My first algae bloom need advice

Hi, ive had Fowl tanks for about 2 years now. I just started my first reef tank about 3 months ago and need some advice. about 3 weeks ago my first algae appeared it was brown and stuck to the rock this is when I first started using my pc lights. recently my tank has exploded with brown algae all over the rocks. I waited 2 weeks and heres where im at. About 70-80% of the brown has now turned to green hairy algae its about a cm long. I belive the algae is so bad because I introduced freeze dryed brine 1 time because im trying to get my scooter blenny to eat. The LFS said they were good for eating algae. I did reasearch only to find they eat pods and thats about it. I purchased tigger pods about 3 days ago and he loves them the problem is I dont see anymore do you think he ate them all?. I have one piece of purple live rock to seed the tank. My main question is should I scrape off all the algae so the corraline covered rock can spread or just get a few turbos? (sorry the post is so long I wanted to give full details)

20 gallon long
BH-100f skimmer
130 Watts PC - Dual Daylight 6,700°K/10,000°K and Dual Actinic 420 nanometer and 460 nanometer
Nitrate-0
Nitrite-0
Ammonia-0
Calcium- 300 (just tested it has been around 380)
KH-8DKH
Additives- Fiji Gold, Kent Marine- super buffer dKH

 

Wow did you LFS deceive you. You are right they eat mainly pods and will usually be hard to keep in such a young tank (usually). I currently have one that taught its self to eat frozen foods. It most likely did eat them all. Try making a small pile of live rock rubble and putting fresh pods in there. This will give them a spot to hide and multiply. As far as the algae goes I would invest in a good clean up crew consisting of several types of snails and crabs. They should devour that algae in short order.

 

I agree get a clean up crew asap. Also one thing i do is even if the LFS suggest something, i dont buy until i research it my self. Dont make an impluse buy not knowing the full extant of care that the animal will need.

 

Also i would not use any additives unless you are able to test for it.

 

Thanks for the replys and advice. I have 5 blue legged hermits, how many more crabs do you recomend for 20 gallons. Will turbos eat algae when its that long or do you recomend something else?

 

id get 5-7 more

 

hair algae needs 2 things to grow and 2 things only(with the exception of saltwater) phosphates and light. If it doesn't have either one of these, it will NOT grow period. This is an easy fix and people make it out to be way harder than it is. It takes a while but it's very easy. Back off on your feeding, and set your skimmer on "kill". You will have to keep a close eye on your salinity while you are skimming heavy but it is very effective.

 

I’ll add on to Daniel’s thought since I agree with his philosophy – need to resolve the nutrients fueling the Hair Algae.

Hair Algae factors are Nitrates, Phosphates and lighting. When testing your water you may see these are in check, probably due to the consumption rates mimicking that of the production rate. Consider ripping as much of the hair out as possible – I suspect you will then see the test results begin to climb.

You should be using RO yet preferable RO/DI. I would recommend taking action towards reducing both phosphates and nitrates now. Water changes, nitrate/phosphate sponge, etc. Consider your lighting age and correct where necessary. Also scale back on the feeding of the tank and clean up all detritus that you can.

Mexican Turbo’s will eat Hair Algae – but I suggest a complete clean up crew.

It might also help us to understand when and what you have placed in the 3 month old system.

 

if the hair algae is that bad you could consider getting a small sea hare.. they devour that stuff. you'd probably have to return it once your hair algae is gone because it would starve

 

Turn your lights off for 2 days