Possible lyngbya help needed

[Llorgon]

I believe what has taken over my tank is lyngbya. I originally thought it was gha, but after a dose of flux Rx and no effect on the algae, I am thinking it's lyngbya.

Tank info:
75g
30g sump
50lbs rock
Radio xr30 blue lights, 40% ab+
Reef octopus 110 skimmer
Sump has some caulerpa and the tunze submersible light that runs opposite of display lights
2 octo pulse 2's, run on SPS mode, 15-85%

Tank history:
The tank has been running for 1.5 years. Until July, I had about 25 SPS frags along with the LPS. Around July the SPS started to RTN and STN one by one. The frags had been growing nicely until the summer. I did notice that nitrates were at 0 then once I got nitrates up phosphates went to 0. I've now had measurable nitrate and phosphate for about a month and a half.

Tank params as of last Sunday are:
Temp: 78
Salinity: 1.026
Alk: 9.6
Cal: 485
Mag: 1500
Nitrate: 6.1
Phosphate: 0.07

The algae and cyano the tank is experiencing came about at the same time the corals started dying. A quick timeline from when thing started going south,
June 26th - tank and corals were looking good. I did have a bunch of chrysophytes all over the rocks, but things were going well.
June 28 - Elkhorn and forest fire aren't looking great and some cyano is showing up
July 8 - Corals are losing tissue, chrysophytes are completely gone, cyano has exploded on the rocks and glass

Current tank stock:
1x yellow Tang
1x yellow eye kole tang
2x clown fish
1x long nose hawkfish
6x cerith
2x trochus snails
1x fighting conch
And tons of small/med what look like stomatellas.

I have been trying to scrub the rocks to get rid of it, but it hasn't made a dent so far. I've also been dosing MB7 and live phyto for about 3 weeks now as well.

I have a pod seed pack, 5x cerith, 5x nassarius, maxspect 2k gyre and a second tunze refugium light on order.

I'm hoping that the pods and increased cuc will start to help thing get back on track. After a few water changes I also want to replace the caulerpa in my sump with chaeto.

Anything else I should be doing?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I believe what has taken over my tank is lyngbya. I originally thought it was gha, but after a dose of flux Rx and no effect on the algae, I am thinking it's lyngbya.

Tank info:
75g
30g sump
50lbs rock
Radio xr30 blue lights, 40% ab+
Reef octopus 110 skimmer
Sump has some caulerpa and the tunze submersible light that runs opposite of display lights
2 octo pulse 2's, run on SPS mode, 15-85%

Tank history:
The tank has been running for 1.5 years. Until July, I had about 25 SPS frags along with the LPS. Around July the SPS started to RTN and STN one by one. The frags had been growing nicely until the summer. I did notice that nitrates were at 0 then once I got nitrates up phosphates went to 0. I've now had measurable nitrate and phosphate for about a month and a half.

Tank params as of last Sunday are:
Temp: 78
Salinity: 1.026
Alk: 9.6
Cal: 485
Mag: 1500
Nitrate: 6.1
Phosphate: 0.07

The algae and cyano the tank is experiencing came about at the same time the corals started dying. A quick timeline from when thing started going south,
June 26th - tank and corals were looking good. I did have a bunch of chrysophytes all over the rocks, but things were going well.
June 28 - Elkhorn and forest fire aren't looking great and some cyano is showing up
July 8 - Corals are losing tissue, chrysophytes are completely gone, cyano has exploded on the rocks and glass

Current tank stock:
1x yellow Tang
1x yellow eye kole tang
2x clown fish
1x long nose hawkfish
6x cerith
2x trochus snails
1x fighting conch
And tons of small/med what look like stomatellas.

I have been trying to scrub the rocks to get rid of it, but it hasn't made a dent so far. I've also been dosing MB7 and live phyto for about 3 weeks now as well.

I have a pod seed pack, 5x cerith, 5x nassarius, maxspect 2k gyre and a second tunze refugium light on order.

I'm hoping that the pods and increased cuc will start to help thing get back on track. After a few water changes I also want to replace the caulerpa in my sump with chaeto.

Anything else I should be doing?

Yes, looks like it. Best bet is to shave it off with edge of a credit card or similar
Reduce white light intensity and increase water flow towards glass slightly. At night, add 1ml of hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons and empty skimmer cup daily and clean filters daily for one week
Afterwards, add snails such as margarita-trochus- astrea- cerith to help with control
Make sure phosphate not elevated

 

[Llorgon]

Yes, looks like it. Best bet is to shave it off with edge of a credit card or similar
Reduce white light intensity and increase water flow towards glass slightly. At night, add 1ml of hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons and empty skimmer cup daily and clean filters daily for one week
Afterwards, add snails such as margarita-trochus- astrea- cerith to help with control
Make sure phosphate not elevated

Will the peroxide affect the current macro algae in the sump or the live phyto and pods I am/will be adding?

 

[paintman]

Had the same exact problem with my tank. I was able to beat it, but it takes some work. If you are of the mindset that you can just go out and dump some kind of invert, fish, or bottle of crap in your tank to solve this...........please leave the hobby. Your only going to kill them and waste your money. Unfortunately the curent mindset of this hobby is the only way to solve a problem is to go out and buy some kind of fancy blinking gadget, CUC's, specialty fish, or some bottle of snake oil.

The only way to beat this is dedication on your part. When I say dedication I don't mean 5-10 minutes per day.

1. go out and make yourself a power filter (or 2). Youtube it! I would suggest a Sicce 2.0
2. go out and buy a couple of tooth brushes.
3. go out and buy a turkey baster.
4. if you don't already have the means to twist the hell out of your tank go out and buy a power head.
5. Go out and buy an air pump and stone so you can bubble scrub.

Once you have all the equipment.............About an hour or 2 before you go to bed
1. Every day, turn up the flow and twist the living p$$$$ out of your tank.
2. Take the tooth brush and scrub as much of the lynbya off the rocks.
3. At the same time, take your turkey baster and blow into all the cracks a crevices of the rocks. Again and again!
4. Adjust your skimmer to skim wet.
5. Set your powerfilter in the corner of the tank and let it run wide open.
6. When your done blowing and scrubbing the tank turn on your bubble scrubber and leave it run over night along with the powerhead. KEEP YOUR TANK TWISTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next day.................
1. slow the water movement down to normal in tank.
2. remove powerfilter and be amazed how much junk you removed.
3. turn bubble scrubber off.
4. remove filter socks and replace with clean ones.

Be prepared to do this every other day for at least 2 weeks possibly more!
Be prepared to get discouraged because at times it will seem like your not making any progress, as this stuff will keep comming back fo awhile. This stuff is the devil! you will not beat it overnight!
After about a month sit back and pat yourself on the back because you will have beat it. Or at the very least under control!
And the best part will be knowing that you didn't go out and buy a bunch of fish and inverts only to kill them because you listened to bad advice!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Will the peroxide affect the current macro algae in the sump or the live phyto and pods I am/will be adding?

No - at the little you are adding, its maily to help keep substance suspended

 

[jakeb]

I believe what has taken over my tank is lyngbya. I originally thought it was gha, but after a dose of flux Rx and no effect on the algae, I am thinking it's lyngbya.

Tank info:
75g
30g sump
50lbs rock
Radio xr30 blue lights, 40% ab+
Reef octopus 110 skimmer
Sump has some caulerpa and the tunze submersible light that runs opposite of display lights
2 octo pulse 2's, run on SPS mode, 15-85%

Tank history:
The tank has been running for 1.5 years. Until July, I had about 25 SPS frags along with the LPS. Around July the SPS started to RTN and STN one by one. The frags had been growing nicely until the summer. I did notice that nitrates were at 0 then once I got nitrates up phosphates went to 0. I've now had measurable nitrate and phosphate for about a month and a half.

Tank params as of last Sunday are:
Temp: 78
Salinity: 1.026
Alk: 9.6
Cal: 485
Mag: 1500
Nitrate: 6.1
Phosphate: 0.07

The algae and cyano the tank is experiencing came about at the same time the corals started dying. A quick timeline from when thing started going south,
June 26th - tank and corals were looking good. I did have a bunch of chrysophytes all over the rocks, but things were going well.
June 28 - Elkhorn and forest fire aren't looking great and some cyano is showing up
July 8 - Corals are losing tissue, chrysophytes are completely gone, cyano has exploded on the rocks and glass

Current tank stock:
1x yellow Tang
1x yellow eye kole tang
2x clown fish
1x long nose hawkfish
6x cerith
2x trochus snails
1x fighting conch
And tons of small/med what look like stomatellas.

I have been trying to scrub the rocks to get rid of it, but it hasn't made a dent so far. I've also been dosing MB7 and live phyto for about 3 weeks now as well.

I have a pod seed pack, 5x cerith, 5x nassarius, maxspect 2k gyre and a second tunze refugium light on order.

I'm hoping that the pods and increased cuc will start to help thing get back on track. After a few water changes I also want to replace the caulerpa in my sump with chaeto.

Anything else I should be doing?

Hi. I am having similar algae issues as you so I feel your pain - although I have no idea if mine is lyngbya or green hair algae.

Are you starting to think it is Lyngbya mainly because FluxRx was ineffective? How long did you dose FluxRx for?

I have dosed fluconazole twice now. I dosed it several months ago and left it in for just over two weeks before starting water changes, carbon, etc., and it did nothing to the algae. I dosed it again 17 days ago and I am hoping I am starting to see some algae dying off.

 

[Llorgon]

Had the same exact problem with my tank. I was able to beat it, but it takes some work. If you are of the mindset that you can just go out and dump some kind of invert, fish, or bottle of crap in your tank to solve this...........please leave the hobby. Your only going to kill them and waste your money. Unfortunately the curent mindset of this hobby is the only way to solve a problem is to go out and buy some kind of fancy blinking gadget, CUC's, specialty fish, or some bottle of snake oil.

The only way to beat this is dedication on your part. When I say dedication I don't mean 5-10 minutes per day.

1. go out and make yourself a power filter (or 2). Youtube it! I would suggest a Sicce 2.0
2. go out and buy a couple of tooth brushes.
3. go out and buy a turkey baster.
4. if you don't already have the means to twist the hell out of your tank go out and buy a power head.
5. Go out and buy an air pump and stone so you can bubble scrub.

Once you have all the equipment.............About an hour or 2 before you go to bed
1. Every day, turn up the flow and twist the living p$$$$ out of your tank.
2. Take the tooth brush and scrub as much of the lynbya off the rocks.
3. At the same time, take your turkey baster and blow into all the cracks a crevices of the rocks. Again and again!
4. Adjust your skimmer to skim wet.
5. Set your powerfilter in the corner of the tank and let it run wide open.
6. When your done blowing and scrubbing the tank turn on your bubble scrubber and leave it run over night along with the powerhead. KEEP YOUR TANK TWISTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next day.................
1. slow the water movement down to normal in tank.
2. remove powerfilter and be amazed how much junk you removed.
3. turn bubble scrubber off.
4. remove filter socks and replace with clean ones.

Be prepared to do this every other day for at least 2 weeks possibly more!
Be prepared to get discouraged because at times it will seem like your not making any progress, as this stuff will keep comming back fo awhile. This stuff is the devil! you will not beat it overnight!
After about a month sit back and pat yourself on the back because you will have beat it. Or at the very least under control!
And the best part will be knowing that you didn't go out and buy a bunch of fish and inverts only to kill them because you listened to bad advice!

I haven't heard of bubble scrubbing, but I'll check that out. I do have an extra pump I could make a powerfilter out of. I have an extra power head on order since it seems I need more flow with the cyano.

I have been scrubbing the rocks daily for about 3 weeks now. No improvement as of yet though.

No - at the little you are adding, its maily to help keep substance suspended

Cool. I will have to give that a try and see if it helps.

Hi. I am having similar algae issues as you so I feel your pain - although I have no idea if mine is lyngbya or green hair algae.

Are you starting to think it is Lyngbya mainly because FluxRx was ineffective? How long did you dose FluxRx for?

I have dosed fluconazole twice now. I dosed it several months ago and left it in for just over two weeks before starting water changes, carbon, etc., and it did nothing to the algae. I dosed it again 17 days ago and I am hoping I am starting to see some algae dying off.

Mostly going off of the fluxrx having no effect. I'm on day 10 right now and if I don't scrub the rocks everyday, I can see more growth so it isn't even slowing it down.

 

[Llorgon]

Came back from a 5 day fishing trip to the tank looking pretty rough. Lots of algae and the caulerpa in the sump is completely gone. Actually very little algae in the refugium now which is weird.

While I was away the pod seed pack I ordered came and I had my wife add them to the tank for me. They were added Thursday night.

The 2k gyre and second refugium light arrived yesterday. So I will hopefully get those up and running soon. Any tips on where to add the gyre with the two octo pulse 2's?

All the snails I added before going away still seem to be alive which is good. I think I might be fine to add a few more.

I tested my water last night and I'm still struggling to keep nitrate up. It read 0 while phosphate was 0.12. I added some nitrate to bring it up to detectable levels.

 

[Llorgon]

I have been having some issues finding peroxide, it has been sold out at both places I tried. I will check another place tomorrow that should have some and then I will try the 1ml per 10 gallons of water and see how that goes.

Instead of scrubbing the rocks in the tank, I tried to manually remove as much as I could. I got about a cups worth out in 15 mins. Some stuff pulls off really easy and others don't want to come off at all. So, I will see how that goes.

I'm going to order some chaeto and put that in the refugium. Hopefully it does better than the caulerpa did.

 

[Llorgon]

I spent some time today pulling out algae from the display. It pulls off the rocks pretty easily so hopefully that is a good sign. I pulled out about another cup. I will do some scrubbing and pulling out of algae again tonight.

I picked up some peroxide today so I can start trying the 1ml/10g at night and see how that goes.

I'm looking for some positive ID on this algae. It didn't seem to respond to flux Rx, but it pulls off the rocks pretty easily and doesn't leave much behind. See pictures

 

[Llorgon]

I'm slowly making a bit of a dent in the algae. Since all the snails I added seem to have survived, I'm going to slowly start adding more.

I can see more bubble algae showing up on the rocks. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, but I guess I will need to get some hermits or an emerald crab.

I really need to find a good way of getting the algae off the LPS bases. They are really annoying the corals. I'm thinking of trying a peroxide dip. Unless anyone has better suggestions?

I did a 10g water change on the weekend and I vacuumed the left side of the tank. Obviously I didn't get all the cyano because I can see small patches starting to come back.

 

[Llorgon]

Sent an order off for some more cuc
1 - emerald crab
1 - mexican turbo
5 - Blue legged hermits
3 - astrea snails
plus some free extra shells for the hermits.

 

[djf91]

Yep very well could be Lyngbya, which I think is far too often overlooked in this hobby. I’ve been dealing with this on and off for the past year. Seems to kill my snails every time it flairs up. What works for me is brushing the rocks weekly, which will slowly let corraline take over. As long as you have healthy corraline it won’t be able to grow on it. How’s your TDS from your RO/DI? Any chance of something metal rusting in or near the tank?

 

[djf91]

This was taken from an old post on the other forum:

This article may be of some interest if it is lyngbya, I linked it earlier but that link doesn't work. Hope this one does, if not just copy the link and google it : http://ian.umces.edu/pdfs/ian_newsletter_238.pdf This cyanobacteria likes high phosphorus and nitrogen. So keeping them low should be helpful overall, imo. "...Results of the bioassay conducted in this study showed increased primary production with additions of N and P..." However, you can drive nitrogen too low causing difficulty for other organisms and lynbyata might even get an edge if a nitrogen deficiency occurs since it can fix atmospheric nitrogen and many of its competitors can't. The paper suggest it needs iron for the nitrogen fixing process,so if you are dosing it ,reducing that dose or backing off entirely for a while might help. "..Lyngbya has the ability to use atmospheric nitrogen (N 2 ) for its cellular needs through the process of N-fixation, an energetically demanding process that requires high amounts of iron for the enzyme nitrogenase that mediates the process..."

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Best advice is from 'paintman community member' and it appears your taking all advice, keep on at it @Llorgon
Each day, one day at a time will help you remove this from your aquarium
You can set goals for cleaning, (screenshot provided), clean glass first then get toothbrush ready and just cover each section 1 2 3 4, every couple of days, you don't want to clean too much as this may affect chemicals/balance etc, let filters run whilst your hands on then clean filters each evening as these will be full of debris.

You will get on top of this if you persevere

 

[Llorgon]

Yep very well could be Lyngbya, which I think is far too often overlooked in this hobby. I’ve been dealing with this on and off for the past year. Seems to kill my snails every time it flairs up. What works for me is brushing the rocks weekly, which will slowly let corraline take over. As long as you have healthy corraline it won’t be able to grow on it. How’s your TDS from your RO/DI? Any chance of something metal rusting in or near the tank?

I haven't seen any snail deaths since this came about. All this algae came around one week in the summer while I was on vacation. There is a bit of coraline on the rocks, but mostly on the glass. Not sure why it doesn't grow on the rocks. TDS is 0, tested while making water change water on the weekend. Nothing metal that I can see, ICP test done in the summer had no metals either.

This was taken from an old post on the other forum:

​

This article may be of some interest if it is lyngbya, I linked it earlier but that link doesn't work. Hope this one does, if not just copy the link and google it : http://ian.umces.edu/pdfs/ian_newsletter_238.pdf This cyanobacteria likes high phosphorus and nitrogen. So keeping them low should be helpful overall, imo. "...Results of the bioassay conducted in this study showed increased primary production with additions of N and P..." However, you can drive nitrogen too low causing difficulty for other organisms and lynbyata might even get an edge if a nitrogen deficiency occurs since it can fix atmospheric nitrogen and many of its competitors can't. The paper suggest it needs iron for the nitrogen fixing process,so if you are dosing it ,reducing that dose or backing off entirely for a while might help. "..Lyngbya has the ability to use atmospheric nitrogen (N 2 ) for its cellular needs through the process of N-fixation, an energetically demanding process that requires high amounts of iron for the enzyme nitrogenase that mediates the process..."

I noticed the other day that the algae was a lot easier to pull off than normal, when I checked nutrients, nitrate and phosphate were at 0.1 and 0.03ppm. I have iron dosing, but I haven't been using it. ICP test said my tank was low on iron though.

What I would like to do is get chaeto going in my refugium. How can I do that while keeping iron and nutrients low to not increase the display tank algae?

Best advice is from 'paintman community member' and it appears your taking all advice, keep on at it @Llorgon
Each day, one day at a time will help you remove this from your aquarium
You can set goals for cleaning, (screenshot provided), clean glass first then get toothbrush ready and just cover each section 1 2 3 4, every couple of days, you don't want to clean too much as this may affect chemicals/balance etc, let filters run whilst your hands on then clean filters each evening as these will be full of debris.

You will get on top of this if you persevere

I have been scrubbing/ turkey basting/pulling daily for a few weeks now. Only recently does it seem like I have been making any sort of dent.

Since saturday, I have been adding 1ml of h2o2 per 10g of tank water. I'm not sure how much of an impact it has made, but I now have to replace the filter floss every day.

I have more snails and some hermits coming tomorrow so hopefully they can help make a dent. I'm seeing more and more bubble algae in the tank, so I'm sure that will be the next fun algae battle I have.

 

[djf91]

I haven't seen any snail deaths since this came about. All this algae came around one week in the summer while I was on vacation. There is a bit of coraline on the rocks, but mostly on the glass. Not sure why it doesn't grow on the rocks. TDS is 0, tested while making water change water on the weekend. Nothing metal that I can see, ICP test done in the summer had no metals either.

I noticed the other day that the algae was a lot easier to pull off than normal, when I checked nutrients, nitrate and phosphate were at 0.1 and 0.03ppm. I have iron dosing, but I haven't been using it. ICP test said my tank was low on iron though.

What I would like to do is get chaeto going in my refugium. How can I do that while keeping iron and nutrients low to not increase the display tank algae?

I have been scrubbing/ turkey basting/pulling daily for a few weeks now. Only recently does it seem like I have been making any sort of dent.

Since saturday, I have been adding 1ml of h2o2 per 10g of tank water. I'm not sure how much of an impact it has made, but I now have to replace the filter floss every day.

I have more snails and some hermits coming tomorrow so hopefully they can help make a dent. I'm seeing more and more bubble algae in the tank, so I'm sure that will be the next fun algae battle I have.

Maybe @Randy Holmes-Farley could shed some light on this.

 

[djf91]

@92Miata also seems to have a good understanding of cyano (which Lyngbya is a type of). Maybe he can help.

 

[92Miata]

. I did notice that nitrates were at 0 then once I got nitrates up phosphates went to 0. I've now had measurable nitrate and phosphate for about a month and a half.

Yeah - this sort of bouncing around can cause all sorts of issues with the sort of organisms you want to keep, and once they get out of whack, it creates an opportunity for this sort of crud - and dry rock tanks and low surface competition let it get out of control real quick. And once it's out of control, it becomes really difficult to deal with it via nutrients/etc, because its healthier than your corals/etc.

I think this is lyngba, but if you know someone who has a microscope, or feel like spending $50 on amazon, confirmation would be good (but not 100% necessary).

I'm a little concerned looking at this with how little non-green color I see on the rock for a year and a half old tank - are the photos just deceptive? Or did the crud just overrun everything?

I had an issue with Lyngba in the current (well, pre upgrade) tank a year or so back that I had the hardest time figuring out - and it turned out that my Nyos nitrate kit was trash, and it was bottoming out the nitrates for a month or so that started it.

I think you're mostly doing the right things right now - keep the PO4/NO3 in the .1ppm/10ppm -ish range, and do as much as you can to deal with this stuff mechanically. The big issue here is the stuff can grow from broken pieces, so anything you do, you want to do in a bucket, or with a siphon close.

Wear gloves because this stuff bothers some people's skin, and continued exposure is usually how that starts.

As far as critters - mexican turbos get enormous (the zebra ones), and are bulldozers, but they're the animals I've had the best luck with for pretty much everything.

Bubble algae can be a pain - and you should remove it when you can - but it generally doesn't kill corals the way hair or lyngba can - it's not rubbing up against them irritating them all day. And fast growing corals will grow right over it.

Yep very well could be Lyngbya, which I think is far too often overlooked in this hobby. I’ve been dealing with this on and off for the past year. Seems to kill my snails every time it flairs up. What works for me is brushing the rocks weekly, which will slowly let corraline take over. As long as you have healthy corraline it won’t be able to grow on it. How’s your TDS from your RO/DI? Any chance of something metal rusting in or near the tank?

This is really it - the goal for any sort of algae eradication is to hamstring the algae long enough that the animals you want growing are growing well, and then they'll do the work for you. Healthy coralline is chemically brutal stuff - and I'm sure you've seen healthy sps burn their way across a rock - you get that white ring around them (outside the growth ring) that's just bare rock where they've chemically killed everything.

In a tank where the corals and coralline aren't doing well (because nutrients got all messed up), hair algae will smother and kill stuff. In a tank where corals are growing well, they'll burn their way right through it.

I like to use the analogy of weeds in a garden - you can't just go in there and rob the place of all nutrients/deprive it of water/sun/etc - because you'll kill the tomatoes and cucumbers - and once you kill them, the weeds come back better than before. You need to pull and cut the weeds to hamstring their growth, and give the cucumbers and tomatoes everything they need, so they can shade out the weeds, and fill your planter with root mass. It doesn't matter how many times, or how well you kill the weeds if you don't get the other stuff to take their place. They'll just come back.

Its hard, but it's the only thing that actually works and doesn't just look like its working for a month and then swing you into some other weird problem.

You'll see big healthy reef tank with high nitrates and phosphates - and no algae - and this is because there's just no hospitable room for algae to grow, and the corals and coralline outcompete the algae for a bunch of micronutrients. When you drop dry rock in these tanks - it explodes with algae - and then very quickly gets overrun with coralline and then corals. It takes like 6 weeks for a bare piece of rock to go through that full succession - it's crazy to watch if you've never dealt with a healthy mature reef.

 

[djf91]

Yeah - this sort of bouncing around can cause all sorts of issues with the sort of organisms you want to keep, and once they get out of whack, it creates an opportunity for this sort of crud - and dry rock tanks and low surface competition let it get out of control real quick. And once it's out of control, it becomes really difficult to deal with it via nutrients/etc, because its healthier than your corals/etc.

I think this is lyngba, but if you know someone who has a microscope, or feel like spending $50 on amazon, confirmation would be good (but not 100% necessary).

I'm a little concerned looking at this with how little non-green color I see on the rock for a year and a half old tank - are the photos just deceptive? Or did the crud just overrun everything?

I had an issue with Lyngba in the current (well, pre upgrade) tank a year or so back that I had the hardest time figuring out - and it turned out that my Nyos nitrate kit was trash, and it was bottoming out the nitrates for a month or so that started it.

I think you're mostly doing the right things right now - keep the PO4/NO3 in the .1ppm/10ppm -ish range, and do as much as you can to deal with this stuff mechanically. The big issue here is the stuff can grow from broken pieces, so anything you do, you want to do in a bucket, or with a siphon close.

Wear gloves because this stuff bothers some people's skin, and continued exposure is usually how that starts.

As far as critters - mexican turbos get enormous (the zebra ones), and are bulldozers, but they're the animals I've had the best luck with for pretty much everything.

Bubble algae can be a pain - and you should remove it when you can - but it generally doesn't kill corals the way hair or lyngba can - it's not rubbing up against them irritating them all day. And fast growing corals will grow right over it.



This is really it - the goal for any sort of algae eradication is to hamstring the algae long enough that the animals you want growing are growing well, and then they'll do the work for you. Healthy coralline is chemically brutal stuff - and I'm sure you've seen healthy sps burn their way across a rock - you get that white ring around them (outside the growth ring) that's just bare rock where they've chemically killed everything.

In a tank where the corals and coralline aren't doing well (because nutrients got all messed up), hair algae will smother and kill stuff. In a tank where corals are growing well, they'll burn their way right through it.

I like to use the analogy of weeds in a garden - you can't just go in there and rob the place of all nutrients/deprive it of water/sun/etc - because you'll kill the tomatoes and cucumbers - and once you kill them, the weeds come back better than before. You need to pull and cut the weeds to hamstring their growth, and give the cucumbers and tomatoes everything they need, so they can shade out the weeds, and fill your planter with root mass. It doesn't matter how many times, or how well you kill the weeds if you don't get the other stuff to take their place. They'll just come back.

Its hard, but it's the only thing that actually works and doesn't just look like its working for a month and then swing you into some other weird problem.

You'll see big healthy reef tank with high nitrates and phosphates - and no algae - and this is because there's just no hospitable room for algae to grow, and the corals and coralline outcompete the algae for a bunch of micronutrients. When you drop dry rock in these tanks - it explodes with algae - and then very quickly gets overrun with coralline and then corals. It takes like 6 weeks for a bare piece of rock to go through that full succession - it's crazy to watch if you've never dealt with a healthy mature reef.

I’m surprised you’ve had luck with snails with this stuff. The pacific Mexican turbos and then the zebra turbos from the Caribbean seem to go down quick once they ingest this stuff in my tank….which makes sense because it’s extremely toxic.