The steps I took if you don't want to read the why.
1. Changed reef salts.
2. Lowered flow.
3. Turned up lights (more par).
4. Magnesium 1500+
5. Fed less.
6. 2 water changes a week 50% total water vol.
7. Aggressive phosphate removal via GFO
8. Seachem Pristine.
9. H2O2 3% twice a week. Spot treat.
10. Manual removal.
Total time from complete take over to completely clear 4 weeks. (1 year testing methods before the real attack)
History on tank. 4 year mark it crashed, it was torn down and restarted, up 2 years with just fish no corals. Added corals and hair algae took hold. Tank is a nano 45 gallon.
Changing reef salts. I doubt this had anything to do with my success but it is worth noting. I don't want to start a war so I will just tell you I was using a well known trusted brand that comes highly rated. I noticed mud in my mixing bucket after making new salt. Also the water had a brown tinge to it. Most importantly, and the real reason I switched salts, is consistency. To defeat algae you must keep it consistent. From the first batch to the last the alk and mag were all over the place. This is not a secret. They suggest you remove the bag and roll it around and all this, but this seems unneeded when there are other salts out there. I switched to a new salt, that no one seems to be talking about that not only is consistent from the first batch to the last but check marked an issue I was having. It's pre tested each batch. That saves me from having to test it. I used this salt for almost a whole year before tackling this algae.
Lowering flow. The tank is small but I have one MP40 and an MP10. I noticed the green hair algae was much brighter and thicker where ever there was higher flow. This goes against everything I was told. But what did I have to lose? I put the MP40 in permanent feed mode, and the dialed the MP10 to its almost lowest setting. My return pump didn't get dialed back but I added more Loc lines to diffuse the flow. This was scary because everyone says more flow. But I could see it's helping this algae grow.
Another one that everyone says is a no-no. I bumped up my lighting. People say less light is better. But in the shadows this algae was THICK and green like a chia pet on miracle grow steroids. It was so thick it almost took on a blue appearance. I upped the whites by 10% over the course of 2 months and the blues by 40% over two months while I was trying out my new salt. The corals loved it, the hair algae began to turn clear where they got hit with the most light. I had not even started real treatment yet.
Magnesium. I kept the mag levels at 1500 and above. I made sure I dosed the new mix to elevated levels and kept the tank at a staggering level of 1520-1550. Nothing seemed to mind this but I noticed the thicker green algae was turning brown and sluffing off.
Feeding less. I practically hand fed each fish. I made sure to not have any free floating food. Everything was consumed. Frozen food were thawed in RODI water and strained and fed slowly. Small tank so I was afforded this.
Two water changes a week. Dilution is the solution they say. Getting the extra nutrients out of the water column and cleaning rock and sand was the start. A bigger tank this might not be possible I get that but man did it help. While I was doing these water changes I used H2O2 to spot treat the worse. I used 1mL per gallon of tank water. I syringed it on the thickest parts then blanketed it over the rest. Then let it sit for 15 minutes. Then I used a toothbrush to scrub as much off as I could. At first I had to use long tweezers to removed the thickest, but finally a toothbrush was all that was needed. Then after the 15 minutes I would resume the water change and start up the pumps.
GFO in a reactor. I changed out GFO once a week. Expensive but needed. You have to get that phosphate down! This is where the real magic began. The hair algae turned white and clear, then fell off the rocks never to be seen again. I don't use filter socks. I use filter floss. I changed this daily. At this point so much algae was dying it had to be removed daily to prevent an up spike in nutrients.
Seachem Pristine. MB7 was not helping at all with nutrients. When I switched to Seachem pristine I saw an incredible drop in nitrates before I even started my battle on the algae. So I continued to use it. I used the full dose as listed on the battle. Worth noting.
So it was almost exactly 4 weeks to total algae removal that I implemented all of these methods all at once. It's week 7 now and the tank has had no reoccurrence. I have upped my flow again and kept the lights the same since the corals seemed to like it. Down to a weekly 20% water change again. Gfo is only changed when my test reads Po4. Mag is back to normal sea levels. 1380-1440 as best as tests can tell.
I have never seen algae die so satisfyingly in my life.
Hope this helps someone else.
1. Changed reef salts.
2. Lowered flow.
3. Turned up lights (more par).
4. Magnesium 1500+
5. Fed less.
6. 2 water changes a week 50% total water vol.
7. Aggressive phosphate removal via GFO
8. Seachem Pristine.
9. H2O2 3% twice a week. Spot treat.
10. Manual removal.
Total time from complete take over to completely clear 4 weeks. (1 year testing methods before the real attack)
History on tank. 4 year mark it crashed, it was torn down and restarted, up 2 years with just fish no corals. Added corals and hair algae took hold. Tank is a nano 45 gallon.
Changing reef salts. I doubt this had anything to do with my success but it is worth noting. I don't want to start a war so I will just tell you I was using a well known trusted brand that comes highly rated. I noticed mud in my mixing bucket after making new salt. Also the water had a brown tinge to it. Most importantly, and the real reason I switched salts, is consistency. To defeat algae you must keep it consistent. From the first batch to the last the alk and mag were all over the place. This is not a secret. They suggest you remove the bag and roll it around and all this, but this seems unneeded when there are other salts out there. I switched to a new salt, that no one seems to be talking about that not only is consistent from the first batch to the last but check marked an issue I was having. It's pre tested each batch. That saves me from having to test it. I used this salt for almost a whole year before tackling this algae.
Lowering flow. The tank is small but I have one MP40 and an MP10. I noticed the green hair algae was much brighter and thicker where ever there was higher flow. This goes against everything I was told. But what did I have to lose? I put the MP40 in permanent feed mode, and the dialed the MP10 to its almost lowest setting. My return pump didn't get dialed back but I added more Loc lines to diffuse the flow. This was scary because everyone says more flow. But I could see it's helping this algae grow.
Another one that everyone says is a no-no. I bumped up my lighting. People say less light is better. But in the shadows this algae was THICK and green like a chia pet on miracle grow steroids. It was so thick it almost took on a blue appearance. I upped the whites by 10% over the course of 2 months and the blues by 40% over two months while I was trying out my new salt. The corals loved it, the hair algae began to turn clear where they got hit with the most light. I had not even started real treatment yet.
Magnesium. I kept the mag levels at 1500 and above. I made sure I dosed the new mix to elevated levels and kept the tank at a staggering level of 1520-1550. Nothing seemed to mind this but I noticed the thicker green algae was turning brown and sluffing off.
Feeding less. I practically hand fed each fish. I made sure to not have any free floating food. Everything was consumed. Frozen food were thawed in RODI water and strained and fed slowly. Small tank so I was afforded this.
Two water changes a week. Dilution is the solution they say. Getting the extra nutrients out of the water column and cleaning rock and sand was the start. A bigger tank this might not be possible I get that but man did it help. While I was doing these water changes I used H2O2 to spot treat the worse. I used 1mL per gallon of tank water. I syringed it on the thickest parts then blanketed it over the rest. Then let it sit for 15 minutes. Then I used a toothbrush to scrub as much off as I could. At first I had to use long tweezers to removed the thickest, but finally a toothbrush was all that was needed. Then after the 15 minutes I would resume the water change and start up the pumps.
GFO in a reactor. I changed out GFO once a week. Expensive but needed. You have to get that phosphate down! This is where the real magic began. The hair algae turned white and clear, then fell off the rocks never to be seen again. I don't use filter socks. I use filter floss. I changed this daily. At this point so much algae was dying it had to be removed daily to prevent an up spike in nutrients.
Seachem Pristine. MB7 was not helping at all with nutrients. When I switched to Seachem pristine I saw an incredible drop in nitrates before I even started my battle on the algae. So I continued to use it. I used the full dose as listed on the battle. Worth noting.
So it was almost exactly 4 weeks to total algae removal that I implemented all of these methods all at once. It's week 7 now and the tank has had no reoccurrence. I have upped my flow again and kept the lights the same since the corals seemed to like it. Down to a weekly 20% water change again. Gfo is only changed when my test reads Po4. Mag is back to normal sea levels. 1380-1440 as best as tests can tell.
I have never seen algae die so satisfyingly in my life.
Hope this helps someone else.
