got ethical husbandry?

New to BAR, and my science experiment

Greetings, all.

New to BAR. I upgraded from a 110g to a 190g about a year ago when the wife wanted the tank moved out of the office and into a new location built into a wall, with a "fish room" in the adjacent garage to eliminate junk in the house. When moving the tank, why not get a larger one?

Things were going well, until about three months ago, when I experienced an explosion of long hair algae.
Here's a pic from a corner of the tank for illustration:

Naturally, I first went to water parameters, testing everything, as well as taking a sample to Neptune Aquatics to ensure that I did not have a bad test kit. All water parameters are near ideal. I wet skim, and run GFO in a reactor, with no measurable phosphates.

I have tried every kind of snail, my tang and lawnmower blenny won't touch it, and I have been pulling it out and scrubbing it out with a toothbrush on a pole. It is a losing battle.

An so, it is time for a little science experiment. After researching a number of boards, there have been several like me with the same problem, who have attempted all predatory means (including sea hares) and have gone on to chemistry solutions.

First was to assess environmentals. A borrowed CO2 meter revealed a surprising level of CO2 within the house (it's December, so all the doors and windows remain shut, and the house is well sealed. Finding this, I ran an outside line to my skimmer air intake. the tank pH increased by 0.15 within 24 hours. Clearly, the abundance of CO2 had to be fueling growth.

Next up is dosing H2O2 aka hydrogen peroxide. I went to the health food store and secured food grade H2O2, which avoids all the additives found in drug store offerings. The food grade version is a 35% concentrate, so dosing is 1ml/10 gallons (23 ml for my system) per day. H2O2 is not highly stable and rapidy degrades, creating 2 H2O and 1 O2. The theory is that the greatly increased oxygen levels within the tank interrupts algae photosynthesis processes, and causes it to die within a few days. I will report back within a week or so with pics and progress.

Failing the H2O2 dosing, next up is the big guns; Fauna Marin Ultra Algae X, also used to treat dinoflagellate issues. Some using the product report impact to corals, but there may be some relationship with not using the product accurately, or as instructed.

I'll keep you posted on progress and results, but if there is anybody experienced with successfully dealing with this issue, I would appreciate the additional insights and expertise.

Thanks!
 
Opinion: You need a REAL herbivore. Those little guys won't make a dent.
At 190G, you can pick from quite a few.
My personal favorite is a Magnificent Foxface.

If you really want chemical treatments:
A couple of people have been liking some new bacterial supplement for fighting algae. But I forget exactly what it was called.
Many chemical treatments work, but are only temporary. They kill the algae .... then it simply grows back.
 
I wonder if the algae is a fast growth type, it could consume all the nutrient from water so your test will always show low level.
I would agree with roostertech that it sounds like the algae is consuming nutrients leading to ideal test results. How are your corals looking? It seems the trick would be to starve out the algae. I know easier said then done though. What's your lighting cycle look like and how heavy are you feeding?
 
I wonder if the algae is a fast growth type, it could consume all the nutrient from water so your test will always show low level.

A reasonable conclusion. Although, I do not see a change in water parameters when I do a huge removal. I do expect a significant shift if the H2O2 starts eliminating the algae, so am prepared for filtering and water changes.
 
I would agree with roostertech that it sounds like the algae is consuming nutrients leading to ideal test results. How are your corals looking? It seems the trick would be to starve out the algae. I know easier said then done though. What's your lighting cycle look like and how heavy are you feeding?

Corals are looking good, although growth is slower that I would wish. I am running 2 Kessil 360's at 100% intensity, 30% spectrum for 6 hours each day. Reducing photoperiod to 4 hours a day for a month had little impact. 4 fish get 1 cube frozen brine shrimp, drained and rinsed each day. All food consumed within 2 minutes.
 
Corals are looking good, although growth is slower that I would wish. I am running 2 Kessil 360's at 100% intensity, 30% spectrum for 6 hours each day. Reducing photoperiod to 4 hours a day for a month had little impact. 4 fish get 1 cube frozen brine shrimp, drained and rinsed each day. All food consumed within 2 minutes.

its sounds like you are top of it from the lighting side and not much feeding. When you upgraded to your 190 did you add more dry or live rock? Another possibility is your new rock could be leaching leaching nutrients.
 
You sure you have long green hair algae and not Bryopsis. (B. penneta and B. plumosa)
If Bryopsis. sorry, no great advice, only sympathy.
Yeah, an alagaecide might be the only solution.

A foxface will usually chow down on algae like crazy, except for Bryopsis.
Although I have heard they eat the fresh part a little bit, so extensive manual removal + a hungry (reduce feeding) foxface might work.
 
Tried urchins? They might scour some corals and coralline algae but they really do a number on nuisance algae. Don't know if they eat everything.
 
Pictures of said algae would be helpful.

2 360s on a 190? That is not much light for such a big tank.

I've found it is a combination of things that rid my tank of algae.

Aggressive manual removal - you are exporting whatever nutrients are fueling the algae

GFO - keep running as you do the removal. Change often!

Macro algae - my chaeto didn't start really taking off until I removed 90% of the algae. I also upped the five light to a 300w grow light and actively dosed iron.

These actions effectively removed all algae from my DT. I do have them in my overflow but that's because detritus collects in spots.


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Another thing you might want to try is a black-out period of around 3 days. Corals wont like it, but they shouldnt really die either. You could also try this in conjunction with the H2O2. As mentioned above, make sure its not bryopsis. Bryopsis is simply a nightmare:mad: I literally took all my rock out, scrubbed it down and doused it in H2O2. Thought it was gone for good. A month later is was back with a vengeance:( I ended up starting fresh in a new tank with new rock, I hope you dont have to do this. One question, how is your flow? In my tank, I experienced the greatest growth when one of my power heads died, and then had an algae die off when the flow increased again.
 
its sounds like you are top of it from the lighting side and not much feeding. When you upgraded to your 190 did you add more dry or live rock? Another possibility is your new rock could be leaching leaching nutrients.

Interesting thought. I did add additional dry rock when I upgraded. I did a three-week soak in RODI, changing the water every three days, so hopefully that is not an issue.
 
You sure you have long green hair algae and not Bryopsis. (B. penneta and B. plumosa)
If Bryopsis. sorry, no great advice, only sympathy.
Yeah, an alagaecide might be the only solution.

A foxface will usually chow down on algae like crazy, except for Bryopsis.
Although I have heard they eat the fresh part a little bit, so extensive manual removal + a hungry (reduce feeding) foxface might work.

I can't rule out bryopsis. I have looked at pictures online to compare, and I sit uncertain.
 
Tried urchins? They might scour some corals and coralline algae but they really do a number on nuisance algae. Don't know if they eat everything.

I do have a Tuxedo Urchin in the display tak, who seems to chow on any film algae, but leaves the hairy stuff alone.
 
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