How do you get rid of green algae?

[pitbullpooch]

heres a pic of the green cyano that i was thinking you might have. mine staretd out this light but got darker as it aged till it was almost black.

 

[gflat65]

If you can get a copy of Photoshop, use the save for web function and change the pixel size to 640 (x~480-let it constrain proportions). I do that to all of my pics (unles they are extreme closeups and start smaller than 640 x 480-then I just save for web). You can adjust the Quality, too from the same dialog box to further reduce size (doesn't effect the actual picture quality noticeably in most cases). A free Photobucket account will also resize when you try to upload it, but if it is a larger sized pic, it'll take a while and you don't have as much control over the actual size (Photobucket auto resizing will make a variety of sizes-I'm too anal for that...).

If you have what pitbullpooch has shown, lighting could be the culprit, as well as lower flow. Increase flow and replace VHO bulbs (like I said, I don't let them go longer then 6 months, but others do) and you may see a vast improvement. Alot of people have used chemicals to remove slime algae (cyanobacteria as shown above) with no ill effects, but I prefer natural methods.

Chris makes a good point about the toothbrush, but I use one in my tank on the Bryopsis when I finally get tired of it coming back every few days. When I scrub it out, I usually get a couple of weeks of subdued growth, where just pulling it used to have it coming back in days. It is much more subdued now, after a scrubbing and getting my Alk up and constant. Bryopsis is a more invasive type of hair algae (to answer an earlier question).

 

[TitansFan]

The easiest way I have found to post pictures is to use photobucket. It is free. It will resize the pictures for you (good enough for RC use). Set up an account. Then upload pictures. To post them on RC cut and paste the line below the picture next to "IMG Code". It will look like:

without the spaces.


http://photobucket.com/

 

[Mikeyjer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9423466#post9423466 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gottahaveaDori
Hey, Mike
Thanks for your input. We have only had the new tank up since November. We have snails and hermits--but some of the snails have died--so, that may be why algae is starting to grow, huh? We had turbo snails, but I don't know if they were "Mexican" or not. How can I find out? Should I call the INS? Just kidding.
Glad y'all let me know about the older actinics--had no idea about that.
I sure can understand that "too cheap to replace" bit...I don't think Bob will want to run out tomorrow and buy one of those. Unfortunately, there ain't nothing cheap about this hobby!!!!!
I have some hermits, but I am not sure if they are emerald.
Would you suggest one of those sea slug things?

To me, it does sound like your having a new tank syndrome since it's only been setup since November. It will go away on it's own once the tank matures. IF it's those slime algae, just suck'em up with a siphon hose everytime you do a water change. If it's brown diatom, you should check your ph and alkaline, might need to buffer. I buffer my tanks for quite a few days in a row and got rid of brown diatom instantly. I would get more snails since some of yours have died off. I bought a mix variety this time and it's working great for me getting rid of both Bryopsis and hair algae. A LOT of algae disappeared in one week. A few friends have seen how BAD the tank looks, it's NEVER looked that bad in 2 years and it's now coming back looking good again. I'll post pictures once the snails have accomplished their job. I'll also post on what I did to rid "Bryopsis". A baseball size rock was completely covered with bryopsis was cleaned off in two days, the whole right side back glass was covered with bryopsis was cleaned up in two days, not growing back either. I'll post my findings once everything is done as a lot of folks are dealing with bryopsis and not knowing how to get rid of them. I did a lot of research and bought a bunch of stuffs, now I'm getting somewhere.....