Red and Brown Algae in the Sump and tank

[sheac12]

Hi all,

 

I am having a brown and red algae problems in my system right now.

 

Main Tank:

The tank has been running since November. I have 90lbs of rock, fully cured, all taken from established tanks. I have two T5HO lights 48" (1x 10K 1x actinic) that have a cycle of 9 on/15 off, the bulbs could be old i bought them used. The lights sit 6 inches from the surface. I have two maxi-jet 1200's with the sureflow mod, and a third maxi-jet 1200 without the mod. I have 2" base sand in the main tank.

Sump:

The sump has a Octopus 150 modified with the plans from reef central. The sump is divided into three parts. The first is the drain with a filter sock, the skimmer and the pump feeding the refugium. The second is the return pump(Mag 7). The third is a refugium with 4" sand bed and some cheato. The refugium is on the same lighting cycle as the main tank and is lighted using a 15W compact florescent light bulb, 6.7K, ten inches from the surface of the refugium.

Live stock:

Currently I have two fish, a 5" Picasso triggerfish and a 3" Juv. Emperor angel, a chocolate chip star fish and fewer and fewer snails and crabs.

Feeding:

I feed them two-three times a day, for 2 minutes, and the angel and the picasso eat all the food presented.

Water Source:

RO/DI unit.

Service schedule:

I do 20% water changes every two weeks. Daily top off using ro/di, approx. 1 gallon of water. Run the skimmer full time.

Current Parameters:

78F

Nirites - 0 ppm

PH - 7.8(dont know why it is so low right now.

Nirates - 40 ppm ( i know it is high)

Ammonia - .25 ppm (again high and dont know why)

Salt Type

Instant Ocean

 

 

I can not figure out why this is happening. The brown algae will grow all over the display tank's glass if I dont do daily glass cleanings. The red algae and the brown algae are all over in the refugium and on the cheato itself. I can not figure out why the PH is so low, I am using a buffering type of substrate and when I test the new made water it is buffered to a PH of 8.2 with 0 nitrates.

 

Can someone help me out?

 

Thanks.

[Brian Ward]

Hi all,

 

I am having a brown and red algae problems in my system right now.

 

Main Tank:

The tank has been running since November. I have 90lbs of rock, fully cured, all taken from established tanks. I have two T5HO lights 48" (1x 10K 1x actinic) that have a cycle of 9 on/15 off, the bulbs could be old i bought them used. The lights sit 6 inches from the surface. I have two maxi-jet 1200's with the sureflow mod, and a third maxi-jet 1200 without the mod. I have 2" base sand in the main tank.

Sump:

The sump has a Octopus 150 modified with the plans from reef central. The sump is divided into three parts. The first is the drain with a filter sock, the skimmer and the pump feeding the refugium. The second is the return pump(Mag 7). The third is a refugium with 4" sand bed and some cheato. The refugium is on the same lighting cycle as the main tank and is lighted using a 15W compact florescent light bulb, 6.7K, ten inches from the surface of the refugium.

Live stock:

Currently I have two fish, a 5" Picasso triggerfish and a 3" Juv. Emperor angel, a chocolate chip star fish and fewer and fewer snails and crabs.

Feeding:

I feed them two-three times a day, for 2 minutes, and the angel and the picasso eat all the food presented.

Water Source:

RO/DI unit.

Service schedule:

I do 20% water changes every two weeks. Daily top off using ro/di, approx. 1 gallon of water. Run the skimmer full time.

Current Parameters:

78F

Nirites - 0 ppm

PH - 7.8(dont know why it is so low right now.

Nirates - 40 ppm ( i know it is high)

Ammonia - .25 ppm (again high and dont know why)

Salt Type

Instant Ocean

 

 

I can not figure out why this is happening. The brown algae will grow all over the display tank's glass if I dont do daily glass cleanings. The red algae and the brown algae are all over in the refugium and on the cheato itself. I can not figure out why the PH is so low, I am using a buffering type of substrate and when I test the new made water it is buffered to a PH of 8.2 with 0 nitrates.

 

Can someone help me out?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

Since you have inverts I'm assuming your salinity is ~1.026? What is a buffering type of substrate? Last time I heard that they were referring to crushed coral. If you have crushed coral or a very large grain substrate - something you wouldn't refer to as sand - then that will trap the detritus which breaks down into nitrates and those will be perpetually high. The diatoms and red algae (most likely cyano) are probably due to the high nitrates. The nitrate ion is negatively charged so that's probably resulting in your low pH as well. So I think if you solve the nitrate mystery you'll fix the other problems. The ammonia is very bad - your angelfish is especially sensitive to ammonia and even more so to nitrites. Nitrites are the first step between ammonia and nitrates so be sure to monitor closely.

 

Change your mechanical filters often - rinse sponges, change filter socks, change filter floss. Whatever you're using for this, I'd rise the sponges daily and change the filter socks/floss twice a week until you get the nitrates under control. Look for any place that detritus can be settling to decompose - you have to get that out of the tank before it decomposes to nitrates. If you don't have a DSB in your fuge, consider building one - this will house the anaerobic bacteria that will break the nitrates into nitrogen and oxygen.

 

That's about all I got based on what you've said. Good luck.

 

EDIT: Check your DI Resin - even if the TDS is reading 0 the DI resin could be passing bad chemicals. If it's color changing then it's easy, if not then try to think about how much water you've produced since the last change and look at the documentation. Might not hurt to just change it anyway.

Edited May 6, 2008 by Brian Ward

[sheac12]

Since you have inverts I'm assuming your salinity is ~1.026?

Answer:

No, actually I keep it at 1.021 . I didnt know I should keep it that high.....

 

What is a buffering type of substrate?

Answer:

CaribSea Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand ~80lbs

1.25

[Highland Reefer]

You may want to try cutting back on feeding your fish to once per day and see how that impacts your nitrate and ammonia levels. I would also do weekly water changes until you get the levels down. There is always the possiblility that your ammonia test kit is faulty. What are your Kh levels running at?

Edited May 6, 2008 by Highland Reefer

[sheac12]

You may want to try cutting back on feeding your fish to once per day and see how that impacts your nitrate and ammonia levels. I would also do weekly water changes until you get the levels down. There is always the possibility that your ammonia test kit is faulty. What are your Kh levels running at?

 

I have thought about cutting back the feeding, but I am worried about starving the Angel.

 

Ah KH levels? As in carbonate hardness? Yeah, never tested for that...

 

I have two ammonia tests, but report the same value.

[rioreef]

What is your house temperatures. Spring time can have large temp swing in a house/apt since the hvac can be turned off. This can affect the tank to.

[st9z]

try shutting the lights for 2-3 days and then do a 10-15% water change, also on the first day of lights on use only the actinic, on the second day resume with your normal lighting schedule.

[sheac12]

try shutting the lights for 2-3 days and then do a 10-15% water change, also on the first day of lights on use only the actinic, on the second day resume with your normal lighting schedule.

 

What is the idea behind the lights off for 2-3 days? That wouldnt be long enough to kill any of the bacteria would it?

 

 

 

 

What is your house temperatures. Spring time can have large temp swing in a house/apt since the hvac can be turned off. This can affect the tank to.

 

 

Temps in the house are pretty stable...70-72F

[wreck]

Test your Alkalinity, try to get your Ph at least over 8.0, ideally 8.3-8.5. You might consider dripping Kalkwasser, I was constantly fighting algae before I started using it, it will help bump up your Ph just be sure to do it slowly. If your sump/fuge is barebottom, try to siphon out as much of the detritus as you can when you do water changes. I think once a day feeding should be plenty, most fish are opportunistic feeders, show them food and they will eat it, doesn't mean they are hungry. Good luck.

[Brian Ward]

Sand bed sounds fine. Don't worry about that. When you do water changes you should be siphoning up all the detritus you can - from in the tank and in the sump. To have a true DSB you usually want 6-8" - I know there's a ton of debate over how much is really necessary, so just read up on DSB. I would add sand in your fuge to go up a few more inches. The sand is probably fine - no need to sterilize or do anything to it. The idea behind cutting the lights for a few days is to kill the algae - this doesn't harm the bacteria - You can go to this once you have the nitrates under control. Nitrates are likely the root cause, algae is a symptom. For your DI unit, replace the DI bed. The RO filter usually only needs to be replaced every 2-3 yrs but does require occasional flushing. I believe sediment filters need to be replaced more often. Check the user's manual, it should discuss maintenance periods. You can cut the feeding if you want but it sounds like you're feeding very minimally as it is so I wouldn't worry about it - just be sure to scoop out all uneaten food after 2-3 mins and siphon all the detritus when you do water changes.

 

Most likely the root cause of this is a complete lack of physical filtration - that caused a buildup of detritus which is now spiking your nitrates. Once you get it under control, have good physical filtration in place, and do many water changes things should get back to normal.