Algae Fight...Skirmish...Battle...War!
I've been struggling with what I think is primarily GHA a little bubble algae and perhaps some turf algae since just before Christmas. It was minor at first, as my nutrients have always been good also my phosphates did creep up to 1.0 ppm a times. Quickly got it back down to .05 ppm or less so don't really think that was issue. The algae was just maximizing existing nutrients more efficiently that my low coral load. If I had more corals (or bigger) then I doubt I would have had this issue.
As normal on posts like this, I'm covering a 2-3 month time period. I think it's much more useful to read about a topic as I try solutions and learn more than to skip around on a the thread in between all the other adventures. I don't have a final result yet, but I do see light at the end of the algae filled tunnel.
Identification:
The GHA wasn't really green but a very dark almost black hair algae, I will now refer to this as BHA. It wasn't dino (no bubbles) and not turf (no roots). When removed from water it quickly lost shape so fairly certain this was some kind of hair algae. I have heard from a couple other reefers using LifeRock of an unusually colored algae that's harder to get rid of than normal GHA. For instance, even when I dropped my PO4 to .02 ppm with <1 ppm NO3 (see below), where normal GHA would weaken and become easier to remove manually, this algae was very difficult to remove. Scrubbing off with brushes seemed to make it worse which is why I thought some kind of turf algae for a time, but again, no roots and it didn't remove in sheets.
The bubble algae was easy to ID and I know it came from coral frags. It happens. Easily removed and so far has been out competed by the BHA although still a few in some zoa frags.
I also had some film algae of course on glass and rocks but I consider that fairly normal with no action required other than ensure my CUC is on it (they were/are).
This is prior to first dose of Vibrant. Video came out pretty nice, too bad it's such a lousy thing to be have nice video on.
Actions:
My first steps since it was minor in the beginning was to simply do more water changes and add a dedicated non-water change algae removal session to my weekly maintenance. This worked up to a point and kept everything in check for the next month.
At that point, not sure what happened as nothing changed (NO3/PO4 were always 5/.05 ppm) but the algae just started taking off and spreading (still somewhat controllable though). Again, I assume it just got to a critical mass where it was taking up nutrients very efficiently as soon as they broke down.
I then decided to try really drop the PO4 to <.02 ppm and keep it there (PO4/NO3 were .07/1.0 ppm at this point). I used Lanthanum (Phosphate Rx). I was using Phosguard and while that worked I didn't want to add at .07 ppm to shoot for .02 ppm. Wanted more control than that so went with Phosphate Rx. I started very slowly (have a thread somewhere) with only a 4 drops in my 170. Recommended dose to drop from .07 to .01 ppm was 3 drops (based on .5ppm reduction using 6 drops per 10 gallons = 24 drops for .5ppm therefore .06ppm/.5pmm X 24 drops = 3 drops...so I added one for good measure). Worked really well and I"ll use the product again...my PO4 immediately dropped to .02, but then popped back up (I assume due to coming out off of rock) but a few doses of now 8 drops over a week and I had steady .02ppm PO4. The algae was not receding, nor was it easy to remove and after a couple of weeks...Kaboom! Growth and coverage of the algae just exploded. Again, I don't think it had anything to do with the Lanthanum directly, I believe this was still just normal competition for nutrients and the algae was winning.
During this time (and still) I did not reduce feeding nor go dark on the tank. Fish need to eat and corals need light and I was afraid of stressing them more than the algae already was with coverage.
That brings to a week ago when I decided to go on the offensive directly and not just control nutrients. Not surprisingly, having an in tank 'refugium' works great at handling any nutrients so they were not an issue (P/N - .02/2).
My weapon of choice was Vibrant. It's highly recommended and there's enough anectdotal evidence that I have confidence in the product. I did slightly modify the dosage from 1 ml/10 gallon once a week to 1 ml/10 gallon every 5 days. Doubling the dosage (which is allowed) seemed like a lot and my corals are suffering so didn't want to wait for the full 6-8 weeks at normal dosage before increasing. Feel cutting off a few days before next dose is low risk. I am monitoring NO3/PO4 more often as when algae starts dying off, it can lead to some drastic chemistry changes I want to be on top off. Don't want to end up with a cyano or dino outbreak (already had diatoms and algae this year don't need a trifecta).
So after 2 weeks, I do notice an improvement. The film algae is gone (expected) but the BHA is changing to white and becoming transparent in places. The bubble algae is still there but only in places as it was never a dominant problem. I have very high hopes (otherwise I would be writing this) and will report in a few more weeks on the results after several more weeks.
Later - qm
