Reef2Reef Pest algae challenge thread hydrogen peroxide

[ReefMan692]

I just found this thread. My tank 150 is 4 months old. First 2 months were gravy. Even had some corals going well. Then the GHA showed up. At first, it came quietly. I didnt take the threat seriously, id delt with some other minor algae stuff and figured this was just the "ugly phase" they like to talk about.

Within 1 week things turned sour. A combination of lighting changes and nutrient imbalance tipped the scales into the enemies favor.

Over the past 4 weeks Ive been testing nutrients, hooking up reactors, swapping media, starving fish, dosing everything, no light cycles....

Ive even lost coral... my poor coral. My tank, once a beautiful centerpiece has been completely over run. I cant even stand the sight of it anymore.

Yet now I find this thread, and the spirit for ACTION has consumed me! Tomorrow I am going to town baby, I am going to wrangle this beast into submission.

Strike first, Strike hard, NO MERCY

Ill post pics tomorrow

 

[brandon429]

Reef man hey thanks for posting! It will clear the tank for sure but wanted to list the cyclic nature of gha as one pass rarely sustains the fix although it removes initial mass about 100% that’s certain

some changes to the system after rip cleans include less bright light, we tend to run way too intense vs what corals need and GHA will capitalize on the excess, plus we usually aren’t working with coralline live rock so it takes some time for rejecting coralline to show up

then there’s small adjustments like topoff water purity and overall detritus loading from the sand if applicable

that’s a very large tank for sure, just naming some challenges unforeseen that might result in growback work but as we mentioned post one that has nothing to do with the will to rip the plants out first go. If you’d like to do a test rock area first and see how well it sustains before whole tank work that will give some insight into future expectations.

large tanks are also welcome to rasp and detail the system first go, clean the funky sand, and then use fluconazole as growback prevention so you don’t have to disassembly clean again, that’s powerful.

most just use it right on the full mass condition but that’s bad, it translocates the plant mass as dying mass back down into a system already loaded with waste and they get a year long cyano battle two months after killing the gha.

the rip work you are planning is beneficial for sure.

 

[ReefMan692]

A few weeks ago I began to get taken over. It only got worse!

 

[ReefMan692]

Cobra Kai Mother #$!*ers!

I told my wife im going to make the tank comply. Show now quarter. Be impeachable in my resolve.

She said she liked the way I was talking to her.

 

[brandon429]

the sandbed is not loaded with waste I think we don't have to rip all the way down

try and test rock a few sections for direct contact

water dosing and killing it is possible but presents coral workaround challenges.

 

[brandon429]

wait, scratch that, I was caught hesitating in my own non hesitation thread and thank you for picking up the pace around here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if you can work it all cloudlessly it will handle the intervention and re-aiming of direction

 

[ReefMan692]

I removed a lot of rock and honestly i dont think im going to put most of it back. A lot of corals dying and struggling anyways so i salvaged what I could.

Less is more. Now I have access. The war might not be over but future battles will be easily won.

 

[ReefMan692]

Also, it increased my water volume and gave my fish more room. COBRA KAI.

 

[brandon429]

one thing is for certain, any degree of live rock left will run the biosystem along with the sandbed. there is no risk from culling live rock down to a preferable level, its such a strong filter any #'s left are enough even for many more fish support. fewer rocks are directly easier to manage for any growback/lift and burn/ well done. good for others to see resolve + execution and after pics

 

[ReefMan692]

I feel good! So glad i found your thread you are thr inspiration sir!

 

[VBMike]

The tank is only 4 months old... the algae bloom is right on time. Going crazy with peroxide is going to stretch it out imo. Peroxide will kill the bio film on the rocks/sand where you use it and there's a good chance you'll see another diatom bloom... which leads to more algae. I think peroxide is a much better fit in a well-established tank (1.5+ years old).

I think you'd be better served with a big herd of hermit crabs, like 1-2/gal. Lots of them are the key... they gotta be hungry and competing with each other to convince them to eat algae. It'll be gone in less than a week. Then you can cut the crab count in half (sell back to the store, sell on FB, whatever) to maintain the progress.

 

[ReefMan692]

The tank is only 4 months old... the algae bloom is right on time. Going crazy with peroxide is going to stretch it out imo. Peroxide will kill the bio film on the rocks/sand where you use it and there's a good chance you'll see another diatom bloom... which leads to more algae. I think peroxide is a much better fit in a well-established tank (1.5+ years old).

I think you'd be better served with a big herd of hermit crabs, like 1-2/gal. Lots of them are the key... they gotta be hungry and competing with each other to convince them to eat algae. It'll be gone in less than a week. Then you can cut the crab count in half (sell back to the store, sell on FB, whatever) to maintain the progress.

No you don't understand my tank has tons of hermits and snails in it, 8 emeralds and about $500 in total CUC including shrimps, cleaner shrimps and peppermint. This algae was THICK bro! The only thing really I am missing CUC wise are my tangs. I had a few tangs but lost them early on to disease. Only fish that had issues for me and they died and I've just been stand-off-ish about running to get more tangs at this time. Albeit they are great, GREAT algae eaters. I do have a wrasse and a flame angel, halloween hermits, and various other hermit species which I usually by in 25 packs from reef cleaners. I'd say "hundreds" of snails/hermits in total. Although with the Wrasse killing them off I have to keep replenishing there probably arn't "hundreds" alive today. There are ENOUGH for sure, you can see a ton of the shells in the sand in the pic. They just couldn't ever seem to put any dent in the stuff. The first picture I posted was from a few weeks back when it was just heating up. It got much, much worse over the past 14 days. All while I was cycling lights off for 24 hours, starving fish out, running Carbon/GFO reactor, etc. None of this helped at all. Heck even just 7 or 8 days ago I added another 75 snails and 25 hermits I picked up from reefcleaners.com, but that's on top of the already well established CUC crew that existed in the tank the entire time. This wasn't going to "Get better on its own with a CUC crew". That's crazy talk... I just read a thread where someone thought the same 1.5 years ago and they have been dealing with it for 1.5 years.


Not going to be me. I took immediate action and now the algae is gone from the tank. I didn't really use much peroxide though -- because in my case I just ended up taking rocks out. I had too many rocks to begin with so I didn't have to go through debridement/peroxide and re-introduction process. I just needed to take the scrubber brush to the remaining rocks at the bottom of the tank that I didnt' care to remove, and because of the increased accessibility by getting off my *#! and attacking the issue head on, I was able to do so easily.

I may re-introduce a few rocks later once they have dried and algae is gone, we'll see. But i do not regret taking immediate and aggressive action to resolve the issue TODAY. And now that I have broken down the "Reef", I have much more accessibility to cleaning all of the crevices and areas that were just too hard to reach before.

So in essence I have made all the future battles I may encounter with GHA easier.

This thread is worth its weight in gold, and the process for me took only 3 hours. I say to anyone having similar issues -- don't be lazy. GET TO WORK! I've been hating my tank for a month and a half and now for the first night in a long time I am able to enjoy it again. WOO HOO that's a BIG WIN


FWIW I have a dual reactor (carbon and GFO), a UV, an APEX, dos pumps, and have been completing weekly 32 gallon water changes. Keeping CA at 500 (been trying to lower naturally but with GHA take over and coral slowed down it's been difficult) mag at 1400 and alk at 9.0 pretty consistently over the past few months. I test my Nitrates and Phosphates, and have gotten better over the past 4 months of keeping them lowered. I couldn't quite get them under control though, and I personally believe that's because of the GHA. I was sick of starving the fish completely and decided I had to take action. GHA is a nasty beast. Initially I wasn't doing as well, and the balance got tipped in the algaes favor. Once GHA takes hold, it's not going anywhere without direct intervention.

PPS.
I've dealt with a little 'hair algae' spring up in my small 30 gallon nano at around the 2-3 month mark, but nothing like what happened in this tank. Just a different level of intervention required. And to be fair the 30 gallon nano is much more accessible and easier to clean then the 150 main display that is up a few steps on a stool to get into (it's about 58 inches from the ground since my stand is 34 inches tall). So in the nano, if I do see some algae on back wall, heater fixtures, wav pumps or other problem areas, I can very easily and quickly rub it off, see some algae in corner no problem easy to get to. Just not the same situation in the main display and it was compounded and made more difficult by the extensive rock structure and the feeling of helplessness to do anything to clean the algae out. It didn't take long for the GHA to proliferate when left unchecked, it got so thick it was suffocating corals.

This thread inspired me to just get to work, rebuild the reef, fix the issues, increase accessibility and give the tank the cleaning it deserved, and that's what it's all about. Now all future cleanings and "Battles" with the "enemy" will be much easier to achieve victory.

Strike First
Strike Hard
Show No Mercy!!!

 

[ReefMan692]

Strange tidbit... but ever since 12:15 this afternoon when i tore the rocks out my calcium has been rising according to apex. Was at 500 for months now its reading 600.

Very strange, anyone ever heard of that? Im also 18 gallons in to a 32 gallon 24 hour water change that will finish tomorrow around noon. Even stranger that calcium is rising while the water change is happening. This is the second water change this week.

Any one ever heard of that one? I guess its not to big of a deal but i need to figure out how to lower.

I may recalibrate my probe tomorrow i dont know how its possible my calcium continues to stay high (and now go even higher) even though ive done like 8 water changes in past 2.months.

I was using IO reef crystals but now im on the FRITZ.

 

[ReefMan692]

I brought my light cycle down to 9 and a half hours used to be 11.

Also lowered % slightly on my xr30s but they were only ever at 45~% to begin with.

Considering blasting the fuge with light to make algae grow down there instead of in the DT has anyone ever done that?

 

[ReefMan692]

Just another update -- GHA is gone today remaining patches in tank have gone white plus i got in there again today scrubbed remaining rocks again for good measure.

Show no quarter!

 

[PhilipS]

Anyone try zapping with diluted glutaraldehyde?

Once H2O2 is applied twice then I dose the C5H8O2; once.

It’s not much of a carbon source when mixed with water. However it has annihilated any freshwater algae at their core.

Invert safe when diluted.

 

[brandon429]

Rasp + Sandbed removal + instant control exerted over a new tank maturing up with corals and fish in place.

UKR33f3r​

Algae/Cyano Issue Not Improving, Help Please?

Hi all, I have a Red Sea Reefer 250 that has been up and running for 8 months now. My issue is a strange black algae\cyano growth that has plagued me for the last two months+. I have been treating as follows: cleaning gravel twice weekly 20% water changes twice a week Addition of beneficial...

www.reef2reef.com

look how carefully he documents the holding, separation, work, put back as skip cycle its the best modeling and documentation seen since Cook's big job

 

[Tamberav]

I had a bryopsis issue.. not gha but clearly bryopsis. Forgot to take a before pic but can see a green patch on the right side in this pic.

I dipped the rocks in tank water plus enough peroxide for a good bubbly boil for 10 min. Added 5 female emerald crabs which loved the dead/bleached bryopsis and it never returned.

The acro was just fine hanging out just above the peroxide lava. The pink and yellow hitchhiker sponges survived surprisingly.. coralline took a hit but came back quickly. It will kill bristle-worms and brittlestars or asterina but since I only had to dip 3 rocks out of many… they just repopulated the spot.

I did do a second rinse in tank water to get rid of the excess peroxide as the bubbles irritate SPS.

I had removed the corals before the dip but can’t get the larger acro off but it doesn’t seem to care about being in the air for awhile.

 

[brandon429]

T thank you so much for that documentation your first pic was so nice and sharp and from an aged system obviously it was hard to find the bad spot lol. That picture and its ratios makes the case finely that our quest for total algae control -is- the unnatural part of this hobby


Reefs in perfect, solidly perfect conditions grow worse algae than that. Our hobby trained us like diet culture no joke, to have algae is to eat double cheeseburgers heh


That doesn't mean I didn't eat a cb last nite, nor does it mean I'd accept any algae in my display thanks tons for posting that removal option!

You've also prevented that one spot from taking over such a nice reef, nothing bad can be said about preventative pre action considering the number of tanks lost to bryopsis... looks like it had green cyano coexpressing as well in that particular spot.

 

[Seton]

Hello, I came across this post as I too am struggling with green algae. I have 400 litres fish only. Im currently using 12% and spot injecting but it’s coming back.

can anyone please advise what I should do? Im running blue and white aqua rays which I can reduce.

I can dip the rock but I assume not all at once?

it’s not hair algae, just green patches

thanks for any help