Nemesis84 February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 Ok. I just can't get ahead of this and I'm almost ready to throw in the towel. Picture shows the problem. We scrubbed the rocks on Sunday. I test for alk, calcium, and magnesium. All within parameters. New T5 bulbs, on for 7 hrs a day. Running GFO for about a month. Running UV. Have a refugium with lots of chaeto. Use quality food to feed two ocellaris clowns sparingly. Dose with B-Ionic daily. What am i missing? I see so many tanks without a single bit of algae on the rocks. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemesis84 February 13, 2013 Author Share February 13, 2013 Sorry - here is the picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy G February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 How long has the tank been going for? Do you have coral? What does your water change rhythm look like? What are your Phosphates at? What is the watts of the t5 and how many and what bulbs? Most corals get enough light from about 4 hours (correct me if im wrong) maybe lower the time the lights are on. How long have you been using the T5s you have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Rhoads February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 What source are you using for top off & salt water? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamal February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 you said you run gfo, what are your test kits saying the po4 level is? what are your nitrate levels? these two parameters almost always explain algae outbreaks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 What you need to be testing for is Nitrate and Phosphate. What are those levels? Also how old if the tank and what do you have in it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamal February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 i would say a day here and there with no light willl help in addition to other strategies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 if it is an established tank, i would look into changing the gfo, either brand or amount used, or look into a algae scrubber. algae scrubbers seems to work a lot better than chaeto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 clean up crew members and algae eaters? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mling February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 You could try a Sea Hare. I will eat algae. I was at BRK and they had some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaddc February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 Step 1: stop adding nutrients into the tank. Feed fish even less than you do now. Until you get the growth under control consider feeding them every other day. I think we all tend to over feed. It's not a problem...until you have algae covering everything. Step 2: starve the algae. Lights can be turned off for a few days. Maybe two days off, one day on. Algae are more sensitive to lack of PAR because they grow so fast and are opportunistic. Step 3: remove nutrients. Like jimmy said change gfo and consider an algae scrubber which moves the algae from your DT to a screen that is easy to scrub. Keep scrubbing rock. If it comes back, scrub it again. Keep pulling the weed until it stops coming back. Double your frequency of water changes. Getting rid of an outbreak takes effort and patience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemesis84 February 13, 2013 Author Share February 13, 2013 T5s bought in Nov. 4 x 39W. PO4 - .024 PPM. RODI water (0 tds). 45 gal tank, about 10 gal in sump, 3 gal water change per week. Nitrate 0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemesis84 February 13, 2013 Author Share February 13, 2013 Tank about a year old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemesis84 February 13, 2013 Author Share February 13, 2013 Some SPS and LPS. They are doing fine. Zoas not doing too well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemesis84 February 13, 2013 Author Share February 13, 2013 3 emerald crabs and a few snails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 Can you get a better picture of the algae? It looks to be diatoms to me, but can't say for certain. Identifying the type of algae will help in determining a solution. If they are in fact diatoms, I would simply vacuum them out and eventually they'll starve themselves out of a home. As far as the lights, what type of ballast are you using? If the bulbs aren't burning properly it can result in insufficient light that promotes the growth of nuisance algae. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epleeds February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 One thing i would do is start doing is change out 50% of your water. then start doing 10 gallon water changes weekly. While your doing the water change suck all the stuff off the rocks. also what kind of rocks are they? were they dry rock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridetheducati February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 Looks like dinos and possibly cyano. No need to test the tank for phosphates and nitrates when the algae is so pervasive. The algae is locking the nutrients and manual removal is required. Also, start testing the phosphate levels of the GFO effluent. If it reads above .03 ppm change the GFO. Be advised that you may need to change GFO on a weekly basis in order to get the tank back in balance. How long has this algae been in the tank? What is the makeup of your CUC? Dinos are toxic, so determine whether your snails are dying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridetheducati February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 Also, consider evaluating your husbandry and equipment to determine where improvements can be made. Keep in mind, the goal is to export more than you import. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integral9 February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 If you haven't in a while, might be a good time to check the back corners of your sump and vacuum out any detritus that's built up. Also, check your media reactor for detritus build up inside on the screen. Also, if you are not using a filter sock, I would recommend it. It will trap the algae filaments that break loose and help you remove it. A bit non-conventional of a method that I have used before, is to scrub the rocks in the tank with the pump's off. Then take a brine shrimp net and just move it through the water column catching all the free floating algae. Eventually the algae will sink to the bottom, but a quick burst of the pumps will bring it back up. If you have pumps that won't clog easily with some algae, then you can also just hold the net in front of the powerhead and let the pump do all the work. Of course, if the rocks are easily removed from the tank, you could just scrub them in a bucket of tank water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Rhoads February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 I really wish this forum had a "Like" button. I agree with much of what has been said to this point. I really like ridetheducati's take. I think you have some dinos there. Are you seeing long strands which produce bubbles and break away easily when disturbed (probably brown/rust in color)? Do you use Kalkwasser in your top off water? What is your Alk/PH at? I find that using kalk in my top off water helps a lot in controlling nuisance algae. See this if you have not read it already: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basser9 February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 You need at least 50 cleaners in your tank now you need a 100...... Put a 100 assorted cleaners and just vacuum your rocks off and it will go away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 Syphon the sandbed. Give the skimmer a good cleaning, it may not be performing optimally. I'd change your water changes to something like 10g every other week. Double check your RODI filters...if set up for a year and you haven't changed the filters now would be a good time to do it. Is your TDS measurement before membrane or after membrane? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Rhoads February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 You need at least 50 cleaners in your tank now you need a 100...... Put a 100 assorted cleaners and just vacuum your rocks off and it will go away. And then all your CuC will starve to death. Please consider that you should scale your CuC gradually and take into consideration their needs post-outbreak. I only have 3 hermits and 3 turbo snails in my 90g currently (plus an Algae Blenny and a Yellow Tang). I have very little unwanted algae growth and I don't use RO/DI water. I will be adding more once I move, but not because the algae is so bad; I just like having hermits and am prepared to feed them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami February 13, 2013 Share February 13, 2013 Looks to me like a nasty case of filamentous hair algae, with possibly cyano and / or dinos in the mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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