Algea, zoas and frag plugs....what to do???

[MizTanks]

This is an interesting topic~I for one have also lost a many of zoas (zoas only) to algae~only those on plugs~round or square~those on LR hadn't been touched.
I was harvesting every day! But the issue never went away. Then I found *Stop Algae* I first used it on only one plug of zoas that were almost gone (stuff smells like black licorice, yum) within 24hrs the algae was gone! As the directions stated do not get it on the corals. I didn't at least not on the heads. It had no effects on the zoas at all. What was even better was that the algae never came back on the treated plugs
I then moved on to all corals affected. After getting rid of all that I could I then turned my attention to water quality and maintenance. I added Chemipure Elite, Purigen and uped my WC's.
Algae gone, no more issues!

[Invert]

Nuisance algae,
I have to agree that it is a water quality issue.
After the water quality issue is resolved, a good clean-up crew is needed.

My Crab Crew consist of many different species from Blue Legged, Red Legged, Halloween & some I have now Idea.
Each species of Crab have a different method of Eating, with different claws to accomplish getting to the Algae.

[korndiddy20]

I lost a bunch of zoas about a month do to a abundance of diotom in the tank. My issue was do to the lack of cleanup crew. I purchased a bunch of blue leg hermits, nassarius snails, emerald crabs and other snails. The crew went to work and and cleaned up the tank, its amasing how quick they ate the algae. One of my other issues were that my frags were on a rack and the crew couldn't get to the frags. I took the racks out and put the frags in the sand and e every thing has been great since. I strongly recommend clean up crews just make sure to mix up the crabs and snails as they all have their specialty.

[MUCHO REEF]

I found an old post I made on another site and added to the list here on page 1 of this thread. I hope it helps.

Mucho Reef

[cg5071]

I am FINALY getting mine under control. It took months for the tank but...in order (of course I have a skimmer )
added purigen
started using ro/di
picked up cuc's a few at a time usually but ordered 100 dwarf cerith from reefcleaners
I had a few already but they got thined out starting my new tank
run oposite cycle in my fuge, just the mh and hps are opposite. MH on my main for 8hrs + it has t5's for the rest. HPS 70w over my fuge/sump for 16 hrs a day
I scoop out a few handfuls of frothy green algae from the fuge every few days

I found hand cleaning frags worked better if I waited for it to get longish and it pulled off easier and cleaner. I would say that for zoas but not sps as those didnt like any algae touching them. I lost a pocci and most of a birds nest from waiting.

I do use a turkey baster too to dust them off. If a zoa frag starts not opening or I see polyps degrading I dip in coral rx and baster them frequently (2x's a day at least). I have saved quite a few polyps this way.

This is just what I do an it could be any combo of things that worked. Took along time as I had really bad thick red/brown algae. Turned greener and thined out after I started using ro/di.

[Sir Patrick]

Very interesting so far....I am going to have to do some more water testing it seems. I was under the assumption that my water quality was pretty close to top notch.


Other than my frag plugs, and not including a few spots of dying bubble algea, I only have algea growing on frag plugs, new un-cured equipment/overflows, and a slight green film on my glass that needs wiping ever couple days or so.

[stunreefer]

Soak your frag plugs in RO/DI. This will leach any PO4 out of them and tremendously helps keep algae from growing on them. Fill a little tupperware, place plugs in it, and change the water everyday with fresh RO/DI for a week or so before you use them.

[Sir Patrick]

^ Very cool idea!

Is bound PO4 common in frag plugs/discs?

[Wy Renegade]

Very interesting so far....I am going to have to do some more water testing it seems. I was under the assumption that my water quality was pretty close to top notch.


Other than my frag plugs, and not including a few spots of dying bubble algea, I only have algea growing on frag plugs, new un-cured equipment/overflows, and a slight green film on my glass that needs wiping ever couple days or so.

Patrick what determines if a piece of equipment is un-cured? I have issues with hair algae growth on a few frag plugs and on my powerheads, but very little anywhere else in the tank. Curious as to how one would go about curing equipment.

[Wy Renegade]

Had to laugh, been reading through some old threads in the archives of another forum, and ran across a thread with almost this exact same title from 2007 - best answer they came up with for the issue . . .





















wait for it . . . .


















BURNING it off with a BLOW TORCH . . . . . . . seriously ROFL!