Uncontrollable Algae Growth

[Guest hk132]

The level of algae growth in my aquarium has increased at an uncontrollable rate during the past month.  This growth increase began after I got a new light -- I went from 40 watts to 90 watts in my 30 gallon aquarium.

 

There are two types of problematic algae.  The top of the tank is getting a slime layer.  I haven't found any good way to get rid of this since the intakes for my filters are all below the water line.

 

The second type of algae is quickly spreading along the sand on the bottom of the tank.  It quickly increases its surface area, but if touched it behaves much like a very fine spider web -- it has so little mass and its spread quite thin.  I've got two pictures of this growth available here:

 

 o Picture 1

 o Picture 2

 

In an attempt to curb the growth of this I've purchased many turbo snails and a red foot snail, neither of which have touched the algae on the ground (and obviously haven't touched the surface scum).  I've also decreased the number of hours that my light is on -- its currently on from about 11am until about 9pm, though there is some daylight reaching the tank prior to 11am.

 

My questions:

 

 o Does anyone know what either of these two algae might be called?

 

 o Does anyone have specific knowledge of why they may be growing (is my light theory correct)?

 

 o Does anyone know of a good way to rid my system of these?  Will adding the anti-algae chemicals do much good?

[Guest Kimo]

I could not contact the server where your pictures are loaded.

 

It would be good for you to get some sort of surface skimmer for your tank, it would solve a lot of problems.

 

Also, if you could post your tank specs (size, lights, filtration, if you have a sump (probably not), what animals you keep, how much you feed, what additives you use, etc.) it would be helpful to get to the bottom of the problem.

 

Do you use RO/DI water for all top-off?

 

Hope to help,

 

Jamie

[Guest Kimo]

Oh, I just got the pic to load - That's a nano, eh?

 

Looks pretty new too.  The man to talk to about nanos around here is JohnC.

 

How old is the tank?

 

Jamie

[Guest hk132]

The tank is a 30 gallon with canister filter (no sump) + protein skimmer (neither of which get water from the surface).  There are no additives in the tank.

 

The tank is about 4-6 months old.

 

I feed various kinds of frozen brine shrimp, and I tend to error for too little food rather then overfeeding.

 

I've got one Pajama Cardinalfish, two false percula, one goby watchman, one hermit crab, and five turbo snails.

 

Any recommendation on a surface skimmer that might work with this size tank?  Would I want to get/construct some sort of an overflow box and use water that enters that to send to my filter?

[ReefMon]

The top of the tank is getting a slime layer.

 

Point a powerhead at the surface to break up the scum.  It also insures proper O2 levels in the system.

 

Second option is an overflow box, then you can run a sump to increase your water volume, place heater and skimmer.

 

The second type of algae is quickly spreading along the sand on the bottom of the tank.

 

That looks like cyano bacteria, generally due to high nutrient levels.

 

What are you using for your fresh water supply?

What skimmer are you running?

What media are you running in the canister filter?

Have you tested for PO4 & NO3? (what test kits?)

What is your specific gravity? (what method of testing?)

What type of lighting & how old are the bulbs?

 

Additional flow will help with reducing the cyano, an additional powerhead placed lower in the system to keep a good amount of current flowing over the sand bed.

 

Will adding the anti-algae chemicals do much good?

In a word, no.  You need to find where the excess nutrients are coming from, to eliminate it.

 

Hope this helps!

Glenn R

[Guest greatwit]

consider getting a hob filter to help break the surface tension,

plus it doubles as a good place to place top off/kalk water

 

canister filter may be acting as a nutrient trap and cause excess nitrates to build up in your tank

[michaelg]

I agree with all that has been suggested.  A powerhead will do wonders for the surface scum.  I like to point the high at the glass 90 degress to where it is mounted.  Gives a good bounce this way.  What kind of lighting did you increase to and what spectrum/color are the bulbs.  While the tank is still young relatively speaking, I suspect the algae bloom is just starting- normal process for new tanks.  It was probably delayed due to low light levels prior to the upgrade.The canister filter- unless you are religous about cleaning out the floss stuff, will serve as a nutrient trap.  It is a good place to run carbon though.  Next time you buy frozen food- pick up formula 1 and 2 and use that for the fish.  It is far more nutritous than just brine shrimp.  Make up water could be a huge issue.  $90-100 for an RO/DI water filter is the best money that can be spent on a tank, IMO- even more so than a high end skimmer.  I'd also recommend using kalkwasser for the makeup.  It will help precipitate phosphates.  The algae doesn't look that bad to be honest- but all that has been mentioned should be dealt with to avoid problems down the road.  BTW- is that a 30 gallon cube tank?  I saw one today at petsmart while buying dogfood- it is a sweet sized tank.

Seriously tempted to get one to switch over my  10 gallon nano- but I think my wife would castrate me.

Michael

[Aquariareview]

4 part attack for your problem

 

1st: On a tank that size you could get by with just a Hang On back skimmer and some powerheads. But you need to lose the canister. Unless you clean it every day it will cause algae.Use a skimmer like the seaclone 100. I have one on my Nano and it work better than the skilter or the prizm.

 

2nd: Try a phos remover like Polyfilter. It not only grabs the phos from the water it also strips a lot of the metals out the help the algae to grow.

 

3rd: Stop all flake food, high in ash and phosphates.

 

4th: Water changes. if you have a ro/di filter do a continous water change routine. 1-2 gal a day. If you dont have one try this. Warning upcoming product plug

Petco sells real Pacific ocean water (filtered) in a 5 gal box for about $9.

If you can afford it, it is unreal how good it makes a tank look. I have been using it in my nano (I change 1 gal mon and thur every week) for the 4 months it has been up. The results are incredible. all of the microlife on the live rocks came alive and the tanks cycled in 4 days.

 

In my experience those 4 Actions will almost always work to retard and reverse algae.

 

To prevent future outbreak add sand stirring critters. the black cukumber, or some good sand moving snails will help keep down the problems by cleaning up the waste on the bottom of the tank.

[AquariaUSA]

Get yourself a wooden dowel to stir the substrate occasionally. With the amount of detritus and cyanin buildup on the substrate I would regularly siphon it out to keep it under control. Sand sifting critters are nice in a larger system, but in small tanks they can starve. I did see a goby, and it should do some of the work. Keep nutrient input down, RO/DI is a very, very good investment. Also be sure to test your Calcium (Ca++) and Alkalinity (KH) regularly. Salifert kits work very well in this regard. Keeping levels around 400-450PPM Ca++ and 10-12 dKH Alkalinity help systems to avoid massive outbreaks of slime algaes/cyanos.

[Guest hk132]

I setup a powerhead to point at the surface as recommended and that did wonders for that problem.  Though the surface isn't completely clean, the film no longer exists and the bad smell is nearly gone.

 

I glanced around at materials for removing the phosphates and saw a ton of options (I was looking online at marinedepot.com).  What do you guys have experience with and what works well?

 

I assume I'd want to throw whatever phosphate remover I purchase into a bag and place it into my canister filter.  The canister filter currently has carbon and then some things to catch debris.  If I remove the foamlike debris catching media would that reduce the "nutrient-trap-ness" of the filter?

[AquariaUSA]

If you are going to go the chemical route on trying to remove phosphate.... TLFs Phosban or Rowaphos should do the trick. Liquid Life has a new product, but have not used it. I know there will be Phosban at the CMAS seminar in April