Extreme Algae Bloom

[Anemonee]

Hey all,

I'd like to preface this post with, yes.. I know it's really bad and I'm obviously doing something wrong or something has gone horribly wrong. I'm desperate to save my tank, so please be nice.

My tank is about 4yrs old and I'm experiencing one of the worst algae blooms I've ever had. It kick started after I replaced my AI Prime cord (at the suggestion of others) as the light was really really dim and flickering. Now that it's at its brightest, this algae is going wild.

All my parameters are as follows
Salinity is at 0.025
Phosphate is at 0 - a little low so I stopped running my GFO reactor
Magnesium is at 1230ppm - a little low
Alkalinity is at 11kh
Nitrate is at 5.0ppm - so a little high
Ammonia is at 0.25ppm

The last of my clean up crew died a little while ago, so I'm going to get more today. I've been doing water changes every two weeks but I can't keep on top of it.

Any suggestions would be great as this algae is slowly swallowing up my coral. [emoji3525]

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[4nReefer]

How many gal is your tank? Manually plug off as much GHA as you possibly can,then get mixed CUC, 1 CUC/gal. You can also dose vibrant, I used it and it wiped out all the algaes, however as soon as I stopped algaes came back. With the right amount of CUC, they'll keep the Algae in check and prevent them from flooding back. Remember also, this problem didn't start in one day so lots of patience will also help in the healing process. Hope this helps.

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[ohioreef]

A sea hare does great to mow down the HA in the tank. Once the HA is gone you'll need to either rehome him or feed him.

 

[4nReefer]

Also I'm not sure if its the pix, but looks like you have cyanobacteria. If you do, you'll have to threat that. Chemiclean is a very good treatment for that.

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[Anemonee]

How many gal is your tank? Manually plug off as much GHA as you possibly can,then get mixed CUC, 1 CUC/gal. You can also dose vibrant, I used it and it wiped out all the algaes, however as soon as I stopped algaes came back. With the right amount of CUC, they'll keep the Algae in check and prevent them from flooding back. Remember also, this problem didn't start in one day so lots of patience will also help in the healing process. Hope this helps.

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It's a 47gal cube display with a 25gal sump.

This is awesome. I'm going today to get a solid clean up crew and I'll look into getting vibrant.

Thank you so much!


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[Anemonee]

Also I'm not sure if its the pix, but looks like you have cyanobacteria. If you do, you'll have to threat that. Chemiclean is a very good treatment for that.

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I have chemiclean and am about to treat the tank right now, because yes, I have all sorts of fun in the tank right now haha

Thank you!!


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[4nReefer]

It's a 47gal cube display with a 25gal sump.

This is awesome. I'm going today to get a solid clean up crew and I'll look into getting vibrant.

Thank you so much!


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So you'll need [MENTION=40151]Lea[/MENTION]st 47 CUC... Let us know how it works and lemme know if u have any question k. Goodluck boss

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[dannyfish]

I would remove all the corals, bleach the whole system and start over. A friend of mine recommends Reef Flux. Buy macroalgae or chaeto and put them in your sump with blue/red LED lighting.


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[xlayedoutx]

I use Reef Flux and it handles a number of different algae.

 

[moondoggy4]

I would not start over, you will need a few different treatments to clean your tank up. So I would do Reef Flux and then wait a little bit then do ChemiClean and after that I would do Microbater 7

 

[Timfish]

+1 on do not start over. I've always found manual removal and water changes and algae eaters like hermits, sally ligthfoots and especially urchins and patience to be all I need to fix algae problems.

 

[ckaz]

Also the .25 ammonia is concerning. Anything did recently?