Welcome to the throes of nuisance algae my friend
. Lets see what I can do to assist you in your time of need
. The first two steps are diagnosis of the problem and iagnosis of the species of algae. Lets get the species down first. Have a look at
this site down to the bottom. You'll see listings for hair algae, byropsis, cyanobacteria, dinoflagellates, and diatoms. I HIGHLY doubt your problem is diatoms since scarlet hermits gorge themselves on diatoms. You've more likely got cyanobacteria, hair algae, or dinoflagillates. Remember that cyanobacteria can be red, rust, brown, green, lime, and even purple in color. All cyanobacteria has pretty much a fleece texture though so make sure you look for that more than just the color
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Once you know what kind of algae you have there are some treatments I can suggest. Each treatment involves first trying to eliminate the "fuel" of the algae and second trying to find a predator or other solution to remove whats allready there. Nuisance algae is fueled by one or many of the following: High nitrates, High phosphates, High silicates, low flowrate, high dissolved organic compounds (which ultimately lead to high nitrates/phosphates
). You can try testing for nitrates and phosphates but chances are if you've got significant algae allready the algae is consuming the nitrates/phosphates faster than they enter the system so you'll likely read 0 for all of the above. For example, when I was amidst my own nuisance algae problem my nitrates and phosphates read 0 yet the tank was green as can be. Unfortunately silicates and dissolved organics cannot be accurately tested for
.
So how do these "fuels" enter the tank? 2 ways, either with the makeup water you add during water changes, OR via feeding. First, makeup water. Have you tested your makeup water for nitrates and phosphates before adding it to your tank? If there are none then you're clearly not adding any into the system. Furthermore, have you tested your RO discharge for total dissolved solids (TDS)?. So long as the RO TDS is below 10ppm you're generally OK. Of it rises above that you'll need to service your RO unit.
If your makeup water has no input of nutrients time to look at your feeding regimen. How much and how often do you feed your fish? You can try cutting down on feeding but even that may not yeild results. You should strain all frozen foods to remove dissolved organics and phosphates. My method is to stretch a women's nylon over the top of a glass and thaw the food on top of it. Then I mix up a frozen concotion in another small glass and meter it out into one of those weekly medicine plastic things (you know, the things old people use to help them know what meds to take...). Then I stick it back in the freezer. When its time to feed I remove the tra, knock out a cube and feed away.
Do you grow macroalgae in your refugium? If not, do it. That'll help remove nitrates/phosphates. Make sure you use a decently powered light though since under low-light conditions hair algae/byropsis can overtake chaetomorpha.
Finally, do you have a protein skimmer? I noticed that I wasn't really able to control my hair algae until I got a BIG skimmer. Since then its been an uphill battle, but at least one that I can win. Remember, dissolved organic proteins can break down and release LOTS of phosphate and nitrate too. Proteins are littered with phosphorus compounds that just pollute your tank when they decompose. Having an oversized protein skimmer in my sump has helped a LOT. I bought a EuroReef skimmer (pretty sure its the 6-2 model) which is rated for well over 200 gallons. Things huge but does a great job keeping me DOC free
Once you've taken steps to eliminate the source you can try and find a natural predator or other treatment. Remember to research any predator additions to make sure they're compatible with your tank first
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Edit: You can also try creating conditions favorable to coraline algae growth and have that out-compete the nuisance algae. Coraline likes high powered lighting along with high alk/calc/mg. Think 11-12dKH, 450ppm calc, and 1500ppm Mg
. Be that as it may, on to the solutions:
