pico reef pest algae problem challenge

[jackers]

Awesome! I am going to the drug store tonight then.

I still think I am going to take out the "lose" rocks and treat them outside of the tank. I just think it would be easier than the plastic wrap trick which I will be using on the large "base" rocks.

When I pull the lose rocks out, how do I treat them? Simply pour new peroxide over the trouble spots or should I completely dip them? Peroxide is cheap, I intend on buying a bunch of it. If I do just pour it over the trouble areas, do I need to dilute it? How long should it sit before rinsing off and putting back in the tank?

This is as excited I have been in quite some time. Thanks for doing all the leg work here!

 

[jackers]

delete

 

[brandon429]

Hey no problem glad it will help. For the external treatments there's no need to bleach all the rock if it can be avoided you just target dribble or spot inject.

Its not illegal for you to have those syringes but it sure is hard to get they almost never sell them now at least where i come from its a flippin act of Congress to get one. Hope your local pharmacist is understanding, the thin diameter insulin injector is among the best tools in a peroxide/algae war because it keeps peroxide off non targets and squarely on targets. Maybe they'll sell you just one, that's all you'll need.

 

[jackers]

Ok, finally got to the store and bought four big bottles of peroxide (3%) and a 10 pack of syringes. I'll start the process tomorrow and hopefully get some good pics.

On a side note, I had no problems betting the syringes from my local pharmacy. If anyone has problems getting one, let me know and I'll send you one out in the mail.

 

[brandon429]

That is great they were available

You don't mind scraping the glass portion right? I was planning on reducing the overall amount of peroxide and those flat surfaces are such an easy take without using more

If i can find the pics I'll upload a shot of a siphon hose taped to the dowel scraper

With pumps off, every down scrape is getting siphoned out with a simple half inch hose next to the blade and taped in place. This prevents releasing the cloud of scraped material into the tank

And some of the residual peroxide in the water will take care of the rest

 

[nam2212]

I am marking this to come back and read later. I am battling a terrible outbreak of GHA at the moment. Hopefully I can learn from this thread when I get the chance to read it.

 

[jackers]

Not at all. I did a section yesterday before the water change but I like your idea with the siphon hose attached better. The entire back will take a few water changes to get it all. Since my tank is acrylic, it makes it a little harder and slower with my hard plastic scraper instead of a razor blade.

I'm anxious to get to work on it tomorrow, I'll definitely be posting some more pictures over the next few days.

 

[smatter]

I started a new pico and peroxide is going to be deployed anytime there is any algae I can't siphon out :thumbsup:

 

[brandon429]

the purists might hate that lol but I don't know of a better cheat to recommend. when I do, no more peroxide threads lol

lots of people keep pico reefs without it. few do long term

 

[smatter]

I did a 100% water change yesterday and while the rocks were exposed I daubed a couple of small areas with a peroxide-soaked cotton swab. The nerites, which stay on the glass mostly, came down to the rocks for some steamed vegetables :spin1: I added a few corals. My old workhorse, the Luft pump, provides nice gentle currents to Jacuzzi-like conditions depending on where I have the rheostat set. I forgot how much I liked this thing. There is something to be said for simplicity.

 

[smatter]

I haven't been here in a while. Why do my pics post as thumbnails?

 

[jackers]

Yesterday I started attacking. I decided to treat half my tank by removing the rocks, the other half by using the plastic wrap and syringe treatment. I will save the plastic wrap treatment till my next water change. Anyway, here we go...

Here is the treatment station. I had a tub of day old water change, a clean tub for treatment, and a green lid where I would keep the treated rocks.

First step was to remove a rock, remove any frags, treat them with a 50/50 mix of tank water and peroxide, either with a syringe, dipping the cement part in the mixture, or by "painting" the frag plug with a finger that was dipped in the 50/50 solution. After a few minutes I would flush them in the old tank water then immediately back in the tank on a frag rack.

Next, I would take the rock and dunk and shake it in the old water. From there, it would go into the treatment tub where I would drizzle a new bottle of peroxide over the affected areas. I would let it sit for a few minutes, then back in the old tank water tub for a dunk, then up to the lid to wait for the rest of the rocks to be finished.

After I treated all the rocks on the left side of the tank, I put them back in and attempted a new aquascape. Man, I forgot how much I hate doing that....

My zoas were all closed and my softies/LPS all slimed up pretty good but by the time the lights went off, all were back open and happy.

I'll be sure to pictures daily to watch the hopeful die-off.

 

[smatter]

Good luck with your assault!

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

 

[jackers]

Day 1 update. I treated these spots of hair algae and some really light turf type algae yesterday. Here are the updates from Day 1. You can see how much lighter the hair algae looks already. It's already thinning and turning grey.

I was a little wrong yesterday. I have two frags of zoas that haven't opened yet. My Sunny D's which I received a day or two before treatment, and some candy apple reds. Both look like they are about to open up, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I'll be sure to add more pictures each day till victory day!

 

[nam2212]

I finally broke down and pulled all the rock and sprayed the GHA down with peroxide tonight. I purchased a spray bottle and a brand new bottle of peroxide for the task. I have a before picture. I ultimately re-aquascaped as a result as well because I was not able to fit the rock back together from memory. HA! I snapped a few shots of the new rock work after spraying with peroxide as well. I will update every couple of days. I really hope this works.

Here is the way I put the rocks back in the tank. You can see from the photos that the anemone is really stressed. I tried my best to shield it from any peroxide. I will get better pics when the tank clears up.

 

[brandon429]

You guys are posting great pictures i had always wanted the thread like that. people will repeat the methods shown by pics

nam your tank might require two treatments but that type of gha is the ideal peroxide target, each application will drastically reduce the mass. Its well anchored, but fairly localized down low, so perhaps a follow up submerged spot treatment will finish it out

Follow ups for both tanks will be great


No prob at all on the zoanthids not opening, they will

Currently i vote zoanthus sociatus and immediate relatives as the single most peroxide hardy corals we keep. Their tough cuticle like layering is good armor

I try to kill some invasive brown zoanthids in my tank, green center ones i bought as a frag, with brand new 35%

Direct application, drain and treat, 5 mins soak time, froths up big as it reacts with zoanthid tissue

And then back open in an hour, ridiculous truly.

3% in any dilution is a cakewalk to zoanthids and corallimorphs as well.

 

[nam2212]

You guys are posting great pictures i had always wanted the thread like that. people will repeat the methods shown by pics

nam your tank might require two treatments but that type of gha is the ideal peroxide target, each application will drastically reduce the mass. Its well anchored, but fairly localized down low, so perhaps a follow up submerged spot treatment will finish it out

Follow ups for both tanks will be great

I really hope the treatment works. I had a slight GHA problem when my wife and I left for our honeymoon. I came back a week later to a full blown outbreak. It has been getting worse. I am running a GFO reactor and cut the feeding in half. I am convinced that either the rock is leeching phosphates or the LEDs are at the perfect spectrum to fuel GHA growth. I will update tonight when I get home. This morning I shined a flashlight but the GHA looked pretty much the same.

 

[brandon429]

the 48 hour window to near total white out of the gha is pretty reliable...if you haven't seen a change in the pigmentation of the algae after 48 hours we have to double check the application method and new-ness of the bottle, I thought I read you had a new bottle and it was spot treated without being underwater was that right?

just brainstorming, but if I remember correctly you did a misting approach. that usually works, but I can also see how a very light mist might not penetrate the strands further down etc, was wondering about that. knowing how well the saturation was delivered would really help in id'ing a slow response

 

[nam2212]

the 48 hour window to near total white out of the gha is pretty reliable...if you haven't seen a change in the pigmentation of the algae after 48 hours we have to double check the application method and new-ness of the bottle, I thought I read you had a new bottle and it was spot treated without being underwater was that right?

just brainstorming, but if I remember correctly you did a misting approach. that usually works, but I can also see how a very light mist might not penetrate the strands further down etc, was wondering about that. knowing how well the saturation was delivered would really help in id'ing a slow response

It was much more than a misting. I wanted to make sure that I soaked the GHA. I also made sure to leave the peroxide for at least 3 minutes. I then rinsed it and added all the rock back to the tank. We are well within the 48hr window so I am still hopeful.

 

[brandon429]

ok fingrs crossed!