Reef HD against algae

[Chris A.]

I recently did a month long treatment with reef hd to get rid of bubble algae. 90% did die in the month treatment but still have a some so before it spreads again I’m doing another round of it. Had some people interested in the process so here it is. I’ll add some pictures from the first round and add the pictures from this one as well.

Treatment:
I started by removing the carbon from my reactor. Added some filter floss to catch any larger bubbles from going through the return. Took my skimmer cup off and covered it so nothing got skimmed out but could continue to oxygenate the water. If you have a external skimmer just make it overflow back to the sump. I dosed 4x the regular amount of reef hd ( 4 capsules per 10 gallons of tank water )
I didn’t change anything else in my tank maintenance or routine. I did keep a eye on nutrients and alk in case something did go off because of the treatment and advise everyone to do so while trying something different on your tank.

Here’s the original state of the aquarium before the first treatment.

This is a week later

Another week later (2nd week)

And third week

This is where it stands now and where the next treatment starts.
I did notice that the bubble algae would turn white faster where there was more light hitting it than the shaded patches and that treatment seamed to have no affect after the third week.
I’ll keep updating during the treatment

 

[Matt W]

Any WC so far? Did that red algae appear during treatment?

My tank also has a mess of bubble algae. I going to try this treatment in the coming weeks and will document here too.

 

[Chris A.]

The cyano appeared after the treatment , nothing time or chemiclean can’t handle lol. yes a 30% water change was done after the treatment.

 

[Chris A.]

Also if you run a fuge you might want to take the macro out since it’s going to die and cause a nutrient spike.

 

[Matt W]

ICP-OES results

 

[Matt W]

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[Chris A.]

If you want to help the cause , in a week if you see any bright ones still around pop them.

 

[Matt W]

If you want to help the cause , in a week if you see any bright ones still around pop them.

I also need my dogs to go upstairs so I can break out the laser and kill some aptasia. #vacationweekplans Need to get the tank clean and add some new acros in 1-2 mo time.

 

[Chris A.]

Lmk how that goes
Might need to get one to get rid of some in my tank

 

[Matt W]

Lmk how that goes
Might need to get one to get rid of some in my tank

It works well and is creepily fun killing them. It just takes some time to kill a lot. Got berghia in there now, but this is slow or not helping at all. May try a peppermint shrimp again.

 

[Chris A.]

Berghia take a while to work but are the best imo. They get into the live rock where peppermints and lasers can’t. Im waiting on a batch of them soon. Lost a few corals to stinging and it stung my wallet lol

 

[Matt W]

Day 3 - no major changes to algae, corals, fish or water chemistry.

Chris, did you resume skimming on day four, as directed on packaging?

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[Chris A.]

I never shut off skimmer but took the cup off and just let it run with a piece of filter floss over it so it wouldn’t overspray everywhere. I didn’t put the cup back on at all

 

[Matt W]

I see you were also brave enough to add new acros during treatment. How has that gone?

 

[Chris A.]

No issues at all. The stuff is literally a anti fungus so it actually might help in certain cases lol
The algae killing is a side effect of it

 

[Matt W]

Good to hear. It is still probably best for me to wait until I reclaim some clean base rock back. Although there is nothing wrong with placing them on a frag rack... hmmm I really need a few acro colonies to fill out my scape.

 

[Chris A.]

The addiction is real lol

 

[Aros]

What kinda zoas are these? They’re pretty sweet. Let me know if you wanna frag a piece.


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[Matt W]

I wish I remembered where I got them from and what they are. I either got them from a WWC live sale or Dong. I will need to frag some soon; do I just scapel off a few polyps and pull off the rock?

 

[Aros]

They can be a little tricky. If you can pull out the rock and then very carefully get under a polyp with a razor you would be able to loosen a few more that are connected to it and then slice the connecting tissue between the polyps. If you can’t get it off the rock then it’s gonna be real tough to get under the polyp without damaging some.


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