Algae outbreak...

sparty059

Active Member
Hey everyone, I just got home from my two week long vacation. I'm a bit worried... I have A TON of algae hair and am not sure what I should do. My first initial thought is to buy another 30+ snails to have approx 60 in my 150G tank. I'm assuming the 30 I have just aren't getting the cleaning job done. Second thought is to finally do my water change. Any other ideas or solutions?
This is a picture of the disaster.
 

meowzer

Moderator
First try manual removal, and YES a water change.....have you run any tests?
also since you still have nothing in it, turn the lights out more
p.s......Can you get a close up of the actual algae?
 

tlsohio

Member
My 40g tank went through this when I started it (hair algae) and all my water perameters were all in line. I think new tanks go through phases and sometimes it just passes a few more snails couldn't hurt. What kind of water do you use?
 

sparty059

Active Member
I only checked my Ammonia so far just to make sure I wasn't going to lose anything in my tank. Ammonia came back fine though. I use RO/DI water. However, for the period I was away I had people dump in just distilled water for the top offs.
 

king_neptune

Active Member
You dont need 60 snails in an empty tank. All that does is add more polution ot the tank.
The CuC is needed to trim down the excess waste that fish and uneaten food leave behind.I dont seen anything in that tank.
Too much, and they just compete for the resources with each other. Honestly, they really dont do that great of a job cleaning up excess hair algae.
Instead they just throw your readings off. It is a sad myth that people get these over sized CuC based on the 1 invert per gallon theory that floats around.
To put it in perspective my 160g SPS system has a dozen fish in it, to counter thier waste I have maybe 20-25 snails and hermits.
And I typicly feed about 1 cubes worth of food a day.
Hair algae is common to a new tank that is establishing itself, expect to see these outbreaks the first year, the first few will get worse than the previous.
Then suddenly it will die off, and each time it will be less than the previous, and eventually it will only happen in small patches that can be trimmed manually with just a couple minutes effort every few weeks. From the looks of it, a $20 sea hare will pick that tank clean in less than 2 weeks, then you can give it to someone else local.
Reduced lighting will also help stem the growth, 8-10 hours a day is the most you need if your doing corals. If your not, then you dont need any light. Fish are fine with a lit room.
Since I dont even see that, you can just shut off the tanks light altogether till you have some livestock or corals introduced.
Hope this helps.
 

spanko

Active Member
Or you can try a couple (2) Mexican turbo snails. I say a couple because they will be an experiment in that they sometimes work with hair alga and sometimes not. After acclimation place them directly on a patch of the algae and see what happens.
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
It's common Sparty. I'd skip the excessive cleaning crew and think about a lawnmower blennie or something along those lines...they love to feed on the stuff. Personally wouldnt waste a ton of time trying to manually remove it just yet. Like KingNeptune said it will come and go in a young tank. How's your chaeto doing...you see any growth to it yet?
 

sparty059

Active Member
Ok, maybe I'll buy the blenny tomorrow with the clowns. As far as the Chaeto... no, not really any growth... nothing significant at least. Which kind of bums me out. I'm assuming it has everything to do with the lighting. However, as I said above, today was the first day back home... and I see a TON of the brittle star fish in there... I'm so excited. :)
 

king_neptune

Active Member
A blenny wont keep up with that, they are cool fish, but more for maintaining a little growth. Thats too much for him to handle over even the next few months, especilly since it will just keep growing faster than he can eat it. Those pictures are just two weeks. A sea hare is an anomaly...they eat and shoot out poop like an underwater artillery. Eat and poop. Eat and poop. Till they pick the tank clean..then they shrivle up and die in less than a week.
Do not underestimate the power of the sea-hare ^_^
My first year, I had two major outbreaks(made yours look like a little patch armpit hair)...a sea-hare devistated it each time in a matter of weeks.
Just remember they WILL die once the algae is gone...so give him to a local reefer...or back to the petstore.
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
No a blennie won't knock it all down, I just said help it out. When my tank broke out with algea like yours but all over the rock, alot more than what you've got right now...I picked up a tuxedo urchin and within 2 weeks he decimated about a 175lbs worth of hair algae covered rock. Not saying you should get one just yet...just saying that's what happened.
 

king_neptune

Active Member
Nice, I never thought of one of those. I typicly avoid urchins because I dont want to risk geting stuck. Then there is the whole reef safe issue with many urchins. Then again, on a gamble I put in a copperband butterfly. Lucky for me it panned out. He eats only aptasia and food I feed him.
 

sparty059

Active Member
Ok, so then instead I'll just pick up a Tuxedo Urchin since they look SO awesome! My plan will be to pick up a tuxedo urchin and two clownfish. What do you think about that?
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
I think you should think about it some more...figure out what your future plans will be for a tank. There's no gaurentee that yours will act or feed the same as mine, they do have a reputation for knocking over corals that aren't secured down. They do look really cool in the tank though for sure. I lost a handful of inverts the last time I moved...the pincushion is one of them. Very sensitive to changes I will say.
 
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smartorl

Guest
I have a rose urchin. It is an algae eating monster but it's a bulldozer. It will go for weeks and not mess with anything, and I will wake up one morning and my duncans are laying face down on the torch, my pipe organs are all fragged and my entire cleanup crew of hermits and snails, along with coral pieces will be on it's back as it scoots around.
I would say a lawnmower and an emerald crab. Lawnmowers won't get it all but they will reduce it. Emeralds also are voracious algae eaters and interesting creatures to watch to boot.
 

sparty059

Active Member
Well, I currently don't have any corals in there that can be moved around. I would really like something to clean this mess up at least a little bit. I'll look at the store tomorrow and see how much they cost and what they suggest as well. I'm really thinking I'm getting the clowns and probably the pin cusion though... I really need something to clean this up... plus if I get corals I'll make sure I glue them down or something.
 
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smartorl

Guest
I love it when they moult and you think they are dead because the moult looks so much like the crab only to realize it's alive when you see them in the tank and they look like they doubled in size.
We call ours Hulk!
I would recommend them over the urchin, hands down. I like my urchin and put up with it's shenanigans but it doesn't stop at green algae, when it runs out of that, it will start muching on your coraline algae as well. I haven't got much left in my tank at all.
 

meowzer

Moderator
LOL.....I know what you mean Smartorl.....I just had a Sally molt...it was a perfect shell setting on top of a rock...
BUT I also have a purple urchin.....never knocks stuff over, and have never eaten anything that I care about :)
 
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smartorl

Guest
Mine is having an identity crisis, it thinks it's a decorator crab.
I feel so bad for my snails and hermits. Being held hostage all the time can't be cool.
 
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