starting to get over-run by algae

[mikoz]

I have a brown algae that's starting to take over the tank (see attachment). I do have a refugium with chaeto that I suspect is making it into the main tank.

I have to clean it by hand and it's getting tiresome and I'm loosing the battle. Plus, it just doesn't look good and it's hard to get it out of the cracks of the live rock.


I did have a foxface for a long time but he passed a few months ago, I wonder if he was helping to control it. I just yesterday bought a new one.

What can I do to take care of this? Is there something that will just eat this stuff up?

 

[Oldreeferman]

Pics need to be done in white light can not see anything but blue TBH.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

You may have solved your problem with the new foxface. They are excellent algae eaters. It is also good to have a diverse crew of reproducing snails. If the foxface doesn't earn his keep, consider a Scopas Tang which might like your type of algae better. They are more of a filamentous algae eater, which is what you have, I think. Foxes prefer macro algae. Feed then lightly to keep them hungry. Can you pull out your rocks and scrub them individually? Algae can in effect, recycle itself, so it's most concentrated food source is the algae itself. This is why manual removal works so well.

You also need to figure out the root cause, which is often an imbalance of food input to nutrient export. Water changes, a good skimmer and regular chaeto pruning should help.