Worst algae you have ever dealt with???

[LuckySingh]

Share your experience

Mine was red slime algae . Probably a beginners algae that we all go through but oh boy it kicked my butt . I started as 100% Sps dedicated tank and wanted to keep ULNS system but it was starving all my frags . I added fishes and started target feeding my corals with my own recipes , nutrients were still kept under checked but red slime algae started to pop up . No matter what I would do it won't go away completely . I was on the verge of removing my sand bed since it was effecting my Ricordeas more than my Sps . It did killed quite a bunch of my Ricordeas . At last I had to setup a quartine tank . I removed my frags from the rocks and than took the rocks out and placed them in quartine tank and scrubbed them good for a week for few minutes a day in a dark room . All the corals were moved to the sump where I had lit them with a small halide bulb for a week and display was kept pitch black for few 3 days . After a week I moved everything back to the display and now I am pretty happy to see no traces of red slime algae . I am still keeping nutrients checked every day and feeding little to my fish . Will do this for about a good couple weeks until I am fully satisfied and than will get back to normal feeding regime .

I hope It won't come back

[rrasco]

Chemiclean does wonders for slime algae, red and green. I try not to use stuff like that, but if you can't curb it...chemiclean definitely will. It will freak your skimmer out for days though, so I usually do plenty of water changes through the skimmer until all the suffocants are removed.

The worst I've dealt with? Bryopsis by far. Even when it looks like its dying it just keeps growing. I know it's not healthy because it comes off super easy but just keeps on keeping on. Worse in my frag tank and on my overflow than anywhere.

[Justin]

I hear you on the slime algae piece. It was kicking my butt for awhile until I discovered that my biopellets were feeding it. My big nemesis is bryopsis. The stuff comes back every time despite H2O2 dips, Tech M and a foxface. Fortunately, my fuge seems to over compete for nutrients with the pests and things have gone down.

[mtfish]

Mine is a red macro algae. It is very aggressive and is brittle so any little piece that breaks off floats around and attaches somewhere else. I do have to manually remove some every couple of weeks. But I have probably 15 species of macro algae in the tank. The fish eat some and the micro-fauna survive in it. I only get mad at the algae when it directly competes with space of my corals.

[Troy Valentine]

If it looks like this:
https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0LEVxGsoAlV.usAxaZXNyoA;_ylc=X1MDMjc2 NjY3OQRfcgMyBGZyA3lmcC10LTkwMQRncHJpZAMyM0J6LlpzVF E4bTEzOGx0aW5LODFBBG5fcnNsdAMwBG5fc3VnZwM3BG9yaWdp bgNzZWFyY2gueWFob28uY29tBHBvcwMwBHBxc3RyAwRwcXN0cm wDBHFzdHJsAzE3BHF1ZXJ5A0NPVE9OIENBTkRZIEFMR0FFBHRf c3RtcAMxNDI2Njk0MzA3?p=COTON+CANDY+ALGAE&fr2=sb-top-search&fr=yfp-t-901&fp=1

That is some pretty nasty stuff. I've had it several times over the last 10 years in my current system. The trick I've found to get rid of it is to pull out what I can and place it in my fuge. Next, add several Mexican turbo snails (1 per 15gallons). Then, clean all the detritus in your sump and dead spots in your tank where you see that detritus has accumulated. Incorporate the cleaning of the sand bed and sump with your water changes. This has worked for me every time. It can be aggressive stuff if left unchecked. It is by far the worst algae I've dealt with in 20 yrs of reef keeping. Its up there with Dinos for me.

[rrasco]

Hey Troy!

[Troy Valentine]

Hello Robert!

[mtfish]

Troy, the one I have I believe is in the genus Chondria. Not sure of the species. I do have a key so may try to key it out some day. This came in on some live rock from Florida. Some of my fish do seem to eat it when it is just budding, such as the rabbitfish and parrotfish. Tangs pick on it but don't seem to really eat it.


If it looks like this:
https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0LEVxGsoAlV.usAxaZXNyoA;_ylc=X1MDMjc2 NjY3OQRfcgMyBGZyA3lmcC10LTkwMQRncHJpZAMyM0J6LlpzVF E4bTEzOGx0aW5LODFBBG5fcnNsdAMwBG5fc3VnZwM3BG9yaWdp bgNzZWFyY2gueWFob28uY29tBHBvcwMwBHBxc3RyAwRwcXN0cm wDBHFzdHJsAzE3BHF1ZXJ5A0NPVE9OIENBTkRZIEFMR0FFBHRf c3RtcAMxNDI2Njk0MzA3?p=COTON+CANDY+ALGAE&fr2=sb-top-search&fr=yfp-t-901&fp=1

That is some pretty nasty stuff. I've had it several times over the last 10 years in my current system. The trick I've found to get rid of it is to pull out what I can and place it in my fuge. Next, add several Mexican turbo snails (1 per 15gallons). Then, clean all the detritus in your sump and dead spots in your tank where you see that detritus has accumulated. Incorporate the cleaning of the sand bed and sump with your water changes. This has worked for me every time. It can be aggressive stuff if left unchecked. It is by far the worst algae I've dealt with in 20 yrs of reef keeping. Its up there with Dinos for me.

[Paul28]

that's the red junk ive had for years to and still have it clogs mp40 a lot

[Bill S]

Tore down my big reef tank for bryopsis. That's why my current tank is so completely quarantined.

[rrasco]

I've actually managed to hit a turning point with my Bryopsis problem. Kept up my regular maintenance and started running GAC non-stop. I typically only run GAC if I had a reason to, in this case Bryopsis is the reason. Renewed my clean up crew and while the Bryopsis died off the crew tore it to shreds. I'm not sure it's completely done yet but my strategy is to keep up the GAC and keep refreshing my clean up crew. It's the best handle I've had on it in 6 months so I have hope.

[Tristan23]

What does GAC?? I'm on my 2nd week dosing kent m tech.

[rrasco]

Granular Activated Carbon.

I've had my mag at 1800 for 6 months, using Tech M. I have it on a doser now for 15 or 30ml a day, can't remember. I was hoping it had residual effects over the long term so I decided to keep using that for my mag supplement.

[Tristan23]

Where do you have you mag at now? Last time I checked I'm at 900. From the instructions it's saying 1ml per gallon. So have been doing 55 ml including the sump volume

[rrasco]

900ppm? That's low for regular.

Last time I tested was on 3/16 and it was at 1680ppm. I don't remember how much I dosed to get it up, it takes a lot in my system. My mag was already high but I was using BRS at the time then I switched to kent. So that could be a contributor to why high mag didn't fix my problem alone.

I'm also carbon dosing and running an ATS.

[Tristan23]

I need to recheck again tonight. Last time I tested was a week ago. I always thought 55ml is alot to dose the tank. Makes sense since your mag is high. I guess there something in Kent tech the does the trick to bryopsis. Could I put carbon in a mesh bag and throw it in a sump where water flow is present? What's ATS??

[rrasco]

Yes, it is widely believed/known that it's something in Tech M and not the high mag alone that does it. Nah dude, I'm talking about dumping in 800ml+ of the stuff. It's not just Tech M that's like that it's mag supplements all together if you're trying to elevate your parameters.

You can run carbon in a bag, it's not as effective since there is nothing to force the flow through the media but it does work.

ATS = Algae Turf Scrubber

And I'm dosing vinegar for my carbon source, which is another means of nutrient reduction. Similar to biopellets but a liquid dose.

I try to hit it from every angle. Seems to be working.

[Tristan23]

Will that eliminate bryopsis completely or present in the tank but at a very low state? What are you running for your carbon? I might start running that route but I gotta find room inside my stand...

[rrasco]

BRS Rox8

I haven't beat it completely but I know it's weak so I threw in a fresh clean up crew and they devoured it. It might grow back, not sure yet, but it always has. The stuff is pure evil.

[Tristan23]

Yep they sure are. Had them in my other set ups but it's time to actually eliminate them. At least attempt to. On this new set up I have its to small patches. One the leafs are dying off

[rrasco]

They can go from small to big quick. Mine wasn't a full infestation. My frag tank is the worst, it grows on all the plugs and the rack.

[Tristan23]

I'm hoping it stay at those spots. I really don't want pluck then out yet. What is the machine that your running your carbon through?

[rrasco]

NexReef MR1. I have a handful of reactors and this is the only one that will run more than a week without stopping. It still has the hassles of being a reactor but at least it works.