Algae issues Please help

Anyone try a Molly ? I read on another thread somewhere they will eat most any type of algae. Just acclimate and let them have at it.
 
Well, I'm a bit stupid... I just now noticed there was a second page to that thread. The guy had outdated RO filters and DI resin. When he changed his filters, the problem fixed itself. But, I don't think my source water is my problem. Nonetheless, I'm still focusing on water quality. I've cut back to eight hours of light each day, and I'm feeding lightly every other day. I'm also working on getting the best skimmate possible. Combined with more frequent water changes, I'm hoping I can get this algae to give in and leave my tank for good. We'll see. If my fish start to look bad, I'll feed larger amounts, but I'm sure they can go with less food than usual for quite a while. Nutrients nutrients nutrients, I'm sure I can do better controlling them, even though I consider my husbandry to be quite good.

-Joe
 
Nice tank Randy. You have the brown worse than I do and in different locations. Mine is on the rock and parts of my sand bed. Do you have any in your fuge ? I just noticed its starting on the sand bed in there. Let us know about the Turbos, mine dont touch the stuff. Good luck and keep in touch.
 
Just a little in my fuge on the sides of the tank. I will keep you posted. Thanks for the comment on the tank. I am trying to do this right.
 
I'm always amazed by how we can be "beaten" by common problems no matter how much equipment we run and how "perfectly" we do everything. And then you see people who have the least equipment doing almost no water changes and doing few things "by the book" and yet they have gorgeous tanks without our problems...:confused: Gotta love our hobby...

For what it's worth, I checked TDS in my RO/DI water last night and it was 19. Same reading as pre-DI. So, something happened to my DI. Just a couple weeks ago when I last checked it was working perfectly. Strange... So, I'm going to buy a 2-stage refillable DI unit from The Filter Guys. I'll use the high-silica removal media, and once my water gets back to 0 TDS I'll see if it helps to control or get rid of the algae.

-Joe
 
How true. I have literally been" perfect" concerning my tank for the last 6 months. With little or no results battling the brown. Patience only last so long, I need to see some results. My hobby has turned into an obsession, but I love it . If anything new occurs will update.
 
Well, my brown fuzzy algae looks like it may be at a standstill. I haven't really noticed any new growth. However, I'm getting some weird brown color on parts of my sandbed. It has a few small bubbles in it, so it's definitely algae. But, it's nothing like any other sandbed algaes I've seen before. So, I'll have to look into it.

I'm skimming pretty wet right now and will order a new DI system this Friday. TDS is now at 3, so I think my previous sample was contaminated with tap water residue or something... But, I still want it at zero, and I want the best possible silicate removal.

Finally, I've resorted to cleaning out my sandbed during waterchanges. I take my sand vac and pinch off the hose to slow down the flow and then I go to the problem areas on the sandbed and suck out the silt and any other nasties that I can. It's amazing how gross a sandbed can get. I have 2-3" of oolitic sand, and I was hoping it would provide some natural nitrate reduction and other benefits. But, it looks like it may be trapping more stuff than my sand sifters can handle. So, that might be part of my problem. As such, I'm cleaning out and slowly reducing my sandbed in hopes that it might help remove something that could be feeding my algae woes.

Until next time,
Joe
 
Thats really weird Joe, I did the same thing yesterday during my weekly water change. I figured I've attcked every part of the system except the sand bed. Cleaned about 50% or so of it. Will go after it again next week. I guess all we can do is stay on top of it and be patient. Good luck, Mike.
 
Well I am having some luck. I have about 30 turbos and 2 urchins and they are slowly starting to remove it.

I will post some pics soon.
 
Actually, I'm starting to occasionally see some hermits/turbos/etc sitting on the one rock in my tank that has pretty good coverage of the fuzzy brown algae. So maybe they'll slowly learn to eat it...or the rest of the edible algae is gone from the tank... Either way I'm not complaining if they're eating (or at least picking at) the stuff! :-)

As far as sand cleaning, the stuff I'm pulling out is quite gross. Sulphur smell, dark color, etc. So, I think I'll continue cleaning part of the sand during each water change.

-Joe
 
Hello guys, just an update. I noticed today on my water change that the FBA (fuzzy brown algae) is at a stand still on the rock. However, it seemed to spread on the sand bed quite a bit more than the previous week. I vacuumed some serious FBA out today and with every other avenue of attack being implemented, I hope to get a handle on this soon. I hope my cleaners learn to eat it . Good luck with your alga issues.
 
I've also seen a little bit on my sand bed. However, it seems to form on "clumps" of sand. That makes sense, since it is really good at getting wedged into the rockwork. Also, I added a cuke to my tank, and a really active little fighting conch. They seem to be helping with my sand bed algae problem I wrote about a little bit ago. I'm still working on slowly reducing my sand bed (the parts I can reach, at least) to 1" or a bit less. It'll take a while, as I'm doing it slowly. But, I think that might help a little bit. To make up for losing my "semi-deep sand bed," I'm making a large remote DSB/'fuge. It'll go next to and above my tank and gravity feed into the display tank. That should maybe help a little bit, and at least give me an even better place to grow 'pods than my current hang-on 'fuge.

'Til next time,
Joe
 
I have a similar green hair algae prolem. It's like grass growing all over my tank choking out anything it comes in contact with. I've tried everything to get rid of it with no results. I litterally have to removed manually at least every 2 weeks if not weekly.

Lawnmower blennies don't eat it. Emerald crabs don't eat it, although they have managed to completly eat some of my macro algae. I added some macro algae (some fire engine red stuff) which is beautiful and growing quite vigorously but it has not managed to slow down the growth of the hair algae which is why i bought it in the first place (I ready it would use up the exess dissolved nutrients thereby starving out the hair algae, it hasn't).

I have noticed that this dreaded green plague does not seem to grow over anything where the purple coralline algae is growing. I've decided that in addition the constant manual removal of the green algae that I should perhaps encourage more growth of this coraline algae and simply irradicate the issue that way. I've read some things on this being a way to rid yourself of the plague. I've decided that a bottle of purple up is in order. Any opinions or am I just dreaming.

I'm desperate at this point and will try anything.
 
Green hair algae is not the problem the rest of us here on this thread have been battling. We've got a few ungodly nasty strains of brown algaes. However, most of our methods should be able to help you out as well. There are countless threads on RC and elsewhere online about battling marine algae, so the best thing you can do is to read them all and see if any of the available suggestions help you out. Also, identifying exactly what species of algae you have can help you to search for ways to specifically get rid of or manage your type. With lots of reading online, I'm sure you can beat the green hair algae. If only some of us could find the "magic cure" for our brown hair/fuzz algaes...

-Joe (p.s. I'm in Eau Claire, WI. Not sure which part of WI you're from...)
 
Joe, I put in a remote DSB/ fuge about 3 months ago. Reversed lighting schedule, poly filters in the baffles and chaeto in the fuge. I really believe that it has helped. I also reduced my sand bed depth to about 3/4 to a 1/2 inch over the last 8 weeks. So it looks like we are heading down the same path. Will keep up dated when warrants, good luck.
 
TwentyTwenty,

What skimmer are you running? PolyFilter makes my EuroReef RS-80 foam a lot, so I don't like using it. I installed my new DI today. I had been using a horizontal cartridge, but now I have a refillable vertical unit that holds more and changes color so I can monitor how it's doing. So, I'll see if that might help a bit. And once I get my remote 'fuge going, we'll see if that can do anything. And as the sand bed keeps getting reduced...

So many fronts I'm working on...one of them has to start fending off the algae...
Joe
 
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