How to best remove these algae?

[Eroll026]

Hello! My 13g tank has been up for about a year more or less. When I started I had grand plans for the tank with corals and fish but life got in the way so I have mostly let the tank run its course with weekly waterchanges and feedings. 

Now I have decided to really clean up and get some nice colours in the tank. 

As my first step I want to remove the green leafy algae growing on my LR. 

My hermit wont eat it and neither will my turbo snails. 

I have tried to handpick but the small stuff left in crevises in the LR quickley grows back. 

Anyone who have encountered this and managed to remove it completely from their tank? 

 

Thanks! 

 

 

[Newstead]

Since you don't have corals yet, your best bet is probably to remove one rock at a time, scrub it with a toothbrush, apply some hydrogen peroxide with the toothbrush, rinse very well in saltwater and replace. There are tons of threads about how to do it. Then perhaps try dosing Microbacter 7 or Biospira to jumpstart the bio filter to help control nutrient levels along with a good water change and cleaning. 

[Eroll026]

5 minutes ago, Newstead said:

Since you don't have corals yet, your best bet is probably to remove one rock at a time, scrub it with a toothbrush, apply some hydrogen peroxide with the toothbrush, rinse very well in saltwater and replace. There are tons of threads about how to do it. Then perhaps try dosing Microbacter 7 or Biospira to jumpstart the bio filter to help control nutrient levels along with a good water change and cleaning. 

Thanks for the reply! I think you are right about the scrubbing. Im a little bit worried that the inhabitants of the LR wont make it through that treatment. I have a hitchhiker crab and some other critters in the LR I would like to keep. 

I have some biological filtration that should keep the tank going vile the LR start over. 

 

Is there anything that eat this type of algae that wont outgrow the tank or eat other stuff like the coraline algae? 

[Newstead]

My snails and crabs wouldnt touch the long stuff when I had a breakout of algae after transferring to a different tank.. Maybe a small urchin? But they can be problematic with coral frags.  If you sit the rock in a bowl in saltwater while you are scrubbing it, and run some tank water over it as you work it should be ok. Don't soak it in the hydrogen peroxide, just dribble a little on the worst spots, scrub and rinse. The only things I saw that couldn't take any hp at all were micro brittle stars. If you have those in your rock, try scrubbing it just with some tank water and toothbrush, forego the hydrogen peroxide. 

I finally did 2 rounds of flucanozole to get rid of the last vestiges of GHA in mine.

[Superdave]

To be honest, I do not find your algae entirely distasteful.  If you are not entirely in love the with the rock, maybe just swap with another reefer?  

 

Your varietal is different than the more "standard" green hair algae but I would think an emerald crab would take it of yours as well.  I have always had great success with them.  Some will say they will pick at corals, but in my experience as long as there was algae to eat, they left corals alone.  Once the GHA was gone, I took my emerald back to my local fish store.  They were happy to take it back.  If your store is not that flexible, I am certain someone's sump tank/box could use one.  They sell for $10 (give or take) in Dallas Texas so to me it was worth the extra effort to use an entirely "natural" solution.  It takes longer, but might be worth it in the long run.  

 

I will also I hand "picked" or pulled off some of the GHA as best I could.  

 

Good luck!

 

--Superdave