Reef2Reef Pest algae challenge thread hydrogen peroxide

[brandon429]

a huge job done. huge, using the method.

GHA- Is there anything else I can do???

I have learned that there are two situations that are VERY different. 1) there is some algae in your tank 2) the algae in your tank is consuming ammonia faster than your bacteria and that is serious! If you have the latter, then refugiums and algae scrubbers can actually make it worse :( Gha...

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A treatment for Ulva macro invasion

Need help with getting rid of ULVA

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...

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[xiholdtruex]

5 weeks after huge peroxide semi crash. Tank is doing great. Everything is coming back around. If it could survive the dosage I threw at it I think any tank can lol.

 

[brandon429]

That looks great thank you for updates! Peroxide use is evolving pretty fast in the hobby, right now in the chemistry forum in a p thread we have guys reporting they’ve been dosing one mil, per gallon, twice a day. That is approx 20 times our normal rate lol I have no idea how their systems are tolerating that but it’s more than one person doing it, neato.

 

[xiholdtruex]

That looks great thank you for updates! Peroxide use is evolving pretty fast in the hobby, right now in the chemistry forum in a p thread we have guys reporting they’ve been dosing one mil, per gallon, twice a day. That is approx 20 times our normal rate lol I have no idea how their systems are tolerating that but it’s more than one person doing it, neato.

Thank you for helping me not flip out when it all went down and to just be diligent with clean water and feeding and it comes back around. I would have thought the tank was toast. Other than the snails everything else is good. The monti seems to be rebuilding with its polyps more prononced now.

How safe is it to dip zoanthids for algae control in peroxide? This I have never done but want to start purchasing some frags and dont want to do a big nono with them.

 

[brandon429]

Zos tend to be the most tolerant, mine can take straight 35% with no harm. If there have been zo losses they’re one off and not part of a pattern like lysmata shrimps or Xenia regarding peroxide contact. I would test a section of the new zos first, maybe dip one or two polyps see if they’re ok in a day before whole colony

I totally understand reef concern when my bowl was bleaching and I didn’t know why, helps to be testing for temps occasionally in a reef lol, Maritza the vase reef kept me cool by text assuring me it would come back in a month I truly didn’t think it would / friends!

 

[j.falk]

I'm having some major Lyngbya problems recently and have devised a plan to try and get rid of it. Can someone let me know if this will work?

- Take the rocks out of the tank.

- Scrub all the algae off with a toothbrush.

- Pour 3% peroxide over the rock to kill off the algae or dip the rocks in a bucket of straight peroxide.

- Place the rock in a tote with new RODI saltwater, heater and powerhead.

- Break down the tank, clean everything, wipe it down with peroxide and then rinse everything off.

- Refill the tank with new saltwater and place the rocks back in the tank.

I'm hoping to clean the rocks without killing all the beneficial bacteria off of them so that I don't have to start my tank over from scratch.

 

[brandon429]

hey thanks tons for posting we want this work and you have a prime accessible setup for it. *your sandbed doesn't look aged or dirty, so the part I love so much about full tank surgery to remove waste/clouding may not apply but that rock can certainly be fixed. We should work on one rock only until we prove this works, then we can do the rest of the tank. we would take out that rock and set it on counter. Clean algae with knife, then apply peroxide, then put back. One test rock

vs a brush, use a knife tip, a steak knife. dig in and rasp lift scratch out the adhered turf algae or algae X, species doesn't matter this works on all. Use the steak knife tip to debride and precision dig the target out. Brushing leaves the anchors in place, this knife tip removes them. Feel free to damage rock areas a little while scraping. This is a tank wrecker, we are getting it out.

After done, rinse in saltwater and make sure the knife got all the brush algae gone. When clean, put peroxide only on former algae spots let sit five mins in air, rinse and put back rock. The beneficial bac aren't harmed by any step, the knife the peroxide nor the air time being scraped outside tank. Peroxide and knife only touched the target in this way we use.

 

[j.falk]

*your sandbed doesn't look aged or dirty

The previous photo was from after I vaccumed the sand bed. Once I clean the sand, the algae starts covering over it again in less than 24 hours.

Thank you for the reply. I've been mulling things over this afternoon and I have some concern that if I don't soak the entire rock in the peroxide then chances are this stuff will sprout up from another location on the rock. Chances are I'm going to tear the entire tank down this weekend, clean everything up and restart it with new rock. I'm really tired of fighting this stuff week in and week out. It's gotten substantially worse over the past 2 months.

 

[brandon429]

no I wouldn't do that, we've been studying live rock invasions for ten yrs straight and true brush algae isn't extended holfast like that, its localized. wherever it landed from another fragmenting run is where it can sprout, but its not boring through the rock, only one species I know of is like that--neomeris.

this is relatively easy to beat...the reason its exasperating so far is only the opposite of the above method has been ran. this w work great we can fix the light cyano issue afterwards its of no concern.
agreed the sandbed on any tank can be removed, rinsed, put back 100% clean at any time without harm we do that all day long in the sandrinse thread

but your time to practice brush algae see, predict, follow through is so valuable. ok take pics for us that's what people enjoy the most. we only need thorough work externally, hard rasping with that knife do press well, and rasp it clean. then perox sit a few mins in air on clean spots, rinse, put back shiny rock. lets see how it lasts a few days after

 

[j.falk]

One way or another the tank will have to be broken down and cleaned. The entire back glass of the aquarium is coated in a carpet of the Lyngbya algae. That is the main area it first started to grow and then it worked it's way onto the rocks.

 

[brandon429]

oh I see, it just looked really clean n new. if you are seeing those other areas then yes agreed time to hand guide. The full takedown is easier sometimes if you just drain off the current water table into a brute container...clean tank then reuse that same water back on top of cloudless sand, zero cloud ability cuz it was rinsed well, and then cleared rocks 1 of which you test rocked to prove its worth the time spent.

The cleaning part of the sand/water etc will zap that cyano too/ feel free to use all new makeup water if you want, I do/have

 

[xiholdtruex]

A little update 3 months after issues with to much peroxide lol Gha came back in tiny poofs but have been hand guiding, replaced my clean up crew which is now currently at 2 trochus,1 turbo snail, 2 mexican turbo snails and 3 nassarius. I have been heavy feeding 3 times a week using aminos and zoo and phyto. I have also started using phosguard and carbon.
I am pleased to inform every one that all my corals and coraline have made a recovery! no losses other than the initial snails. Thank you @brandon429 for all you recommendations he knows what hes talking about and has never steered me in the wrong way! here are some pictures and vid of how the tank is doing.

 

[brandon429]

Such wonderful follow up those neon colors from healthy life look like the Vegas strip inside your nano they're really stand out colors and healthy inverts! and you've demonstrated the -resolve- it takes to beat GHA so well

 

[brandon429]

Went bare bottom!

Was tired of detritus buildup and ugly algae and gunk built up on my rocks so I took out all my rocks and scrub them all except the one my Nem was attached to. All sand removed and inhabitants was added back after the tank was thoroughly cleaned. Hope nothing goes wrong. All fish and corals...

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that is some great pre removal work detailing + skip cycle instant sand removal Ive seen. nice to have Tuans work here, thought id add in another work example link

 

[brandon429]

Using resolve to take back a tank. She disallowed the plant, corals couldn't be happier

Ready to give up! GHA

Guys, I have GHA, and it’s taking over. It’s gotten worse and worse. It’s only one one single rock but I already have corals glued down. I got it from some corals I got at once. I got four at once and it affected two corals that I purchased and has just spread everywhere on this one rock. I have...

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Having algae is rarely a nutrient problem, she doesn't have water issues she had plant issues which are now dealt with.

Algae uses its fronds to catch and hold detritus for on site degredation- to kill algae is to stop self feeding. Not once in this thread do we ask for phosphate and nitrate, we don't factor params as we rework tanks. Making them clean and cloud free controls N and P the right way.

 

[brandon429]

A bump

if someone has a wrecked reef, they want it that way on purpose. Harsh statement or harsh fact? how many lost tanks do we have in this thread, we are simply responsible for not wasting our investments. Owners have immediate and final say on whether their animals are saved or lost, this thread is about being accountable for what happens in a reef tank vs blaming all external influences.

 

[brandon429]

WVU247 full clean

Algae Identification

Any opinions on what type of algae this is growing on my rocks and sand bed?

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[brandon429]

After reading 27 pages here

Some studies are done while in state of tank arrest, eutrophic shift like the down side of a Netflix coral reef movie, vs what we do since page one here:

Everything dying pls help

Ok so I have never posted on here before but I just signed up bc I need help. I have a fluval evo 13.5 with an AI Prime. Starting around december I saw a little tissue necrosis on the bottom of my pocillopora, and I thought it was just bc it was not getting enough light, but within the next few...

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-how did internal kill of target contribute to waste compounding? Can you see evidence of it?

-pull up pics from a 7 yr sandbed ran hands off, compare to that sandbed under one year.

-what is the overall color palette of the picture? is it tinting pink or purple or any neons? How would rock and sand perform on a clouding test, are organics stored or flushed clean here based on color hue soft gray yellow


- what will increased feeding to bring back corals do in addition to the advanced aging going on, as a compound?



-pic succession = three days. Do we have ten left with any hopes for stopping rtn?

what is the price of hands off reefing?

What advantage is there to reefing in a nonstorage, directly willing to access manner

the number one trait a nano reef has, in addition to being a topoff hassle, is it’s accessibility. Make use of being able to fix your thousand dollar reef overnite.


is it possible for any reef aquarium to wind up in eutrophic shift by applying post# 1
No it’s not. active nano reef control method makes all nano reefs work and permit no advanced aging.


Major themes that affected the life arc of that reef:

-how best to handle algae growth
-what do filter bac tolerate and not tolerate regarding handling, disassembly, and cleaning
-being able to pass waste cloud assessment in rocks and sand

 

[Serum153]

@brandon429 Ready to take action and would love your guidance. While most of my fish were from Robert or other vendors that quarantine fish, I strayed outside and bought one from a different vendor that supposedly quarantined and after that addition velvet ran through 6/12 fish. Set up hospital tank and was letting display be fallow for 76 days. Maybe this next part was always there on this 8 month old reef and my grazers were just fat and happy removing it without me noticing it. A week after removing the fish I noticed this algae which I believe is ulva lactua, picked it and noticed more, picking it while somewhat easy wasn’t always clean and couldn’t catch all pieces, they float and attach themselves. The rapid growth is absolutely mind blowing. Figured with no real feeding due to it being fallow, excess nutrients weren’t a problem and this would pass. Removed as much as I could before a water change, algae scrubber was declining in production so I increased the scrubbers light cycle. I pick out a small container each day and feel like I am not making progress. My tank will be fishless for Another month, need a plan that eradicates this. Thank you for your time and for the countless posts I have read over the last couple of days.

 

[brandon429]

That growth is very typically highly sensitive to peroxide thank goodness, and it doesn’t root too deep, mainly an assertive grower

we need to test a couple actions first

that is an obligate hitchhiker. It will grow where planted, for sure not a nutrient issue.

I notice one sensitive in the tank: a fine anemone so water treatments need to be creative we will test both ways before action, we can apply only what works with no guess.
how many gallons is the tank, assessing how hard takedown cleaning would be if a model shows it works


need three model rocks, and we will enjoy watching the pics and invader response, predicted doom to plant lol


1. remove a rock and just mist spray 3% across the target, let sit for 3 mins, rinse off, leave target in place, set rock back. It should bleach plant in 24 hours, 48 max, if not that ulva is extra terrestrial


2. Remove a small test rock and use a knife to dislodge growths at the attach point, scrape up and out, might take a little but of rock during scrape, nbd this is an urchin model targeting the plant with their rasp mouth. Hand pulling can’t remove holdfasts, growth points are left. This dig models actual detachment by force * when the rock is clean by hand and detail, then put drops of peroxide working around coralline and coral, on the scrape spots that once were anchored. This is the most action model, in case it’s tough on test 1. Easy test one is 99% likely to wipe out ulva agreed on ID

3. a model for in tank work, no removal No takedown work. We’d have to house your anemone rock in a heated Bucket of sw over nite, no big deal, but on this model we take another test rock and put it in a circulated bucket of sw five gallons, add the test rock, add about 5 drops of peroxide and let it swirl over nite


then remove rock target still in place, set in tank. And watch for die off at that dilution which is safe for things in the tank but can irritate anemones. Could take five days to die off, or no die at all.


ok let’s see the tests evolve and we can choose action thank you very much for posting we want this work!