SOS

[reef_cheif32]

After returning from the summer I quickly noticed my family did not properly take care of my tank. All the fish survived but there is algae everywhere (rocks, sand, glass). This is a saltwater reef tank with no corals at the moment. How would I go about overhauling the tank and making it look nice again without totally starting over?

 

[MrDJeep123]

Check salinity and other parameters. Add carbon, possibly GFO accordingly. Water changes.

How big is the tank? What kinds of fish? Photo?

 

[steve&mari]

Pull as much as possible by hand and water changes. Do a 3 days totally blacked out cover with blanket. This will put a big dent in the algae. Then water changes and getting water parameters stable run gfo of some sort.

 

[FeliciaLynn]

Test your water parameters and see what is out of balance. Then start doing some big water changes to get rid of excess nutrients. I'd also add some carbon and GFO to the filter or sump. Once you get rid of excess nitrates and phosphates, the algae will begin to die off.

In the meantime, you can scrape the glass and manually remove algae from the rocks by plucking it or scrubbing it.

As long as your water parameters are ok, you can get some snails and crabs to help eat the algae.

Also, since this is FOWLR, you could shorten the light cycle or even turn the light off for a few days to help kill off the algae.

 

[reef_cheif32]

How would i rub off red algae from rocks

 

[justjes45]

How sad/annoying- sorry[emoji17][emoji19]

 

[bmarkus]

Before going crazy check the levels all you might need is some snails a good cleaning and a water change doing big changes all at once might move your levels to fast and can affect the health of your animals. Time cures all wounds!