Can scraping a large amount off algae off the glass hurt your aquarium?

I know this seems like a weird question but.... I have suddenly been struggling with hair algae and I think I figurd out the issue (I wasn't properly cleaning my skimmer cup and the bubbles were popping early and going back into the tank). Anyway, once I figured it out I spent several hours scraping gha off the back glass (a lot of it) and used a tooth brush inside the aquarium to try to brush off some of the rocks. I also scraped a bunch of small hard while spots off the back glass, it kind of seemed like hard white coralline algae. Anyway, the next day, my anenome was very shriveled ( it has since opened back up) and my large gree tree leather closed up and now appears to have some slime on it. Could the scraping have caused this and will it get better on its own. Sorry for the long post.

 

Need to figure out the reason for the algae out break.

Old bulbs, old resins, using something other than RO/DI water, feeding foods high in phosphates, feeding too much, nitrate and phosphate level.

I do not think the skimmer is the issue. Tanks without skimmers, when properly maintained do not have such dramatic algae outbreaks.

Need parameters to verify, if you have detectable ammonia and nitrites then yes you might have disturbed the tank too much. Also need the big 3 Ca/alk/mag.

 

I just tested tonight... Ph 8, calcium 480, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, phosphate 0, alk 9, salinity 1.026 don't have a mg test. I use Rodi water, tests at 0 tds. I am quite stumped. The tank is about 7 months old and has been doing great and the ha has exploded over last month

 

Also I am using led lights

 

Any big changes are not good. If you have a lot of scraping to do, it should be done over the course of days, not all at once. I vacuum it out right away if there a bunch.

Also, its very common to mistake bryopsis for hair algae, they can look very similar. Its important to know exactly what you're dealing with.

 

I am stumped as well.

Did you actually move rocks? Could you have released hydrogen sulfide?

 

I didnt move any rocks, but I'm not quite sure what the hard white stuff on the glass was....i'm thinking maybe it irritated the corals? I'm also quite stumped about the hair algae and what could be feeding it.

I don't think it is bryopsis, but I guess that is a possibility. If so, how do you deal with that?

 

the hard white stuff could be dead coraline algae that the green algae grew over.

Actual hair algae is very easy to get rid of. If you are taking reasonable action, and the algae is still growing like nuts, there is a good chance its bryopsis. The only way to get rid of it is to slowly raise your magnesium to 1800 or so, using Kent Tech M.

 

Can inadequate flow cause HA? It's a 125 gallon tank and I currently have 2 koralia 1050's on it. I am wondering if maybe this isn't enough flow and maybe I have dead spots I am unaware of? I was thinking of adding 2 koralia 750's to the tank. Would this be agood idea? The corals have opened back up but the algae continues to grow. It really just looks like hair algae to me as it doesn't have a fern like look to it, but I am stumped as to how to get rid of it. I have been doing 20% water changes weekly, scraping the rocks and even went lights out for 3 days....

 

do you have a sand bed