Dealing with pests: What chemical treatments do you use to treat unwanted algae?

[Morpheosz]

In a 15mo old tank, I've used Chemiclean twice for cyano and it has wiped it out quickly with no other noticeable side effects. The elimination lasted about 8 months before it creeped back in.

I also have had bryopsis and am on my third treatment of fluconazole. The first treatment seemed to take care of it but it crept back in a month later so I did a second treatment, leaving it in for a month with no carbon or water changes. That took care of it for ~9 months and it has recently started creeping back in so I am doing another dose now.

I haven't seen any ill effects that I could link to either treatment. I have a very wide variety of coral in a 75 mixed reef, including a lot of euphyllia. If anything, my corals generally seem happier after when they are no longer getting impeded by algae.

I'm not a proponent of quick fix chemical treatments, but I'm also not one to stand on principle while my tank gets slowly taken over. I keep my nutrient levels very much in check - around .03-.06 PO4 and 3-6 NO3. Therefore, I never have a runaway problem, but with bryopsis especially, as others have noted, it's a relentless beast at whatever pace it can maintain given any nutrients in the tank. I've also had bubble algae very slowly growing but wherever my emerald crabs can get to it, along with low nutrients, seems to stay in check.

 

[doubleshot00]

I had a huge problem with GHA for 6 months, to the point where it was starting to kill coral by suffocating them from light.

I tried snails, crabs, urchins, foxface, tang, and a lettuce sea slug.

I tried manual removal, and removing rocks/coral to scrub with a tooth brush in bins outside the tank.

I had a chaeto fug in my sump.

Adjusted feeding and light schedules, and tested for parameters constantly.

All because I didnt want to go the chemical route. Finally, I figured it was try something else or start losing hundreds of dollars of coral. So I used Algaefix (because its Vibrant, right?), and a few weeks later I had zero GHA. Since that time over 6 months ago, I have yet to have it come back. I lost no coral or livestock, and my tank has never looked better.

I am all for the natural route, and I really did try. But I "gave in", and dont regret it.

I think this is most people. Try everything you can to avoid chemicals then last ditch effort try chemicals.

I have cyano all over my sand (no where else) and can not get rid of it. But gonna keep siphoning it out every week and try the Dr Tims method and see how it goes. I have my time table set to August. If its still there then ill try Red Slime Remover.

 

[SPS2020]

Spot-treat algae

1. Fill a small syringe with 10 mL of regular hydrogen peroxide
2. Shut off all flow and wait for the water to become totally still
3. Treat a patch of algae at it's base – 1-2 square inches in size
4. Wait 10 minutes and and turn the systems's flow back on
5. That patch will be toast

You can probable treat at least 2 patches per day and you might be fine leaving the pumps off for longer – but consider both options experimental and GO SLOWLY in those directions.

I did the above, but with 13% peroxide and leave pumps off for about 30 minutes or until the bubbles stop rising. Worked like magic. Obviously, if you do not stop the source of nutrients, it will return. I added an algae scrubber, so the gha stays there and not in the display. Now I can feed enough to keep nutrients up for the acros and manage algae.

 

[Corn674]

I don't really like chemicals but I've used reef flux more than 10xs for bubble algae and some hair

 

[1979fishgeek]

I think chemical treatments have their place in certain situations, I had a terrible outbreak of Ulva, Despite having Tangs, loads of clean up crew and very low nutrients it grew faster than the critters could keep it in check and started becoming a danger to the corals. I also tried reducing light and it just kept growing covering everything, it really got a foot hold in the tank.

I used Reeflowers Remalgae (at half dose as recommended with inverts) and it worked brilliantly, the Ulva died over a period of 2 weeks turning transparent and dissolving. I also used ‘Reeflowers detox zeolite’ which was excellent at removing the ammonia released from decaying algae and prevent a nutrient spike which would of fuelled a new crop of algae issues. Not a single coral or invert was efffected and the Coraline algae took over quickly where the Ulva had been.

The Tangs and clean up crew could then easily keep on top what was left and never seen a single leaf of it since.
Before photos and a few months later…

 

[blecki]

I did the above, but with 13% peroxide and leave pumps off for about 30 minutes or until the bubbles stop rising. Worked like magic. Obviously, if you do not stop the source of nutrients, it will return. I added an algae scrubber, so the gha stays there and not in the display. Now I can feed enough to keep nutrients up for the acros and manage algae.

Yeah, it's great for GHA. You can almost just stand there and watch it die. Unfortunately I've also found that it kills brittle stars on contact.

 

[Joe.D]

I have never used a chemical treatment but instead use ornamental macroalgae to out compete nuisance algae. If I get a little nuisance algae starting, I manually remove it before it becomes a big problem. Green bubble algae is the main pest I get.

So what have you used in terms of ornamental macroalgae to combat bubble algae? I’m in bubble algae hell right now. Emerald crabs and one spot foxface not making a dent at all.

 

[metrokat]

Phytoplankton and not the dead stuff that reef nutrition sells or the mono culture the LfS try to sell.

That and running a skimmer changes things fast.

Reef nutrition also sells live Phyto.

 

[a.t.t.r]

Reef nutrition also sells live Phyto.

“Live”. Microscope says dead and a culture density count after 24 and 48 hours also says dead.

 

[Richsoar]

Chemclean. LSWS recommended it to take care of Red Slime Algae, worked like a charm. I haven't had any luck using it on any other type of Algae.

 

[vlangel]

So what have you used in terms of ornamental macroalgae to combat bubble algae? I’m in bubble algae hell right now. Emerald crabs and one spot foxface not making a dent at all.

The ornamental macroalgae I have is caulerpa cupressoides, opuntia, codium, cheato, ulva, (those are the greens), red titan, red moss ball, and red grape caulerpa (the reds). These ornamental macros probably slow down the proliferation of green bubble algae to some extent but manual removal ( I use flex tubing with a rigid tube on the end to pry and syphon out) is the only real way I have found to keep it in check.

 

[FrugalReefer]

‘You can’t get rid of algae, you can only manage it’
- Richard Ross

 

[SPS2020]

Yeah, it's great for GHA. You can almost just stand there and watch it die. Unfortunately I've also found that it kills brittle stars on contact.

Yepper, it will kill anything else with which it makes contact!

 

[scottbapilot]

I have used Chemiclean for a bacterial bloom, Never for Algae.

 

[a.t.t.r]

I have used Chemiclean for a bacterial bloom, Never for Algae.

It isn’t for algae. Cyano isn’t algae.

 

[EugeneVan]

I did the above, but with 13% peroxide and leave pumps off for about 30 minutes or until the bubbles stop rising. Worked like magic. Obviously, if you do not stop the source of nutrients, it will return. I added an algae scrubber, so the gha stays there and not in the display. Now I can feed enough to keep nutrients up for the acros and manage algae.

Exactly. The peroxide is just a patch. We have to find out the source of nutrients and fix it from there. Carbon source, WC...... Me too, I used macro alage for nutrient export and it is working very well with me.