Ulva algae removal

[Reef_puck]

Also before I removed the glass tops on this tank there was zero Ulva (at least showing) and the rock was covered in coralline. The increased light I guess was enough to grow the algae and kill off the coraline that hopefully will return me day.

 

[Reef_puck]

Just thought. Could the Ulva be growing at this rate due to nutrients (nitrates/po4) or just due to allot of light?

Would pulling the few corals out and donating them. Then going lights out for a month or so with scrubbing be better?

 

[Reef_puck]

Made a mess of scrubbing again. Clogged the filter socks and almost over flooded the sump.

I may have to resort to pulling the rock out and scrubbing in a tub and hope I get the Ulva off. This stuff grows fast.

 

[Moe K]

I just found ulva in my tank and just finished reading through this thread. Very informative.

I am not sure what triggered it but I just found a powerhead rusting and higher than usual iron in my icp test. Iron usually fuels all kinds of unwanted nasties.

I am going to get a grout brush because as you said a regular tooth brush is not enough. Personally I like to stay away from urchins because they take down the hermit crab population accidentally and munch on my coraline. I will look for a foxface tomorrow and see what happens.

 

[ptrusk]

Ulva is a plague. I introduced some on a frag plug I did not remove. This stuff just wont die. It mostly took over virgin surfaces that did not have other life, power heads, frag plugs, etc. I pulled power heads, scraped them, soaked them in peroxide, let them dry out for a week and it still came back. Manual removal just would not keep up with it.

Added a Foxface Lo and he loves it. I still get a bit on top of return pipes and feeder ring where he can't reach but he keeps it under control. Not sure I can ever completely remove it without algacide which I won't use, but that is what worked for me.

 

[Reef_puck]

We’ll update and holy cow. The Ulva looks gone. Between adding the second urchin, 20 snails and fox face it looks ok. Now to get coraline going and some more corals. The Zoas appear to be opened more and added a green frogspawn to see how it goes. I have only did one 30g water change this month and that is it. No dosing - just feeding the fish the frozen foods.