[JPedie]

I have had my 36 gal up for almost a year. I have had some hair algae issues but this other algae started growing and I pick it out and it comes right back. Someone told me its a type of macro algae. I have bought different kinds of snails, blue leg hermits, lawnmower blenny, an emerald crab and a sea hare (which was in my tank for 2 weeks and didnt even eat the hair algae then died). Does anyone know what this is and if there's anything I can do to get rid of it? There is still small patches of hair algae but this other algae is taking over more now. I do weekly 10gal water changes, I turned all of my white lights off. My coral and fish are doing great but this algae is getting frustrating. Thanks for any input.

 

[soverjas]

I have had my 36 gal up for almost a year. I have had some hair algae issues but this other algae started growing and I pick it out and it comes right back. Someone told me its a type of macro algae. I have bought different kinds of snails, blue leg hermits, lawnmower blenny, an emerald crab and a sea hare (which was in my tank for 2 weeks and didnt even eat the hair algae then died). Does anyone know what this is and if there's anything I can do to get rid of it? There is still small patches of hair algae but this other algae is taking over more now. I do weekly 10gal water changes, I turned all of my white lights off. My coral and fish are doing great but this algae is getting frustrating. Thanks for any input.

What are your TDS reading on your RODI
What is your Ammonia, Nitrate and Phosphate readings.
Are you dosing anything and what food are you feeding your fish with.

Dont be afraid to get in there and rip out what you can by hand.

have you already been running activated carbon and GFO?

I'm not a big fan of running GFO but it does drop PO4 well and staves out algae. NO3 can be managed with 0 TDS water changes.

 

[fishgeek88]

Looks to be a macro algae of some sort, hard to tell by the pics. I would just pull to out manually if it is bothering you.

 

[JPedie]

My RODI reading is 1ppm. My ammonia is 0 my nitrites are 0 my nitrates are 0 and my phosphates are .25. I'm not dosing anything and just have a protein skimmer running. I feed flake food once a week and I do frozen mysis and brine that has been thawed and all the juices squeezed out before putting in the tank. I go in once or twice a week and pick it out by hand and even take some of the top rocks out during water changes and scrub them in the bucket of the water I change out. It seems like the more I pick it out the more it spreads bc if one little piece gets away from me it grows elsewhere. Frustrating stuff.

 

[MatroxD]

I haven't seen that in a very long time.. I can't remember it's name, but it's been a good 10 or 15 years.. And yes, it is a nuisance algea.. Peroxide the rocks, but also, your going to need to either gfo, and or refugia, or a scrubber to get your phosphorus down.. Algea is going to grow all day at that level.. You might want to try combination of gfo and phosguard.. Phosguard to knock it down fast and gfo to maintain it..

But I haven't seen that algea in a long, long time..

From note 5.. rip note 7

 

[truepercs]

had to edit reply....

 

[soverjas]

The picture isnt very good but looks like halimeda.

reason I asked about what you where feeding is my suspicion was flake food. I don't think anything breaks down in the water column faster to add phosphate. The frozen food will add very little nutrients to the water even if you don't rinse it first. Im sure there are a lot of people that use flake foods but I haven't for decade for that reason.

I prefer frozen food, freeze dried and pellets which is healthier for the fish and adds less nutrients into the water. Not to give them a plug but for me if the package doesn't say Hikari I dont buy it.

 

[weimers75]

Looks to feathery to me to be halimeda...is it soft or hard? Your white lights being off aren't going to help much...these phosphates will feed it much longer and that's the issue that needs taken care of. You shouldn't be having 1 ppm out of your rodi...bumping up water changes won't hurt either. I'd be leary of where you're getting your advice from if it was the same person or store. Lawnmower blennies don't eat much hair algae, and your tank is way too small for a sea hare. That should have been removed a day or two after you saw no reduction in the algae as it slowly starved to death in your tank.

Be careful with any chemical removal of phosphates too fast if you have coral...I actually lost coral from using gfo.

 

[JPedie]

I feed flake food very rarely. Was once a week, now not really feeding any at all. I do 10 gal water changes every week. It has a harder feel to it and metallically looking. Brown/bluish. Ive been looking at the Vodka dosing method to reduce phosphates. Has anyone used this method? Thanks for all the input.

 

[weimers75]

You need to fix your rodi problem first. It shouldn't be reading any ppm...or you could be feeding the algae with every water change. Once you figure that out then you won't be adding phosphates and then you could move on to some sort of chemical or physical phosphate removal.

Better pics would help too - it may not be a typical algae that feeds off nutrients...I had a very tough reddish looking algae that after lots of research proved to love clean water so water changes did nothing.

I'd stay away from vodka dosing since the tank is so small and it could cause more problems than its worth. If its just on a rock or two you could remove that rock and replace it as well.

 

[shadowlord]

I feed flake food very rarely. Was once a week, now not really feeding any at all. I do 10 gal water changes every week. It has a harder feel to it and metallically looking. Brown/bluish. Ive been looking at the Vodka dosing method to reduce phosphates. Has anyone used this method? Thanks for all the input.

Patience is a key, pretty much everyone will have similar problems. Reduce the lights to 7 hours per day, stop flakes, feed washed off mysis every other day. do water changes every other week. Run your protein skimmer and maybe get some chetto algae. you should see die-offs after 5-6 weeks.

 

[JPedie]

I let my RODI system flush for a little longer and my readings come to 0.

I attached a better picture.

Definitely trying to be patient. Ive been keeping up with water changes, scrubbing rock outside of the tank in buckets of tank water and trying to remove as much by hand as possible.

 

[JPedie]

Heres another close up with flash and some hair algae.

 

[weimers75]

Its a macro algae so I don't think its that bad for your system - better than the hair algae. If you have hair algae then your nutrients are off, keep up on the water changes with the new water and I think in a few weeks you'll see results. Algae doesn't grow in a day - it takes even longer for it to go away!