Hey I have had this 40 gallon tank running for coming up on 2 years and an algae problem arises dude to the light being on way too long and now I have way too much of this algae if you can list your opinion on what I need to do or buy that would be so greatly appreciated.
Please help
- Thread starter Grey.E
- Start date
I had a pretty nasty hair algae outbreak recently and someone suggested i try carbon dosing. I started dosing vodka along with using phosguard to soak up the extra phosphates. It takes a little while but it works. I followed these instructions for carbon dosing with vodka. I just kept doing it after the algae was under control because it helps manage nutrients and keep them low plus vodka is super cheap considering you won’t need much.
It really depends on your nutrient levels, algae uses nitrates and phosphates as well as light. If nitrates are high, carbon dosing can help. I've found Vibrant is excellent for algae removal. It takes time, and nitrates and phosphates need to be kept at proper levels.
Okay thankyou
I have a very very small little magnet cleaner about the size of a quarter I needed to get a new one for awhile now
Water changes and manual removal. Sounds like you've already discovered the cause and corrected it. You can suck a lot of it out when you siphon off the water and it ends up being an effective method for nutrient removal. Try this for a few weeks and see what happens. If it doesn't help, give chemicals/dosing a try. I bet a few water changes, manual removal and time will get you fixed up just right. The key to this method is that it takes time. Based on the pictures you posted, it doesn't look like an emergency situation where things are getting smothered so it should be alright.
Okay thankyou a lot I will give that a try and keep y’all updated
There are a few different approaches to getting rid of it but I think the ol' water change and suck it out is the way to go. If you can, please test and post for Nitrates (NO3) as well as phosphates (PO4). I'd be willing to bet your levels are high and this has exacerbated the issues brought on by the lighting problems you described.
Okay I will post photographs of everything needed and see what we can do to counter the algae
Agree, manual removal and water changes will do wonders to help get rid of it. What is your N03 and P04 at?
After manual removal, turning down my whites/daylight mode to the lowest setting for a week or 2 also helped. It really helped to rid the tank of the small bits that won’t come off from brushing. The corals down care about not having that light source much so it doesn’t hurt.
What type of water are you using. Sorry to get basic, but are you using tap water, tank getting direct sunlight? Manual removal, add a lawn mower blenny, hermit crabs for the rocks, lots of small water changes and a whole lot of time and patience..
I use regular ro to top off I get all of my salt water from my local fish store but I will look into buying a lawnmower blenny
Blue leg hermits will really help your rocks get cleaned up as well.
Blue legged hermits I will keep those in mind
Two things to add to the other advice: Don't be afraid to remove a rock and scrub it with a toothbrush or stiff plastic brush, you can even spot treat problem areas with Hydrogen peroxide, just rinse in a bucket of saltwater before placing back into the tank. I had GHA much worse than you and even power washed several rocks outside with no ill effects. Second consider a couple of turbo snails, I didn't want them because they are big and can move things around, but others llke @OxReef recommended them and @90gDreams actually gave me a couple to convince me to try them and the turbo's made a huge difference on managing my GHA. I have been known to pick them up and drop them on a patch of GHA and by the next morning the GHA is gone.
Oh okay well thankyou cook thabks to everyone I got really scared and thought I’d have too start over much appreciated to all of you guys pitching in your ideas I will check for those turbo snails and those blue legged hermits if anyone has any extras I would love too give them a new home thankyou too all of you
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