Solving Algae Problems in My Tank. Any Thoughts?

[noobreefer2]

Hey Guys,

I've been struggling with a cyanobacteria issue in my tank for over a year now, and despite maintaining low phosphates (0.04) and nitrates (0.5), the problem persists.

First off, part of it is my fault: The tank has been pretty neglected for the last year or so, but still, I don't understand why I have algae constantly, I have tried TONS of things, and it just keeps coming back, that is part of the reason I have "given up" (not really YET lol) I want to get rid of this and solve the problem!

• Tank Details:
  • Tank Size: 75g
  • Lighting: 2x hydra 32HD
  • Livestock:
    • Fish: 2 clowns, 1 firefish, 1 Banggai cardinalfish, 1 flame hawkfish,
    • Coral: 1 toadstool mushroom, 1 small GSP colony, 1 xenia frag (just got), 1 Nepthea frag (just got)
    • CUC: 3x astrea snails, 1x cleaner shrimp, 2-3 blue legs

1. Current Situation:
   • Dealing with cyanobacteria for over a year.
   • Originally started as crysophyte algae, it has become a persistent Cyano problem.
   • It is growing on the corals a little, so I have my powerheads aimed at them, but I still have to turkey-baste the stuff off every day or so.
2. Filtration:
   - Reef Octopus Classic 110INT 4” Internal Protein Skimmer
   - Refugium (not active right now)
   - Bag o' carbon
   - Filter sock
   
   
3. Nutrient Levels:
   • Phosphates: 0.04
   • Nitrates: 0.5
   • Here is photo of a chart over the years:
   • 
4. Recent Actions/changes:
   • Dosing Algaefix for the past few weeks.
   • Removed cheatomorpha algae. (bc of algaefix)
   • I have tried to siphon the Cyano into my filter sock, and then change my filter sock, but it just comes back so quickly. WHY?????!!!!
   • I have not been doing water changes in the last 6 months-ish to try to get my nutrients up
   • I just switched from glass tops to screen tops, probably increasing the light intensity in my tank a lot
5. Upcoming Plan??:
   • I just purchased Chemiclean to address the Cyano issue, starting tomorrow.
   • I Stopped dosing Algeafix, it does not seem to be doing anything of the past few weeks
   • Mabye get more fish to get nutrients up? IDK LOL

My big question:​

Despite maintaining low nutrient levels, why am I constantly dealing with algae, specifically cyanobacteria? Any ideas about the transition from cyrptophytes to cyanobacteria? How do I get rid of algae for good!!! I have always had algae in my tank and am tired of it! I want to have a nice reef tank, this tank has been up for 4 YEARS.

Thank you for your help! (I probably forgot a bunch of info I will add later in the thread)

Even with a powerhead blasting the GSP, there is still a layer of cyano growing on the tissue that I have to blow off every few days (but it doesn't seem to care about the algae at all lol)

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

You need to raise your nutrients.

 

[noobreefer2]

You need to raise your nutrients.

I actually tried doing that and it just made the Cyano worse, I thought that they fed off of high phosphate. If you think its the problem I can try it again but I cant really see how it could help.

 

[brandon429]

I have some battles like that logged

best steps on file

remove the sand as a skip cycle disassembly surgery. animals held in buckets first and removed from tank

covered with lids so no jumpers

then with no animals present the tank is drained/substrate 100% removed and the tank is wiped clean from the inside as if it's new dry glass.

then we take only the live rocks and you'd clean each one in the sink using directed flow or rubbing off of any attachments

use peroxide, it's not going to hurt anything, avoid coralline areas with it but it's helpful to kill virulent cyano strains as a direct application

then you final rinse each rock in saltwater and set them aside to go back in the tank

set up the perfectly cleaned tank again with all new water, doesn't have to be high quality water just use instant ocean or fritz etc.

set the rocks back in, then the animals into the perfectly clean system. resume reefing but this time cut your light power -30% from where it sits right now and run only that subtracted strength

you now have a skip cycle ripped clean reef, we track degree of growback work you must do on the tank walls and surfaces to keep clean. it's from the regrowth we learn about the invasion, not once it's fully invaded.

keep the substrate or get new, we'd only put perfectly rinsed substrate back in the system (rinsed for hours in tap water to clear, then final rinse in saltwater) after the system showed no signs of cyano or spirulina invasion

 

[Rick's Reviews]

do you have availability of adjusting intensity of whites/ blues and schedule on the hydras?
What wavemakers are you using?

I would suggest not to directly 'point' wavemakers at a certain target, maybe point it upwards towards surface (just enough to cause ripples) create a random pattern throughout your aquarium

Maybe consider buying an internal filter with u.v. £30 along with a surface skimmer £15

Then just turkey blast the loose, clean out filters, turkey blast again, clean out filters (every couple of days)

Then get more hands on with the tougher stuff using a toothbrush to scrub one section at a time.

 

[Outlaw Corals]

Save yourself a lot of trouble and work and get an algae scrubber and that’s that !!!

 

[brandon429]

the key to the win is surgery, not chemistry. not meds like chemi clean

a key booster will be a pond uv sterilizer off amazon, if needed. cheap + effective manual burns. physical vs chemical for the win here

 

[brandon429]

good call on the white spectrum, cut it to zero for sure in my opinion for a good evaluation period, say about 2 months in the clean condition.

 

[noobreefer2]

Huh, yeah, I can cut out the whites, and I have one powerhead aimed at the surface, and another named at rocks/coral (both 1350 gph), and a 240 gph aimed at the GSP.

I have some battles like that logged

best steps on file

remove the sand as a skip cycle disassembly surgery. animals held in buckets first and removed from tank

covered with lids so no jumpers

then with no animals present the tank is drained/substrate 100% removed and the tank is wiped clean from the inside as if it's new dry glass.

then we take only the live rocks and you'd clean each one in the sink using directed flow or rubbing off of any attachments

use peroxide, it's not going to hurt anything, avoid coralline areas with it but it's helpful to kill virulent cyano strains as a direct application

then you final rinse each rock in saltwater and set them aside to go back in the tank

set up the perfectly cleaned tank again with all new water, doesn't have to be high quality water just use instant ocean or fritz etc.

set the rocks back in, then the animals into the perfectly clean system. resume reefing but this time cut your light power -30% from where it sits right now and run only that subtracted strength

you now have a skip cycle ripped clean reef, we track degree of growback work you must do on the tank walls and surfaces to keep clean. it's from the regrowth we learn about the invasion, not once it's fully invaded.

keep the substrate or get new, we'd only put perfectly rinsed substrate back in the system (rinsed for hours in tap water to clear, then final rinse in saltwater) after the system showed no signs of cyano or spirulina invasion

Why do you think this happened? Why do I need to clean out the tank thoroughly, compared to others who have had success without doing this (I can totally do this if needed I'm just wondering )? I can also look into grabbing a UV sterilizer.

 

[noobreefer2]

Could I try the chemiclean and see if it works? I already ordered it. Should I also cut out the red/green channels on the lights? If the chem clean does not work, I could take out the rocks and scrub them with h2o2, add a UV, and then vacuum the sand.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Huh, yeah, I can cut out the whites, and I have one powerhead aimed at the surface, and another named at rocks/coral (both 1350 gph), and a 240 gph aimed at the GSP.

Why do you think this happened? Why do I need to clean out the tank thoroughly, compared to others who have had success without doing this (I can totally do this if needed I'm just wondering )? I can also look into grabbing a UV sterilizer.

Following

 

[Rick's Reviews]

I have some battles like that logged

best steps on file

remove the sand as a skip cycle disassembly surgery. animals held in buckets first and removed from tank

covered with lids so no jumpers

then with no animals present the tank is drained/substrate 100% removed and the tank is wiped clean from the inside as if it's new dry glass.

then we take only the live rocks and you'd clean each one in the sink using directed flow or rubbing off of any attachments

use peroxide, it's not going to hurt anything, avoid coralline areas with it but it's helpful to kill virulent cyano strains as a direct application

then you final rinse each rock in saltwater and set them aside to go back in the tank

set up the perfectly cleaned tank again with all new water, doesn't have to be high quality water just use instant ocean or fritz etc.

set the rocks back in, then the animals into the perfectly clean system. resume reefing but this time cut your light power -30% from where it sits right now and run only that subtracted strength

you now have a skip cycle ripped clean reef, we track degree of growback work you must do on the tank walls and surfaces to keep clean. it's from the regrowth we learn about the invasion, not once it's fully invaded.

keep the substrate or get new, we'd only put perfectly rinsed substrate back in the system (rinsed for hours in tap water to clear, then final rinse in saltwater) after the system showed no signs of cyano or spirulina invasion

Just thought this was abit of overkill but hopefully others will help you with this

general maintenance In my opinion is by far better then any chemicals, it don't cost nothing only perseverance and time, no damage to aquarium in long term, all life is safe as it's just you and your hands/ filters.

You could even do 1 HR a day, just scrub a little, clean internal filters, do the same the next day and repeat daily or every other day.
Or every week?

No chemicals, CUC, crabs, snails, shrimp, fish, will give your a perfect looking aquarium WITHOUT you doing the groundwork first

Get your hands wet

 

[brandon429]

the order described, vacuuming the sand won't work / the description was disassembly cleaning for a reason

if you view enough jobs in the nuisance algae forum, you'll see the advisors have a low actual cure rate ~10% of jobs

it takes a change in reefing to get a change in result, a cleaning still leaves lots of organic waste in the system. the way stated can be searched in rip clean threads, it leaves no degree of solid waste in the system which is key to the win for a neglected, eutrophic tank.

Old tank syndrome is vanquished in reefing now

the cause of old tank syndrome is compounding whole waste particles that blanket the interstitial sand grain zones and plug up the channels in live rocks- in some cases it's sheer overgrowth allowed from various invasions that plugs up the surface area on live rock combined with a thin veneer of...

www.reef2reef.com

the UV may not be needed, we'd judge it off the growback rate. reducing lights, no whites, is going to really help there hopefully. chemi clean can kill your tank, it's searchable. rip cleans help your tank, they can't kill it.

 

[UMALUM]

Could I try the chemiclean and see if it works? I already ordered it. Should I also cut out the red/green channels on the lights? If the chem clean does not work, I could take out the rocks and scrub them with h2o2, add a UV, and then vacuum the sand.

BINGO!

 

[noobreefer2]

Just cut out the white, green, and red.

 

[noobreefer2]

the order described, vacuuming the sand won't work / the description was disassembly cleaning for a reason

if you view enough jobs in the nuisance algae forum, you'll see the advisors have a low actual cure rate ~10% of jobs

it takes a change in reefing to get a change in result, a cleaning still leaves lots of organic waste in the system. the way stated can be searched in rip clean threads, it leaves no degree of solid waste in the system which is key to the win for a neglected, eutrophic tank.

Old tank syndrome is vanquished in reefing now

the cause of old tank syndrome is compounding whole waste particles that blanket the interstitial sand grain zones and plug up the channels in live rocks- in some cases it's sheer overgrowth allowed from various invasions that plugs up the surface area on live rock combined with a thin veneer of...

www.reef2reef.com

the UV may not be needed, we'd judge it off the growback rate. reducing lights, no whites, is going to really help there hopefully. chemi clean can kill your tank, it's searchable. rip cleans help your tank, they can't kill it.

Do you think its necessary to go this far? Is there any other things I can do before I try this?

 

[brandon429]

for sure, you can always fall back on that

the link shows the outcome, it's simply shiny perfect reefs as the outcome. that's not too far, to get those pics

the other options you'll consider have far less cure rates and more tradeoff invasions

 

[PotatoPig]

Your CUC is minuscule for your tank size. Adding another 10-15 Astrea and 10-15 Nerite snails, and a conch or two wouldn’t be excessive, possibly add a few more varieties on top of that.

 

[noobreefer2]

for sure, you can always fall back on that

the link shows the outcome, it's simply shiny perfect reefs as the outcome. that's not too far, to get those pics

the other options you'll consider have far less cure rates and more tradeoff invasions

After reading other threads you sent, I think this may be the best option. How could I have prevented this/why is this happening?

 

[Spare time]

I actually tried doing that and it just made the Cyano worse, I thought that they fed off of high phosphate. If you think its the problem I can try it again but I cant really see how it could help.

I agree upping the nitrates may help. Cyano can get their nitrogen from the atmosphere unlike some other organisms that may be limited in growth because of ultra low nitrate.