Best way to treat this algae

[Paul B]

the tangs and fox face graze all day but don't seem to make a dent

Why do you want to take away their happiness? They are grazing because thats what they are supposed to do, they hate bare rock.
Many of my fish are spawning, even the 33 year olds. It's because of the natural food in the tank.

This is a major reason why so many tanks crash and we see so few very old tanks. They are cleaned to death. Clean your kitchen, but keep the fish happy and healthy by making their home resemble the sea where that stuff covers everything. Your tangs will keep it short.

PS I would severely cut back or eliminate that Nori. Your fish don't need it and it is adding a lot of nitrogen. I keep Hippo tangs for 10 years and they never saw nori.

 

[ralph82396]

Why do you want to eliminate it? Looks fine to me and I'm sure your tangs love it.

My tank is over 50 years old and I got that stuff all over the place just the way I like it because that is a sign of health. But what do I know?

Hey Paul, for the most part I follow your reefing methods, however, this algae has been growing over corals (mainly zoas) and smothering them to death, I’ve lost three colonies of zoas to it so far and it started to do some work on one of my Favias. I don’t necessarily mean to irradicate it completely as it and the critters that live in it feed many of my fish I do however wish to knock it back a bit to where my corals can grow and my grazers can manage it. I brushed it off of my rocks that have corals and left some on the rocks that are coral free,

 

[shred5]

For me I do several things.
First I agree with Paul some algae is a good thing. Natural food for grazers and biodiversity. The fact we got so sterile is why we see so many with dino's. Sometime you have to intervene though if it is getting out of hand.

I like to go natural ways.

I target phosphate because it is the limiting nutrient here.

I first start by adding bacteria and carbon to feed the bacteria. Bacteria fight for the same nutrients as algae.

Then like to add grazers like urchins, fish, snails and crabs. My favorite are urchins because they eat pretty much any algae really including the rock. I like the small tuxedos that are tank bred by Chad Vossen or ORA. They are really tiny and get everywhere. Because they are small are less likely to bulldoze they grow fast though. I add snails and sometime crabs.


While I like to feed my coral, if there is a algae outbreak feed the fish and not the tank. Do not overfeed either.

I also like to add silicates to the tank to increase diatom growths. Diatoms will compete with other algae and are preferred by most grazers.

Next make sure you filters are changed on your di/ro system. It does not help if you are dumping a bunch of nutrients back in.

You may also want to add a way to remove phosphate if bad enough with some GFO. Go slow here.

Clean any pre-filters and make sure skimmers are working. I really like using algae filters or refugium's.

Get in there and remove some with your hands around your corals.

Never fails for me with almost all algae.

I do not test for phosphates because if you have a algae problem they are there no mater what a test kit reads.

 

[Bruno3047]

Surefire way to get rid of your algae. Start dosing vinegar at 5 mL per day. Increase it by 5 mL per day every week until you start to get cloudiness. Then stop. When the cloudiness goes away, your algae should be gone too. If the algae persists, repeat the process until it’s gone. Can’t miss with this strategy.

 

[shred5]

Surefire way to get rid of your algae. Start dosing vinegar at 5 mL per day. Increase it by 5 mL per day every week until you start to get cloudiness. Then stop. When the cloudiness goes away, your algae should be gone too. If the algae persists, repeat the process until it’s gone. Can’t miss with this strategy.

A couple problems with that.
First off you are creating a bacteria bloom. Bacteria defiantly can compete with algae for nutrients but doing it this way is risking your tank.
That algae bloom could crash your tank by using up all the oxygen.
Also if someone does not have a skimmer to remove the bloom by cutting off its carbon source it will die and just release those nutrients back.

Now adding carbon and increasing bacteria defiantly can work with some algae's.

 

[Bruno3047]

A couple problems with that.
First off you are creating a bacteria bloom. Bacteria defiantly can compete with algae for nutrients but doing it this way is risking your tank.
That algae bloom could crash your tank by using up all the oxygen.
Also if someone does not have a skimmer to remove the bloom by cutting off its carbon source it will die and just release those nutrients back.

Now adding carbon and increasing bacteria defiantly can work with some algae's.

Correct. You’re creating a bacteria bloom, which will be eating up all the nitrates and phosphates in the tank. I’ve been keeping saltwater fish for 50 years and I’ve never had a tank crash from bacteria bloom. Many times a bacteria bloom will result from a tank crashing for other reasons. As long as your tank is well oxygenated you won’t have a problem. A skimmer will take care of that or an air stone/bubbler for every 3 foot length of tank if you don’t have a skimmer. In my 125, I have a full width spray bar/return going across the surface which facilitates oxygenation, but that’s not required. The algae dying and releasing nutrients back into the water is what keeps the bacteria bloom going. When that process is finished, the bacteria bloom will go away by itself. And your algae problem should be gone. It’s a surefire way to get rid of your algae problem if that’s what your goal is. Take it for what it’s worth. Now, in order to keep the algae away, you’re going to have to find the level of vinegar dosing that will allow nutrients to be absorbed by the bacteria base, but not so much that you have an unsightly bacteria bloom. Naturally, if you’re dealing with a reef tank, you have to consider the nutrient requirements of the corals also, if there are any. But that’s a whole other discussion.

 

[David MC Lee]

Hi I used this to get my no3 knocked down .

NO3:PO4-X Nitrate & Phosphate Reducer

Prevent algae breakouts by removing the nitrates and phosphates in your reef tank. NO3:PO4-X Nitrate & Phosphate Reducer from Red Sea is a complex of carbons each with a different strain of microorganisms in a reef ready solution. Three Sizes Available 500mL 1000mL 5000mL Red Sea's NO3:PO4-x...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

It worked well, took my no3 from 13 to 0 in a couple months. Po4 went from about .6 to .04 but I have not been able to get po4 lower.
Now that my algae scrubbers are up and running good I have stopped using it. No3 stays at zero. I still have algae issues but my corals look so much better.