Another Problem Algae Thread (w/pic)

[64Ivy]

Can anyone here even begin to name all of the types of pest algae surrounding my little friend Ollie here? Yes, I am using RO/DI water and yes, I do change it frequently (up to about 40% weekly now). Yes, I do change the cartridges once the TDS reaches 0.01ppm, yes I do skim aggressively, and yes I also employ both gac and gfo, manually remove detritus about once a week, and try not to overfeed. Nevertheless, about 15% of the rockwork surface looks pretty much like this and has for the last 6 months or so. Manual removal requires taking out the rock and scrubbing hard with a brush as trying to simply vacuum or blow it off does not work at all. I'm thinking it came in on the Astrea shells of my clean up crew. Is that possible? Is there something I'm overlooking?

[1SlickFish]

Which tank is this in? How many fish, what kind of fish and what corals?

[brandon429]

ooh I want that challenge. see our giant thread up in the nanos forum right now titled just like this thread. if you try other methods and fail, we can zap it for sure.

your manual removal was missing one vital component to seal the deal

I think I remember your name from earlier pages in our thread, wondering if you had tried it on your particular strain

[64Ivy]

Never tried it. As this tank is a 500g, I very rarely visit the nano thread. Another problem is that I'm unable to remove all of the infested rock due to their weight, size, and SPS frags beginning to encrust amongst them.

[brandon429]

I dont blame you I know the work stinks.

but I'll tell you this, that stuff is unruly, it won't respond to nutrient restriction like common hair algae unless you are totally lucky. 1300 respondents in the thread are not lucky

get what you can at least, the upper rocks!!


90% of the respondents in that thread are from large tank owners, we have a couple 200's and 300's in there too.

[Reef Frog]

Are you testing for PO4 with an accurate kit? Testing the output water from the GFO reactor? Perhaps the GFO is getting exhausted between changes. I've found that letting it exhaust even for a short time can put you back to square one.

Or it could be channeling through the media, contacting only a small portion of the stuff. Turning the flow to a high rate briefly will mix things up. You have a big tank, are you using enough media with enough flow to make a difference? Good random flow throughout the tank is important as I imagine with such a large tank you could get localized area of slack water. I think the solution is always going to be effective & consistent nutrient export. Good luck.

[64Ivy]

I haven't done that; test the output water from the GFO reactor. I do change it every two weeks however, which is supposedly half the recommended time for this stuff.

As for the accuracy of the test kits; these are hobby grade PO4 kits we're talking about. Are ANY of them accurate? My Salifert and Deltec both tell me that I'm at 0. My low range Hanna will give me anywhere from 0.02 ppm to 0.05ppm...sometimes consecutively. My Hanna ULTRA low tester will give usually work out to an 0.03 although it has registered as high as 0.08. Factor in the 'error' code and I might as well have a psychic test it.

[Reef Frog]

It sounds like you have good test kits & good procedures. Your PO4 numbers look pretty good & would not support explosive outbreaks in most cases. Even though you change out the GFO every 2 weeks it could be exhausted sooner if you are using a small volume reactor thus a small amount of media that gets saturated quickly, before you have a chance to change it. If you test the output several times during the media's time in use, comparing it to a sample from another location in the tank, you can establish an idea of how long it's really effective, or if the brand GFO you are using is really working at all. (I bought a different brand once @ a LFS in a pinch that was not as effective & got a sudden outbreak) Once you have this knowledge you can decide if you need even more rapid replacement, more media volume (if the reactor can handle it) or a bigger reactor & pump capable of higher turn over.

If you have lots of detritus on the rocks it could be feeding the algae in higher concentrations right next to it. These local concentrations could be much higher than the sample you're taking at the top of the tank. If this rings true removing gratuitous detritus while doing water changes, along with blowing it into the water column & catching & removing with mechanical means can only help. This takes a while to show results so keep at it & be patient. Also evaluate if you're over feeding.

[64Ivy]

Will do and I'll be certain to check the gfo reactors' outflow. Thanks.

[FastUno]

I bought some live rock recently from a local reefer. He said his rock was "nuisance free," but I am sure you can guess what it ended up being in reality. Full of algae & even aiptasia. The bastard seller had his actinics on so that it wouldn't be noticeable, but I knew. I figured I could just bleach them & use them as base rock.

I put them in a temp tank & I chiseled off the aiptasia & bought six Mexian Turbo Snails from Petco. I never owned these type before, but instead had astreas & cerinths. I could not believe how well these Mexican's labored

They cleaned house & there is no indication of algae now. The only drawback is that they are big suckers & tend to knock over improperly placed corals. You can use them in your main tank & then transfer them to your sump when needed again or simply resell them.