hair algae vs cyano (1 Viewer)

[slojim]

my tank is a lightly stocked 110 with a refugium and sump, and a lot of rock stacked up. Filtration is an ATS, a protein skimmer, and occasionally a sock. Last spring, after a few months without an addition, some bubble algae popped up. Just a little - and I'd have to reach way in, and I had to travel that weekend, and..well, you get the picture - full blown outbreak. I couldn't remove it, so I decided to go the vibrant route. During that time I took the ATS off-line and dosed carbon for export. I usually had a little phosphate, but I did dose some nitrate. It took 6-8 weeks, but the bubble algae was all gone.
But since then I've had a few cyano outbreaks and some hair algae. Chemiclean works great, but I'm on my third cyano outbreak and was hoping to stop the cycle without using it again. I knocked it way back with some siphoning, some live phytoplankton, some silicate (I have sponges, they are responding to it). Now I'm torn - I had turned my ATS intensity down to keep phosphate and nitrate from bottoming out, (I can dose both if needed), but the tufts of hair algae are spreading, and I can't remove them in place - too well fixed to the rock. I'm considering turning my ATS intensity way up to knock back the algae, but I'm sure that will encourage the cyano.
If it matters, at first I had a lot of red cyano, but those mats are gone (some I siphoned, some just disappeared after I brought phosphate levels up) and now I mostly see green/black.

I've got 20gallons of SW ready and plenty of FW to make more - I could run chemiclean this weekend. Don't really want to. Neither infestation is that bad right now, and I'd rather find my tank no longer upset.

nitrates typically run ~4-6, although they were 12 this weekend
phosphates did bottom out a few weeks ago, but have been 0.01 the last 2 weeks and 0.02 this week.
I might mention coralline algae is also growing strong right now, but my unknown variety zoa (a hitchiker) hasn't been opening up much since my last water change in early December. I stirred up the tank quite a bit at that time. Everything else seems normal.
oh, I started dosing peroxide, 10ml at a time, morning and night. I've had luck with it before - and it does seem to be helping with the the hair algae and the cyano on my return nozzles which is a place they both like to grow

Fighting conch keeps the sand bed free of algae, but my tuxedo urchin doesn't seem to like this hair algae - I've gone so far as to put him on a patch. He thinks its ok as a wig. No algae eating fish yet - I do need to add some fish, but that will not happen until late January at best

 

[Cody]

I would try some creature to eat the hair algae, specifically a yellow tang. They’re great at taking care of hair algae. That or maybe a lawnmower blenny. If all else false, fluconazole has worked well for me in the past as well.

 

[decimal]

i started with dinos.. vibrant did the trick but it was immediately replaced by cyano. i used chemiclean to deal with the cyano, then came the hair algae and that was beaten back by fluconazole. now everything seems to be clear but im waiting for the other shoe to drop and see what comes next

 

[Glenn]

Brightwell’s Microbacter Clean has done an exceptional job of keeping all the ugly stuff at bay in my tank.

 

[slojim]

A purple tang is in my future. I had one a while back. But it will be a couple of months.

 

[Reefahholic]

i started with dinos.. vibrant did the trick but it was immediately replaced by cyano. i used chemiclean to deal with the cyano, then came the hair algae and that was beaten back by fluconazole. now everything seems to be clear but im waiting for the other shoe to drop and see what comes next

My gosh...I remember those days. I'm fixing to start a new tank soon with 100% dry rock. If you're not subscribed you might want to because I will be documenting it all on my channel and you'll see my struggles if any, but I don't believe I'll have much I can't deal with since I've used dry rock from the beginning on about every tank.

BUT....every tank is different and they all surprise me a little bit.

 

[Reefahholic]

A purple tang is in my future. I had one a while back. But it will be a couple of months.

Manually remove it first and deal with nutrients second. Hair algae can only grow that long and green with elevated PO4.

 

[slojim]

a lot of my rockwork affected isn't glued down, but it is supporting other rock. I can't readily pull the hair algae off as it is stuck too well. I may try applying peroxide directly to a few tufts and see if it weakens the hold. And maybe I'll try cutting it back with some scissors first so the peroxide gets closer to the holdfast.
PO4 was bottomed out for a while, my ATS does a good job removing it if I have some nitrate present. Probably why I got the cyano mats - which were pretty heavy 2 weeks ago, but are starting to come under control. I had to dose to get PO4 up to 0.01, but I also turned my ATS down, and it then went up to 0.02. I've turned my ATS back up part way and practically quit dosing.

 

[Reefahholic]

a lot of my rockwork affected isn't glued down, but it is supporting other rock. I can't readily pull the hair algae off as it is stuck too well. I may try applying peroxide directly to a few tufts and see if it weakens the hold. And maybe I'll try cutting it back with some scissors first so the peroxide gets closer to the holdfast.
PO4 was bottomed out for a while, my ATS does a good job removing it if I have some nitrate present. Probably why I got the cyano mats - which were pretty heavy 2 weeks ago, but are starting to come under control. I had to dose to get PO4 up to 0.01, but I also turned my ATS down, and it then went up to 0.02. I've turned my ATS back up part way and practically quit dosing.

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You-Tuber's that influenced my decision:
1. @prsnlty6



2. @Kadu Ozores


3. @Moes Nano Reefs


4. @Mike Lemming


5. @Dave's Nano Tanks

Reef Flux, Fluconazole Treatment for Algae

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[steveb]

I cant really tell from the picture but if your hair algae has a fern like structure its most likely bryopsis.

 

[slojim]

well, some good news, and some, just news. My cyano is almost gone. It had gotten pretty bad, but its pretty well gone on the sand and rocks. Still have some on the back wall where its hard to reach, but overall, its fading away. So now I can go after the algae, and by now I've been able to confirm it is bryopsis.
I stopped peroxide dosing about 2 weeks ago, one of my zoas was not opening, so I decided to stop for a few days and didn't restart. I don't really suspect it was the peroxide, but it was easy enough to stop. As a result, the bryopsis seems to be growing more aggressively on my return nozzles, and maybe is more firmly attached. I did get my silica up to a peak of 0.03 on a salifert test and quit dosing. My most visible sponge is clearly happy about it. There was a light dusting of what I assume was dinos on the sand, but it has backed down and silica is back to non-detect.
So next I'll turn up my algae scrubber some more (nitrates run ~ 8, phosphates ~ 0.02 over last 2 weeks) and order some fluconazole - unless someone knows an LFS that carries it? I need an excuse to hit one this week.
Happy New Year

 

[slojim]

on second thought, I like my ATS where it is - I may go ahead and carbon dose for a few weeks to up the nutrient export.

 

[slojim]

regarding fluconazole - I see the site Reefaholic used suggests repeating treatment every day for 5 days, while most places refer to it as a 1-time treatment. I'll have to look into some experiences so I can see how much I'd need to order. But for my system ~ 120 total gallons, that'd be 60 tablets for a 5x treatment, pretty big $ difference to a one or 2 x treatment.

 

[frankc]

I have always only done one dose and it worked great. Maybe if you did 5 doses it would work faster, but I will happily wait a couple weeks vs. putting more chemicals in my tank.

 

[Reefahholic]

regarding fluconazole - I see the site Reefaholic used suggests repeating treatment every day for 5 days, while most places refer to it as a 1-time treatment. I'll have to look into some experiences so I can see how much I'd need to order. But for my system ~ 120 total gallons, that'd be 60 tablets for a 5x treatment, pretty big $ difference to a one or 2 x treatment.

1-2 treatments is all you need. A one treatment dose will usually get it. If you’re thinking should I dose 7 or 8 pills for my system. Make it 8 or 9. ;-)

 

[gregg]

well, some good news, and some, just news. My cyano is almost gone. It had gotten pretty bad, but its pretty well gone on the sand and rocks. Still have some on the back wall where its hard to reach, but overall, its fading away. So now I can go after the algae, and by now I've been able to confirm it is bryopsis.
I stopped peroxide dosing about 2 weeks ago, one of my zoas was not opening, so I decided to stop for a few days and didn't restart. I don't really suspect it was the peroxide, but it was easy enough to stop. As a result, the bryopsis seems to be growing more aggressively on my return nozzles, and maybe is more firmly attached. I did get my silica up to a peak of 0.03 on a salifert test and quit dosing. My most visible sponge is clearly happy about it. There was a light dusting of what I assume was dinos on the sand, but it has backed down and silica is back to non-detect.
So next I'll turn up my algae scrubber some more (nitrates run ~ 8, phosphates ~ 0.02 over last 2 weeks) and order some fluconazole - unless someone knows an LFS that carries it? I need an excuse to hit one this week.
Happy New Year

Dennis at @fjwaquarium has flux rx in stock , I was just there and saw it.

 

[Reefahholic]

on second thought, I like my ATS where it is - I may go ahead and carbon dose for a few weeks to up the nutrient export.

Resist the urge to carbon dose. The ATS should easily deal with the excess nutrients. Also remember when the hair algae dies it can release other undesirables back into the system, so if you have a lot of algae...make sure to manually remove as much as possible first, and siphon it out as it’s dying. Try to get the phosphate up a little more. You might think it will be counterintuitive, but I have found that when my phosphate bottoms out that all these funky algae’s will start to develop.

Go get the fluconazole and dose the tank and I think you’ll be impressed with the results. Keep posting back with updates so that we can help you through all this.

 

[Reefahholic]

Here’s an interesting chart. Although it doesn’t seem like many people follow this. I haven’t, but I’ve been simi close at times and haven’t noticed any magical growth.

 

[slojim]

I guess I don't sweat that too much - I only have a few soft corals that came as hitchhikers (unnamed zoa, unnamed paly, GSP) , and one torch I bought since the hitchhikers seemed to be doing ok. I'm more interested in getting the fish side going of this fish tank, and I'll think about more intensive reefing later. Initially, I was trying to keep PO4 undetectable, but finally came around to having some present. I think that change is the only thing I can think of that triggered a massive change in coralline algae growth, along with some herd of snails and stars to eat it.
Funny - I dont think I've put anything in my tank other than food and chemicals for 8 months, but I still get plenty of changes in the biome.
FJW is a great shop. I've only been there once, but came home with a nice pair of clowns that have been good tank citizens. Unfortunately, it might as well be an all-day trip from League City, so I can't head there for the next 2 weekends at least.
Thanks all

 

[gregg]

I guess I don't sweat that too much - I only have a few soft corals that came as hitchhikers (unnamed zoa, unnamed paly, GSP) , and one torch I bought since the hitchhikers seemed to be doing ok. I'm more interested in getting the fish side going of this fish tank, and I'll think about more intensive reefing later. Initially, I was trying to keep PO4 undetectable, but finally came around to having some present. I think that change is the only thing I can think of that triggered a massive change in coralline algae growth, along with some herd of snails and stars to eat it.
Funny - I dont think I've put anything in my tank other than food and chemicals for 8 months, but I still get plenty of changes in the biome.
FJW is a great shop. I've only been there once, but came home with a nice pair of clowns that have been good tank citizens. Unfortunately, it might as well be an all-day trip from League City, so I can't head there for the next 2 weekends at least.
Thanks all

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