Turf Algae

[The Gurg]

Since I bought my small Biocube I’ve been battling turf algae. I moved to the large Biocube then upgraded to the RSR170. And still the turf algae persists.

I have a Kessil, four small Aquamaxx FR-S’s (2gfo, 1 carbon, 1 biopellets), a Reef Octopus 150SSS, and a homebuilt turf scrubber with a amazon led on one side and a Kessil Tuna Flora on the other. Regular water changes.

I had seahorses for a few years, my last seahorse lived for over 2 years and I have some coral. When my last seahorse died 6 months ago, I thought this was my opportunity to wipe out the turf algae by running the tank empty.

The water is perfect with the tank running empty. Zero nutrients, alk is 10. Ph 8.2 - 8.4. Salinity 1.024. Calcium was at 340 the a few days ago, but I brought it up.

Having the turf algae stick around has really challenged my ideas of dealing with nutrient control as a way to eliminate it. I’ve pulled out a bunch with pliers and used a wire brush to scrub some of the rock. There’s not a ton left. But what’s left isn’t dying off. It’s not growing at this point, so that good.

Thoughts? Resources?

[Uncle99]

Originally Posted by The Gurg

Since I bought my small Biocube I’ve been battling turf algae. I moved to the large Biocube then upgraded to the RSR170. And still the turf algae persists.

I have a Kessil, four small Aquamaxx FR-S’s (2gfo, 1 carbon, 1 biopellets), a Reef Octopus 150SSS, and a homebuilt turf scrubber with a amazon led on one side and a Kessil Tuna Flora on the other. Regular water changes.

I had seahorses for a few years, my last seahorse lived for over 2 years and I have some coral. When my last seahorse died 6 months ago, I thought this was my opportunity to wipe out the turf algae by running the tank empty.

The water is perfect with the tank running empty. Zero nutrients, alk is 10. Ph 8.2 - 8.4. Salinity 1.024. Calcium was at 340 the a few days ago, but I brought it up.

Having the turf algae stick around has really challenged my ideas of dealing with nutrient control as a way to eliminate it. I’ve pulled out a bunch with pliers and used a wire brush to scrub some of the rock. There’s not a ton left. But what’s left isn’t dying off. It’s not growing at this point, so that good.

Thoughts? Resources?

You do not mention the level of phosphate which is a big player in algae along with too intense, too long, wrong colour spectrum or any of these in combination.

Check your phosphate level and ensure it stays below .1 but not lower than 0.03ppm

If you do or will keep corals, Zero nutrients is a bad number.

As a guideline, I keep nitrate at 2-5ppm and phosphate at 0.03-0.07 max of .1 with a 8 hour photoperiod.

[The Gurg]

Yeah, I need to have a feeding schedule for the coral. Any recommendations? I have some mysis shrimp and reef chili.

Just check phosphates. Phosphates are bit too low at .021ppm with the Hanna Checker.

Just check my photo period it’s 8hrs with a Kessil A360W.

[The Gurg]

Just checked the nitrate with an Elos kit and it reads maybe .5ppm. So that’s a bit low too.

[Bryanmc1988]

I’m having the same issue with turf algae. I got it to brown out by using “Dino X” for 2 weeks but there are some side effects to dosing it. Had a few SPS STN but all the LPS and softies are doing normal. Maybe dose it directly on the turf algae might help, I does it directly to the tank so it floats around .

[The Gurg]

The only thing I’ve found that’s been all that effective at this point is manual removal. The trick I’ve found is removing the rock and placing it in a 5 gallon bucket of salt water in the bathtub (because it sloshes everywhere), and then using wire cutters and pliers at first then switch over to a wire brush. At first the brush seems ineffective, but after about 2 minutes you start to remove the algae completely. Then I rinse the rock in a second bucket to reduce propagating the turf algae. I used left over water change water in the two five gallon buckets.

Not that much of the rock is free of turf algae, looking for a way to get rid of the last bit in hard to get places.

Here are my other ideas I’ve brainstormed, most probably don’t make sense now that phosphate and nitrate have been so low for 6 months, but here goes:
Tuxedo urchin
Sea slug
Replace old reef rock
Upgrade to larger GFO reactor
3% hydrogen peroxide spray
Fluconazole
NOPOX or vodka dosing
New Alkalinity probe/keeping alkalinity more stable
Increase sump or tank flow
Rock Rubble or ceramic media in sump

[The Gurg]

Seems like the ingredients in Dino X are a bit of a mystery. I’ve tried the Kent Tech M method of raising magnesium, but didn’t have much success with turf algae. Seems like that works well on Bryopsis, but not turf algae. I’ll have to give Dino X a try.

[Vinny Kreyling]

If you can take the rock out dose it with Peroxide straight from the bottle,let it sit a few minutes & put it back.
Not quite "gone in 60 seconds " but it will turn white for you.

[neoh74]

I got turf algae and this stuff does not go away on its own. I even hand ripped out an entire container full and left it for almost five days. IT WAS STILL ALIVE! Keeping my nutrients low stalled its growth so my lawnmower blend and emeralds can put a dent in what I can’t pull out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Oldreeferman]

Old post but thought id add what did work but i had to remove due to damaging corals.
Turf algae has been my main issue last yr. or so and after reading up everywhere it looked like an Urchin would work the best & fastest since i do not have a huge DT where i can add fish that require a tank that size so in went the Urchin & man it did go to town on the spot eating any algae : Turf, all corallines, hair algae, everything.
Sounds like a great idea right?
Nope.............Urchins act very similar to a decorator crab, they put everything they can remove on their backs well i was ok with that it was funny & interesting and i know the coralline will return eventually so all was ok until the Urchin began breaking all the delicate corals as it wandered around, on mother colonys that is a disaster.
Ended up looking like a big frag tank after 1 week and any frag plugs that were not fully secured were out and laying on the bottom.
Awnery is the nicest thing i can say about that Urchin and in a huge DT i think one small one would be ok but in a tank under 100gal could not pay me to introduce one unless it was a fish only tank with no corals and in that case your algae issues would be easily managed with one and decent husbandry. Algae is a real PITA in marine tanks does not take much to get it going, lighting issues, high nutrients, etc and when coral is involved you end up very limited in your actions due to coral growth everywhere.
I even soaked a small rock in 100% peroxide for 5 min, rinsed it with used tank water & placed it back in and guess what it did not die & it survived unbelievable...........