Removing Algae

[Sammydog]

I've noticed over the last few weeks some green algae growing in the tank. Its on the rock and on the powerheads. When you pull the power heads it is more like a slime when out of the water. I've attached a few pics so you can see what I am talking about.

Is there an easy way to remove this stuff from the rocks (scrubbing the power heads is easy enough), should I not worry about it, or can someone give me a method of cleaning it up and preventing its growth?

The water seems fine when tested, so I am not sure how to stop it.

A shot of the whole tank (ignore the scratches, you actually can see them until a photo is taken, kind of surprised me when I took this pic). You can see the worst area in the bottom right.

A few close ups of the worst areas.
Front of the tank

Top of the rocks

 

[andysgirl8800]

I've been fighting that stuff for months now. Looks like green hair algae, by your photos there. There are a few things you can do to remove it, but try not to let it drift in the tank, or you'll be putting the nutrients back into the water and feeding more algae.

You can siphon it out during your cleanings. We tag team our efforts and have one person brush the rock with a tooth brush with the siphon hose right next to it to suck up what comes loose.

You may want to get in the habit of using a turkey baster to blow off your rocks and keep detrius from settling in the nooks and crannies. You can also reposition your powerheads to put more flow in the area where it is growing the thickest.

You can add to your CUC with a sea hare, nassarius snails, hermits, etc, or add an algae eater fish, such as a starry blenny, or foxface. This is all based on the assumption that these animals will actually EAT the algae that you have.

Do frequent water changes with RO/DI water to remove the nutrient-rich water. Check the lifespan of your lights. Older bulbs cause a change in the light spectrum.

These will temporarily remove the algae, but won't solve the problems that spiked the algae to begin with. An algae bloom is usually the result of too many nutrients in the water, or on the rocks, in the form of detrius.

You need to track down the source of the high nutrients in order to prevent reccurent outbreaks. It may be that you are using treated tap water, have had some livestock deaths recently, a change in your lighting system, etc.

If it gets bad enough, you can start looking at additional equipment to help clean up your water. Sorry for the long post! Good luck.

 

[daugherty]

pull out as much as you can by hand. and just keep up with it it will take some time but with persistance you can win. you can also get a lawnmower blenny and he will eat some of it.

 

[yote]

+1 Andysgirl and James.
You need to manually remove as much of the algae as possible with every waterchange and find the source of the excess nutrients.Also cut the lights back by an hour or so.

 

[Sammydog]

Can you guys see any major issue with pulling the worst affected rocknout at the next water change and scrubbing the algae off with a toothbrush?

I was going to do this but was concerned about a little red critter (only 1 or 2mm across) that pops up on the rock through the algae.

 

[Tristan]

for some weird reason, i love the way algae looks in aquariums
if you kept it on, it would look really cool if you had some type of scary looking predator like an angler.

i think im just crazy though. haha

 

[andysgirl8800]

I've done it! :) If you remove the rock and place it in a bucket with saltwater, perhaps left over from your water change, use a tooth brush and scrub around the area that you've been seeing the critter. Use a turkey baster to rinse off the rock before putting it back in the tank.

 

[Sammydog]

I've done it! :) If you remove the rock and place it in a bucket with saltwater, perhaps left over from your water change, use a tooth brush and scrub around the area that you've been seeing the critter. Use a turkey baster to rinse off the rock before putting it back in the tank.

That's exactly what I was thinking of doing.

 

[yote]

+1 Andysgirl
I've done my rock the same way.You've got to get a head start on the algae to beat it.As long as its on the rock,it'll catch enough waste to provide its own nutrients.

 

[andysgirl8800]

Sammydog-
Just notcied your location.... talk about prime reef access!

 

[Bifferwine]

Hey Sammy,
My tank used to look exactly like yours!!

You should do what all the other guys are saying but you should also buy a seahare. The seahare will mow down that algae in no time. Be sure that you have an agreement with your fish store that you can bring it back when it's done, or you have a friend with an algae filled tank that will take it, because it will starve to death when it's done cleaning your rocks.

Sea hares are the #1 most effective animal for getting rid of hair algae like that!!

 

[andysgirl8800]

Sea hares are the #1 most effective animal for getting rid of hair algae like that!!

I'd tend to agree, but the one I had didn't do much with my HA and died within a week.

 

[Bifferwine]

I'd tend to agree, but the one I had didn't do much with my HA and died within a week.

That sucks :( I've had two (Jessica I and Jessica II) and both lived long enough to completely clean out my tank and be passed on to someone else in need.

 

[Sammydog]

I like the idea of the seahare, but I don't think our LFS let's livestock be returned and I am not keen on letting a seahare starve after it cleans out the tank.

We had recently increased the light time for the tank do I might back that off and clean the worst rocks every waterchange. See how that goes before going down the seahare route.

We don't have a clean up crew though so I will look into that this weekend.

 

[yote]

A good clean up crew will go a long in helping keep the algae under control.

 

[Sammydog]

Turns out we have had a bit of a Nitrate spike in the tank. Big water change last night and I will do it every other day until things stabilise.

We cleaned a lot of the algae (well what we could).

I went today to get a lawnmower blenny, none of the fishshops had any so I got some Janitor Crabs. Three are hiding in the tank, but the fourth one has had quiet a big meal straight up at the front of the tank. The area in the photos was very fuzzy when they went in.