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Algae Madness!


Amaleec

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Hello Everyone!

I’m going through an algae explosion in my 20 gallon fish and coral tank. Photos are included to help with identification, but I believe they're: green hair algae (on random rocks), Cyanobacteria (sand bed and rock work), and another kind of green algae (on all the rocks).

 

Im thinking they've all developed because I have sponges in my filtration system and I read somewhere that they could be considered “nutrient traps”. Should I remove the sponges in the filter, scrub the rock work with a toothbrush, and then do a water change? I also have filter floss, Seachem Matrix and Chemipure Blue.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Looks like a lack of nutrients IMO...  You should be seeing some healthy green algae and coralline algae....not just cyanobacteria.  (That's all I see in the pic.)

 

Cyano will disappear on its own.

 

To control green algae, you need to remove larger growths and have a cleanup crew of herbivores to keep the area clean.

 

Eventually coralline algae should come to dominate.

 

Keep your filters well-maintained, but they did not "cause" the algae to grow.  👍

 

 

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@mcarroll thank you for the response! I’m excited to see some coralline in my tank. 
 

How should I be raising nutrients? Would feeding a little more help?

 

Any suggestions on herbivores? I have a blue legged hermit crab and two turbo snails. But it seems as if they aren’t really doing much to help with cleanup 🤔

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Feeding (and not over-filtering or over-cleaning) is usually sufficient.

 

More CUC like your Turbo snail -- up to 2 per gallon, but build the population slowly, with a few weeks in between any additions.  (Too many will starve each other out.) 

 

Hermits are more of a scavenger, so you may already have enough with one.  Usually just a few in the tank is all it takes.

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Awesome! Thanks! The cyano is really taking over at this point. I cleaned it off my corals this morning to keep it from doing any damage. But I think I’ll be buying some herbivores to give me a hand.

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