Getting rid of Bryopsis and Hair Algae!

[mikeyjer]

Hey everyone, it's been awhile since my last post months ago. I've been dealing with bryopsis this past year. Tried everything, did everything and nothing seems to work until recently. I did water changes, using rowa phos with phosphate reactor, reduce lighting time, etc etc. Nothing seems to get rid of bryopsis. I have recently bought large quantity of cleanup crews consists of mainly snails, lettuce nudi, sally lightfoot crabs, and emerald crabs. I am winning the battle this time, the side of my tank that was badly covered with bryopsis is disappearing, HUGE clumps of bryopsis is ALL gone, I can see my glass and rocks again!!!! I haven't seen it this pretty in a LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG time, like I've said, I've been dealing with it for over a year. There's not that much bropsis left to cleanup, it only took the cleaning crew just one month to accomplish this. I used mainly Mexican Turbos(These guys do wonders, they WILL eat bryopsis IF you cut them short, they'll eat the left over and scrape it clean), Astrea(mainly to cleanup glass and left over algae on rocks), Lettuce nudi(They're eating the bryopsis that's growing on my corals, the stuffs that the turbos can't reach), Star Snails(They do wonders cleaning up the rocks as well, not as good as the mexican turbos), and the crabs just pick at the left overs. I should have taken a before picture to show how bad the bryopsis looked in my tank, it was covering everything, now I'm afraid I won't have any left for my crews to eat. :thinking:

 

[aztec reef]

here's a few more that you can add to the list for bryopsis control:
tridachia crispata(sea slug),
elysia ornata (sea slug)
also one of my favorites the mexican lettuce slug.they are known species that feed on bryopsis...

 

[reefreak29]

algea control in the reef tank by:reefreak29

[hr]
one of the most annoying problems in the home reef tank is endesirable algea.three major problem algeas that ive incuontered in my reef are green hair algea,brown diotoms and red slime algea aka cyono bacteria.
BROWN DIATOM ALGEA: usually accurs in newer reef tanks. mostly because of the introduction of live rock, wich introduces silicates and nutrients to your tank.
a brown film soon coats your sand bed.The control of diotoms is fairly easy.u first need a benificial cleen up crew trochus and astraea snails eagerly consume the brown diotoms. The second thing u want to do is perform regular water changes to remove access nutrients.
CYONO BACTERIA: red slime algea has to be one of the most frustrating for new reefers.It usually breaks out on the surface of the sand substrate.2 ways that i know to remove the cyono is to firstincrease your water flow u want to remove any stagnent areas by the substate. Two remove excess nutrient, I prefer to do a 10 percent weekly water change with ro di water or di water. (do not use tap water) while doing a water change syphon out as much red algea as possible,also dont be afraid to cut your light back and your feeding, I leeve my light on for 10 hrs a day in my 90 gal tank its ok to cut back to 5 hrs for a couple of weeks.
GREEN HAIR ALGEA: who hasnt experienced this.this algea loves bright light and astablished reef tanks. Green hair algea consumes excess nutrients faster then any other algea.Below are measures and steps of riding this FOREVER
1.-make sure u have a protien skimmer and its suitible for your size tank, for proper working conditions make sure u clean out skimmer cup every other day to have 100 percent working capability also make sure your pump stays clean for maximum flow
2. decrease lighting just like with the cyono cut your light in half
3. perform regular water changes again i like 10 percent weekly, when doing a water change suck out as much algea as possible, use only di water or rodi.
never use tap , tap water has high nitrates, phosphates and nitrites.
4.phisicly remove the algea by riping it of the rock,keep a cup of di water next to u to rinse your fingers each time u put your hands back in the tank to insure all spores are off and your not reintroducing the algea to your water,after about 20 hrs of manually removing the algea your inverts aka cleanup crew should keep it under control.
in colclusion please do regular water changes, feed small amounts every other day, only use rodi or di water and dont keep your lights on for more then 10 hrs a day. everyone experiences algea blooms in there tank i hope this help in managing the problem algeas

 

[mikeyjer]

reefreak,
feedings once every other day won't work for some fish. It won't work for my tangs as they require regular feedings daily. Like I've said, I did water changes after water changes, nothing seems to help, and the water I was using was RO/DI water testing at 0 tds level. Skimmers are working great, but the bryopsis just won't go away until I bought more cleanup crews, that took care of my problem making the tank pretty again. I've read numerous postings about the same issue and they did all they can to rid the algae and nothing seems to work for them until they got some cleaning crews to do the job. My tank is almost turned back into it's former glory, just a little bit of algae left and it's amazing what those cleaning crews would do for you. :happyfish

 

[reefreak29]

Originally Posted by Mikeyjer
reefreak,
feedings once every other day won't work for some fish. It won't work for my tangs as they require regular feedings daily. Like I've said, I did water changes after water changes, nothing seems to help, and the water I was using was RO/DI water testing at 0 tds level. Skimmers are working great, but the bryopsis just won't go away until I bought more cleanup crews, that took care of my problem making the tank pretty again. I've read numerous postings about the same issue and they did all they can to rid the algae and nothing seems to work for them until they got some cleaning crews to do the job. My tank is almost turned back into it's former glory, just a little bit of algae left and it's amazing what those cleaning crews would do for you. :happyfish
when i posted this there was another thread under yours ,i accidently put it here sorry, im glad u are winning that battle with hair algea.

 

[reefnut]

I had a Bryopsis Algae outbreak in my old sps tank and it about never went away. I ended up getting a Fox Face LO and he did a good job of controlling it. I never really got rid of it until I took down my MHs.

 

[mikeyjer]

Originally Posted by ReefNut
I had a Bryopsis Algae outbreak in my old sps tank and it about never went away. I ended up getting a Fox Face LO and he did a good job of controlling it. I never really got rid of it until I took down my MHs.
When you took those MH's down, what light did you have to replace it?