Combating blue/green algae

[supersmile]

I have had an outbreak of this algae on my sand. Are there any recommendations on how to get rid of it? I have heard to stay away from any chemicals. I am open to suggestions.

[Myka]

Blue Green algae is cyanobacteria, and not an algae at all, but is caused by many of the same things real algaes are, and controlled by many of the same methods. Check out the link in my signature about nuisance algaes.

[my2rotties]

Myka that is an awesome article on hair algae! I have read it and followed it many times when I battled diatoms, and the hair algae. I already had the RO, but added the UV and phosban reactor and I am never looking back. I have cheato in my fuge but it is not much, but it was all I could get at the time.

I brush cut the hair algae, which took me hours on my rock wall at the back as well and it never came back too strong, it just turned brown. I also replaced all twelve bulbs which made a huge difference with everything.

Until I read your article I could not understand why my phosphates always tested at zero, but then what you said made sense out of everything. I really thought I was curses but now the tank has been offically running for five weeks and I am starting to see coraline on my rocks along with millions of tiny feather dusters. It is coming together!

I am still reading your articles on calcium, ALK and magnisium, and am getting a better understanding of everything. I bought really good test kits, but they are not idiot proof at times. I also obtained all the dow flakes and items to make my three stage mixes to keep my levels correct. My corals are great and it gets easier everyday to understand these important things.

Thanks for the time you took to make it easier for the rest of us.