Hair Algae Removal From Softies

[Zakary2003]

I could use some advice. I'm currently on the tail end of a nutrient spike in my waterbox 20. Thanks to some awesome advice on here, I was able to reduce my nitrates and find the source of my phosphates, and manual removal has helped greatly reduce my hair algae. Cyano seems to have taken its place, but manual removal of that is working too so I'll deal with that later. However, there are a few stubborn, thick patches of hair algae that I cannot get rid off on my clove polyps covering the fleshy bits attached to the rock. This hair algae is basically smothering the coral and needs to be removed daily. How can I get the algae off of the soft coral tissue and surrounding rock without hurting it? I tried pulling it off by hand and using a soft bristle baby's toothbrush but it seems to have just irritated the coral without removing the algae. It hasn't fully opened up in days. My CuC isn't touching that patch for some reason, possibly because of the coral but idk.

 

[VintageReefer]

H2O2 will fix it in a few hours. You have two methods. You could dilute it in saltwater and dip the whole coral - generally safe if diluted properly and not dipped too long

Or

If it’s just on the plug/rock base, take it out of the water and apply h2o2 with an eye dropper or pipette, syringe, etc. and drop h2o2 directly on the plug itself avoiding the coral. Let it sit for 60 seconds then put it back in the tank and watch your algae fizzle and bubble and die off

 

[EmmaPark]

가장 확실한 방법은 리프플럭스를 사용하세요. 만약 짧고 별로 억세지 않은 종류라면 컨티늄 회사의 bacter M 을 용법대로 사용해보세요. 일주일 이내로 락의 일부분이 매우 깨끗해집니다
에하임 전동 사이펀을 이용해 샌드를 1/10씩 청소해주세요. Bacter M 투입과 함께 3일차부터는 이끼가 낀 부분에 스포이드로 강하게 불어서 제거해줍니다! 힘내세요

 

[Zakary2003]

H2O2 will fix it in a few hours. You have two methods. You could dilute it in saltwater and dip the whole coral - generally safe if diluted properly and not dipped too long

Or

If it’s just on the plug/rock base, take it out of the water and apply h2o2 with an eye dropper or pipette, syringe, etc. and drop h2o2 directly on the plug itself avoiding the coral. Let it sit for 60 seconds then put it back in the tank and watch your algae fizzle and bubble and die off

Unfortunately the clove polyps are fully encrusted onto the rock, and the rock with the algae problem is pretty much supporting the rest of the structure. Do you have any suggestions for removing it while still submerged?

 

[jkcoral]

It’s a little trickier if you can’t pull the frag out or the rock the coral is encrusted on.

What kinds of clean up crew do you have in your tank? Sometimes clean up crew won’t touch it if it gets too long. So in the past I’ve cut a pesky patch of algae down to really short and then put a trochus snail or some other clean up crew member on top and let them finish the rest.

 

[VintageReefer]

Yea turn off all flow. Wait for there to be zero water movement. Use syringe with h2o2 and slowly dispense over the algae spot.

As soon as the h202 comes out it will become diluted by tank water. This is ok, but will make treatment less effective.

After dispensed, wait a minute and watch the algae. Your goal is to get the algae to start fizzing or showing tiny bubbles forming. That means it’s working. If it doesn’t happen after a minute, try again.

The key when applying underwater is to try and dispense very slowly. Otherwise it just gets squirt past the target area.

I like to use a syringe from aptasia x - they have an angled Metal tip that is very narrow, it allows precise dispensing

Once bubbles start forming just wait 5-10 min then you can turn pumps on. If it’s still alive the next day repeat the process.

 

[Subsea]

Unfortunately the clove polyps are fully encrusted onto the rock, and the rock with the algae problem is pretty much supporting the rest of the structure. Do you have any suggestions for removing it while still submerged?

Very tedious. Use syringe and inject caustic stuff like h20

@Zakary2003
PS. Consider a toothbrush with peroxide, however when used under water, I go back & forth with small peroxide cup. You get about 10 seconds with each refreshing h202 dip. And it will bubble when it works.

 

[Zakary2003]

It’s a little trickier if you can’t pull the frag out or the rock the coral is encrusted on.

What kinds of clean up crew do you have in your tank? Sometimes clean up crew won’t touch it if it gets too long. So in the past I’ve cut a pesky patch of algae down to really short and then put a trochus snail or some other clean up crew member on top and let them finish the rest.

I have 2 turbo snails, 12 hermit crabs (mostly blue legs but some others as well), 6 astrea snails, and I used to have trochus snails and an emerald crab but the trochus snails probably got evicted by hermits and the emerald crab died recently. I also have the tiny asterina starfish but idk if they do any cleaning.

 

[JoJosReef]

Yea turn off all flow. Wait for there to be zero water movement. Use syringe with h2o2 and slowly dispense over the algae spot.

As soon as the h202 comes out it will become diluted by tank water. This is ok, but will make treatment less effective.

After dispensed, wait a minute and watch the algae. Your goal is to get the algae to start fizzing or showing tiny bubbles forming. That means it’s working. If it doesn’t happen after a minute, try again.

The key when applying underwater is to try and dispense very slowly. Otherwise it just gets squirt past the target area.

I like to use a syringe from aptasia x - they have an angled Metal tip that is very narrow, it allows precise dispensing

Once bubbles start forming just wait 5-10 min then you can turn pumps on. If it’s still alive the next day repeat the process.

This works well. You can also up the game a notch by taking a baby bottle nipple, putting the syringe tip through the opening (if the syringe is large enough to catch and not just slide off), and then cut the nipple to a manageable size for your application--in this case short so it is small enough to go between the cloves.

Now you can go into the tank with a small "air dome" in the nipple. Press it down onto the spot you want to treat with the GHA. Then start dropping the H2O2 onto the GHA that is matted at the bottom of the air bubble. Go slowly and let the H2O2 sit on top of each spot for 10-30 seconds. Then slide over to a new spot keeping your air dome intact and drop again.

You might have to move the polyps aside and smash the base of the polyps a bit to get to the GHA. That's OK, as long as you're not getting the head of the polyp in the air dome and in direct contact with the H2O2.

 

[mucky1957]

I mentioned this in another post a week or so ago.
I had a fair amount of green hair algae and a lot of dragons breath algae in my tank and when I mentioned this to a friend he suggested I try a particular mix of phyto that he was producing / selling. I did. Two weeks later all the algae was gone..3 months on..it hasn't returned. I still dose about 50ml of the phyto every two days in a 240lt softy tank. Also..my phosphate is now stable at around 0.03 - 0.1.