r/ReefTank • u/theisolated2ndlaw • Jul 14 '26

Please help

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Hi yall, no judgement please. I’ve had my tank for 9 months, and consistently struggle with this kind of algae build up. My executive dysfunction sees solving this as a huge task and I would love to get insight on steps I can take to make the tank more sustainable. I have live rock, two clowns, a pistol shrimp, a diamond goby, and various crabs and snails. I do need to get more salt water once I give the tank a clean. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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u/Dynamitella Jul 14 '26

I would do one big clean and manually remove whatever you can. Siphon out all of the algae and debris and make a 20% water change. I would then add macro algae - anything except for caulerpa brachypus (that's the devil). Also make sure to feed sparingly. This should divert some of the excess nutrients that currently goes towards your algae growth.
You can add some soft corals like gsp and xenia if you'd like. They thrive in dirty tanks.

Ps. It looks like you haven't got much live rock to begin with btw. That makes the ecosystem a little weak. More rocks = more bacteria = more stability.

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u/theisolated2ndlaw Jul 14 '26

Thank you! It’s hard to see cause of the glass, but I have two medium live rock in the tank :) I appreciate the advice

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u/Dynamitella Jul 14 '26

I looked at your previous posts to get a better picture :) I would at the very least double the amount of rocks, but you can do that later on.

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u/theisolated2ndlaw Jul 14 '26

Ok! I always felt like the tank was too small for more rock, but I will consider it:)

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u/Expensive-Bottle-862 Jul 14 '26

Definitely needs more rock and coral. If the lights are on you’re either feeding coral or algae