Ahhh!! Sooo Much Algae on LiveRock!!

[heathermoor]

I am currently struggling with this problem. I had been struggling and scrubbing at hair algae majorly - with washing up brush and then toothbrush, then catching the loose stuff I scrubbed off in a filter or siphon. But each week by water change day it was back just the same. My few corals were infested with the stuff and I had to keep them suspended in a box because I dare not place them as they would be overcome by algae. And also two delinquent Hermits but thats another story.

I was advised on here to leave it alone - maybe just pull the long stuff - and then it will sort itself out. But not to scrub. Something about if you scrub you leave a completely clean surface for more nasties to colonise whereas if you have a gentler approach you leave algaes that are not hair algae. The hair algae gets then competed with by the other algaes on there, the good ones that you do want, that you havent scrubbed off and away. Eventually, because you keep removing the hair alages and not the good algaes, the good algaes colonise it all and win and there is no space left for the hair algae to colonise so it gives up and goes away. I expect someone can explain that better than me.

Anyway - I've left it for about 10 days and the long stuff is very long now and in that state I think will be a lot easier to pull now then what I was trying to pinch off before. Then it was shorter and hard to get hold of and I was getting frustrated and so resorting to scrubbing.

I also invested in a tiny tuxedo urchin about 2cm diameter. I'm not sure what sort of inroads its making on the hair algae, - I can see any trails it has blazed through it but tbh its so cute I dont really care!

So I dont have any personal proof like results to talk about yet but I thought it was worth adding what I had been advised - not long ago actually.

 

[brandon429]

I fixed a tank just like that one.

Algae Identification

Any opinions on what type of algae this is growing on my rocks and sand bed?

www.reef2reef.com

Same thread different gha job

 

[heathermoor]

By the way - it was Tired on here that gave me that advice - March 28th on my question about what can live with hermits and eat hair algae.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

By the way - it was Tired on here that gave me that advice - March 28th on my question about what can live with hermits and eat hair algae.

To be honest it is only advice and each aquriam is different.
I look into and research as much as possible before I add anything, adjust or purchase.
Each aquriam is different in ALL aspect's of shape, size, livestock etc
You can choose which advice to take as that's solely what it is.
Just advice from people who have some kind of knowledge

 

[cpschult]

I would cut back on feeding reef roids- maybe once a week, or cut back on the volume of it. I think overfeeding it in my 25 gallon caused me issues too.

 

[tautog83]

Ya dont need to feed frozen that much ( people love to do it all the time but its not necessary at all), reef roids are feeding one thing right now and its the algae. The corals you have dont need anything until they arent getting choked out by algae so discontinue both of those. Any clean up crew probably isnt going to do much unless the algae is realllllly short. So scrub da bub and then peroxide like stated above is your best or just start over with better practices from the start. With a nano tank like that and very few corals in reality what are you losing( besides the will of wanting to keep one). Sometimes restarting will help you be more involved .

 

[fish farmer]

I would cut back on feeding reef roids- maybe once a week, or cut back on the volume of it. I think overfeeding it in my 25 gallon caused me issues too.

I would cut back on the feeding as well...reef roids is potent, when I use it I'm doing maybe a third of what they suggest.

Do water changes while siphoning out algae, maybe some more snails, maybe a rip clean like @brandon429 suggested BUT you have to manage the nutrient input or the hair algae will come right back.

 

[Jared Bryant]

I use a 1/4" hose, start a siphon and then use my thumb or pointer finger and pinch the algae to the tube and rip it off the rocks and suck it up with the hose. Do this every other day for a few days and it will help greatly. My live rock looked like yours after a few weeks, after I pulled the stuff off the rocks and got a good CUC it was all clean from there.

If you have a sump you can run it to your sump and never need to stop. After pulling the chunks with your fingers I zip tie and brush to the hose and scrub the root out and into the water or out the hose.

 

[Tamberav]

Oh my gosh thank you all of you for the great advice! Here’s what I’ve decided to do.

1) Remove the liverock, w all the corals still attached.
2) Place the rock in a bucket of tank water, as I need to waterchange today anyway.
3) Scrub the rock as much as I can in a 20/30m timeframe. Spray rock w hydrogen peroxide and sit for 2 mins. Return rock to tank.
4) Add additional CUC inverts

Question. What about my anemone that lives on the rock?

Side note: I do not intend on removing my 2 benggai cardinal fish from the tank, as I plan to remove the rock instead.

Last question: Yellow tang juvenile until rehome?

Thanks all my coral friends!

No to a tang. There is no real benefit of adding a big ammonia producer like a Tang to a 13g. You could just add a female emerald crab instead without the increased bioload or drama.

 

[Floyd-]

If you have a sump you can run it to your sump and never need to stop. After pulling the chunks with your fingers I zip tie and brush to the hose and scrub the root out and into the water or out the hose.

Ive done that when I had a sump but also clipped a filter sock onto the side and ran it into that to clean out after.

 

[doubleshot00]

I guess im the only one that sees this tank is only a fluval 13.5

Take the rock out and spray it with peroxide. Then wash the rock off with fresh saltwater and put rocks back in. Take you maybe 20min.