My tank is an algae lover's dream! Reef suggestions?

[jc74]

Ok, my tank is covered in algae as you can see. I haven't had a cleanup crew for over a hear because of copper in the water and I've been using cuprisorb and carbon to get it all out.
A couple months ago I bought some turbos, hermits, emeralds, and a conch and things look better, but I probably need more. The rock on the top right of the cave used to be covered in thick, green complex algae and the turbos took care of that. They also got most of the algae off the glass. The conch, emeralds, and hermits are working on the bottom. Everything is super-healthy aside from tons of algae.
Do you think this was simply do to a lack of a cleanup crew, or could something be off? This isn't only simple algae that I used to have, but things that look like actual plants with stems and leaves.
Also, what would you recommend for a first time reef setup? I just ordered a t5 fixture and I'm wondering what corals would be good starters and where to stick them.

This is a close-up of some of the algae. It's thick!

 

[maxalmon]

IMO take everything out, scrub the "you know what out" of it with a stiff brush, vaccume the bottom of the tank, just try and manually remove as much as possible. Invest in a few more turbo's, Once you've gotten as much of the algae out of the tank, get some chaeto and just toss it in the tank, the chaeto will absorb the nutrients which will help to starve off the other algae. When scrubbing the LR, remove it to a bucket full of fresh SW and keep the LR submerged while scrubbing.

 

[myzislow]

Like max said, with algae that bad, your best bet is to carefully remove the rocks and scrub them off in a separate tub/bucket with freshly mixed salt water, then vacuum as much as you can from the sand bed. You can use a stiff bristled regular toothbrush, these work great. Beef up the clean up crew and then get your self some chaeato. Stay on top of your water changes and general maintenance. Make sure you use RO water too, this is crucial.Good luck

 

[jc74]

I guess scrubbing as you've said would make more sense than buying a ton of snails.
But my concern is, if I get rid of most of the algae and make it where new algae doesn't grow, won't my snails, emeralds, and hermits starve? They're eating constantly as it is.
I predict I'll have some giant mutant inverts in a month or two.

 

[chris22582]

Id go with what they say. Also what kind of bulbs are you using. You should check your water paramiters and see if anything is off and if everthing is doing ok. How long has it been up?

 

[myzislow]

when u scrub off the algae you will undoubtedly be leaving some spores and the smaller "roots" of some of the algae behind. This will grow back if left alone. The thing is, now that you will have removed most of the larger masses of nuisance algae, the newer growth will be much more easily kept under control by your clean up crew, and will be more easily eaten by them. Your hermits and snails will be way more inclined to much on the new, shorter growth, then the huge clumps you had before.

 

[jc74]

Right now I'm using 2 10k and 2 actinic PC's. I just ordered an 8 t5 fixture.
The tank has been up for around 6 years now. I've had my clown fish for 4 years so apparently it's healthy. Everything appears to be doing well. I'm behind on water changes though which could be part of the problem, although my local LFS said they never do water changes.
It's had its ups and downs. It's been fish only so far, and I've gotten ich from various LFS's three times. The last outbreak was so bad that I lost my queen angel and royal gramma (my quarantine tank is no more...bad I know but I rarely get new fish). That's why I used coppersafe, which is a mistake I won't make again. The copper killed my shrimp and crabs, even though the bottle said it's safe for them.
So, I'm sort of starting anew. The copper levels are ok and my inverts are doing great. I just want to get rid of this algae and finally go reef. Right now it's like I have a 75 gallon refugium. Some of the algae closer to the light is cool but it's out of control.

 

[chris22582]

I would do as stated above and step up on the water changes and make sure its ro water. You can also try a lights out peirod for a couple of days and then do a nice big water change. It will help kill alot of it off. It worked in my tank when I had a alge problem. I have a friend also who does it about once a month in a tank with a good bit of SPS and it works well in his as well.

 

[jc74]

BTW, my clown fish are like 3 times bigger than any perculas I've ever seen. I have no idea why they're so huge. The biggest one is pushing 5" easily.

 

[jc74]

Originally Posted by Chris22582
I would do as stated above and step up on the water changes and make sure its ro water. You can also try a lights out peirod for a couple of days and then do a nice big water change. It will help kill alot of it off. It worked in my tank when I had a alge problem. I have a friend also who does it about once a month in a tank with a good bit of SPS and it works well in his as well.
I've gotten mixed messages about water changes. Some say to do them frequently, others say a couple times a year, and I've even heard not at all with good biological filtration.
I'll try the lights-out thing. I don't think my cleanup crew can handle this load, although they're trying.