you do, if it's the best section after a week, do it all. This method contacts peroxide only to the target, its coral safe and predicted best cure.

Ulva is requisite hitchhiker, when killed off, cannot come back.

Thanks I was kinda thinking this may be the route I take. I prefer to deal without chemicals and ulva in of itself isn’t bad since it pretty much like cheato but it’s in my display which is bad. I’d love to have a tang gang to deal with it but since it’s a small tank I’m stuck.

What are my risks that I should watch out for with peroxide, as I’ve said the tank is doing really good so I also t want to harm the corals

Len

 

[brandon429]

None of those corals are peroxide sensitive at the known safe doses of one mil per tank ten gallons, but all this is external work so coral sensitivity won't matter

We use three percent peroxide directly on target via drops for your work


it's surgically precise so as to only contact target. Small test area / wait a couple days to assess is low risk too, just to gauge response before large work. We would only apply upscale job if the test patch works great, it's not a deep anchor plant I think it won't be hard to beat. Here's our p thread we would enjoy your test and work pics too

Reef2Reef Pest algae challenge thread hydrogen peroxide

What you are really in for: Hand cleaning, hard work siphon and rasp-removing of accumulations and invasions outside the tank and doing massive water changes is 90% of this thread, peroxide is 10%. We almost never dose peroxide into the tank water, this is a you-work-physically-hard as catch-up...

www.reef2reef.com

You don't have a sandbed or detritus issue, nice design. Excellent sps nano.

 

[lbacha]

None of those corals are peroxide sensitive at the known safe doses of one mil per tank ten gallons, but all this is external work so coral sensitivity won't matter

We use three percent peroxide directly on target via drops for your work


it's surgically precise so as to only contact target. Small test area / wait a couple days to assess is low risk too, just to gauge response before large work. We would only apply upscale job if the test patch works great, it's not a deep anchor plant I think it won't be hard to beat. Here's our p thread we would enjoy your test and work pics too

Reef2Reef Pest algae challenge thread hydrogen peroxide

What you are really in for: Hand cleaning, hard work siphon and rasp-removing of accumulations and invasions outside the tank and doing massive water changes is 90% of this thread, peroxide is 10%. We almost never dose peroxide into the tank water, this is a you-work-physically-hard as catch-up...

www.reef2reef.com

You don't have a sandbed or detritus issue, nice design. Excellent sps nano.

Thanks I have some frag racks that sit on the bottom of the tank they will be easy to pull out and test on. If that works then I’ll do the rock one piece at a time since it is only 4 larger pieces. I’ll post pics as I go so I can document the process

 

[Hermie]

Do you have any close-up pics of the ulva growing? I am very curious what it looks like when it becomes invasive because I purchased some a few weeks ago and it's currently in my QT tank, but it arrived as sheets of a light green translucent appearnce with tendril-like holdfasts at the bottom (I assume) of each blade of ulva. If it were to grow invasively, is it sheet like in appearance? Or is it like hair algae? JW

 

[lbacha]

Do you have any close-up pics of the ulva growing? I am very curious what it looks like when it becomes invasive because I purchased some a few weeks ago and it's currently in my QT tank, but it arrived as sheets of a light green translucent appearnce with tendril-like holdfasts at the bottom (I assume) of each blade of ulva. If it were to grow invasively, is it sheet like in appearance? Or is it like hair algae? JW

I will get a pic when the lights are on but it grows in sheets flat against the rock. That kinda layer on top of each other.

 

[Subsea]

Given nitrogen & light, ulva will outgrow Chaeto 5 fold. Everything eats it and pods live it. I have frag tanks with Enteromorphy, cousin to Ulva.

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Ulvae is easily removed with a 10 minute bath in 10% solution of peroxide. Reduce length of bath for sensitive corals-

 

[brandon429]

I would prefer an ulva challenge to just about any other invader, it’s predicted pretty easy to direct kill. Can’t wait to see test pics n progressions

 

[lbacha]

I would prefer an ulva challenge to just about any other invader, it’s predicted pretty easy to direct kill. Can’t wait to see test pics n progressions

I will probably start tomorrow, I have the lights set for acclimation right now as I added some new corals yesterday so that will help as well.

 

[lbacha]

Ok I treated one of my frag racks and some snails so let’s see how it goes. I pulled the large clumps of algae off then coated what was left with peroxide for 2 min. I then rinsed it in fresh saltwater and put back in the tank.

Before I hand pulled the loose algae off

After coating with peroxide

Snails after coating their shells in peroxide for 2 min

 

[lbacha]

Hard to get a good picture but the algae on the frag plate and the snails is translucent and dying after a day

Dying ulva

Healthy ulva

Of course my skimmer decided to break while cleaning it yesterday (I broke the impeller shaft) I have a replacement on order so it will be back up and running soon. I will have to keep an eye on the nutrients as I kill off this ulva until I get it fixed

 

[SliceGolfer]

I was able to beat Ulva in my 20g Nuvo by manual removal and the addition of 3 Gold Ring/Money Cowries. Those little guys love Ulva.

 

[brandon429]

Yay updates pls

 

[brandon429]

How is this one going so curious

 

[lbacha]

Everywhere I have treated with peroxide has completely killed the ulva. I have added a couple urchins to the tank so I’m only using peroxide on my frag plugs and racks and letting the urchins deal with the rockwork. They will be a more permanent fix as I do like keeping my nutrients a little higher along with high light for my sps. Thanks for the tips and the peroxide treatment is pretty simple.

 

[lbacha]

Here is a pic of the frag rack above

Spotless, no algae left

 

[brandon429]

That's going to really help someone next round on an ulva challenge, it's linked to most recent page in our thread as a fine work example

Disallowance of ulva did occur. It was unwilled right out