Green algae

[rockstarta78]

I could use some advice to bake this green stuff all over my rocks.

 

I am fairly new to the saltwater world but I'm not new to fish keeping as I have owned freshwater tanks before.

 

I setup this tank in December and the tank finished cycling in late January. Everything was fine until all of a sudden this green algae started showing up in March. This algae does not have the hair strain. This is almost like it's a layer of green paint (best way I can explain this).

 

Since my fishes are in QT right now, only livestock I have in this tank are 3-4 cerith snails, 3 Nassarius snails, and 2 hermit crabs.

 

I don't have a sump (big mistake on my part), I'm going to setup sump in a month or so. I have a HOB Aquaclear 70 filter (chemipure blue and roaphos wroth a sponge filter) and 2 powerheads to move water which is plenty for this 40b. And I don't have a skimmer yet.

 

I do a 10% water change every other week. My parameters are

 

pH - 8

Ammonia - 0ppm

Nitrite - 0ppm

NO3 - 10ppm (this is maybe little high)

 

I don't have a Phosphate Checker. But I am going the rowaphos would take care of the phosphate with almost noon existent livestock. I turned the lights off. Yet this green algae still won't go away.

 

Should I get some snails? Like banded trochus snail? What can I do to get rid of this green eye sore? Any help would be really appreciated.

 

 

 

Sorry for the poor cell phone pictures.

[rockstarta78]

Ok so looks like I was wrong on the ammonia. My ATI test kit now says,

.25ppm ammonia, which is weird because it was processing ammonia in less than 24 hours in March (haven't tested since then) plus I haven't fed the tank in weeks. Something is out of whack with this tank. Either the test kit is wrong or I can't figure out where the ammonia is coming from. So confusing.

[Origami]

The surface of your rock will go through changes as it ages. Color is just part of this. Your rock looks pretty new so let it age and develop. This algae layer is probably not uncommon and may indicate the presence of some phosphates in the rock or may just be a convenient bit of surface area where the algae is taking hold. You could certainly try "cooking" your rock (not literally, mind you) in the dark. Then, over a number of weeks the rock will develop a nice bacterial presence that will serve as a big part of your biological filtration. 

 

Did you do anything to seed the system with and to develop a strong bacteria presence? That is, did you cycle your tank while feeding the bacteria? Bacteria, ultimately, will be part of the ecology that you set up in the tank and will compete with the algae for nutrients, helping to hold it in check. Then, by adding grazers (snails, fish, etc.), can hold in check the algae that does manage to take hold.

[rockstarta78]

I read a lot about phosphate leeching. So I cooked my rocks in acid for a week. And when I started cycling I used dr. Tim's nitrifyng bacteria and dr. Tim's ammonia.

[khh27]

What kind of acid for a week?? Seams a bit long. A week in most acids would probably completely dissolve the rock.

 

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[khh27]

Also how much exterior light does the tank get. Like from a window?

 

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Edited April 8, 2016 by khh27

[rockstarta78]

I used muriatic acid. Used 2:1 water to acid ratio. So acid was very diluted.

 

Also there is a window to the left of the tank. It doesn't get that much outside light. Maybe about 4 -5 inches in the front corner gets any sun light. And I've even closed the blinds now so it doesn't get that much outside light.

[khh27]

All the beneficial bacteria could have died off since you have no livestock and stopped ghost feeding. I'm not sure the snails are enough load to keep the bacteria up.

 

I'm not sure but 2:1 seam pretty strong to leave rock in for a week.

 

But I would chase any #s on this as this isn't a very big nuisance algea and should go away. Just an eyesore.

 

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Edited April 8, 2016 by khh27

[Origami]

I used muriatic acid. Used 2:1 water to acid ratio. So acid was very diluted.

 

Also there is a window to the left of the tank. It doesn't get that much outside light. Maybe about 4 -5 inches in the front corner gets any sun light. And I've even closed the blinds now so it doesn't get that much outside light.

Standard muriatic acid that you buy at Lowes (from Crown Industries, 31.45% HCl or about 10 molar) at a 2:1 ratio would be incredibly strong at nearly 6.7 molar. I doubt that's what you used. If you did, it would have most likely dissolved your rock completely in very, very short order.

 

BTW, that stuff from Lowes is so strong that it fumes. That is, it gives off very harsh vapors. Be very careful when handling it.

[rockstarta78]

That's exactly what I used. I got it from HD. Huh! What did I do wrong? I guess I poured less than what I thought. It did break big chunks though.

 

So no cure for my green turf? Just ride it out?

[Origami]

Well, you chewed away a bit of rock. That's for sure. Honestly, the volume of acid used will determine how much of the calcium carbonate would have dissolved (by weight). It can't reduce an infinite amount of rock. So my last post was a bit of an overstatement.

 

Just doing the math, a gallon of 10.17 molar HCl (muriatic acid) will react to dissolve 1.925 kg (4.2 pounds) of calcium carbonate by the following equation:

 

CaCO3 + 2HCl ==> CaCl2 + H20 + CO2(g)

 

That is, it'll take 2 HCl molecules to tear down calcium carbonate (the primary component of aragonite) into soluble calcium chloride and water, while liberating CO2 gas.

 

So, if you used a gallon of the stuff, you dissolved 4.2 pounds. If you used 2 gallons, it was 8.4 pounds. Etc.

 

As far as the green stuff - and it really doesn't look like turf algae at this point - just a film algae of some sort from the pics - don't sweat it. Focus on getting building the ecology of your tank from the bottom up. Ghost feed it to develop bacteria. Add some live sand or something to seed the tank with worms, pods, inverts, etc. and let them develop for 4-8 weeks. Make sure that they have some cover so they can survive the introduction of other predators (fish and higher life forms). Then build from there. 

 

Here's the math, if interested:

 

20 Baume HCl is approximately 10.17 mol/liter at room temperature. There are 3.78541 liters per gallon, making the amount of HCl in a gallon bottle equal to 38.497 moles. Divide this in two (because the reacton above indicates 2 moles of HCl will react with 1 mole of calcium carbonate) and multiply by the molecular weight of calcium carbonate (approx. 100 grams per mole) and you get 1925 grams of calcium carbonate. Multiply this by 2.2 pounds per 1000 grams and you get 4.2 pounds.

[khh27]

^What he said^

 

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[rockstarta78]

Thank you so much. I think I used about a gallon or so of the acid. So I probably chewed through 3 to 4 lbs of rock.

 

I think it is some sort of green film algae as I don't see any hair strands. I have about 45lbs of aragonite special Grade live sand. I was going to add bio spira to accelerate bacteria bloom. Is that a bad idea?

 

Also, even though I don't have a sump yet, should I still get some pods and add it to the tank? Which pods should I get? I'm trying my best to keep warm out as I can't tell the difference which ones are good and which ones are bad. So I'm leaning towards pods.

 

Once again thank you so much for your help.

[Origami]

Keep in mind that the kind of bacteria that you're trying to develop need to feed, OK? So you'll need to provide some sort of food to the tank. Whether you're adding flake food or small, measured amounts of ammonia, you need to feed the tank. Using a bacteria-in-a-bottle solution doesn't remove this requirement. Whether or not you use a bacteria-in-a-bottle solution, you'll grow bacteria. They're everywhere. All you need to do is to provide the suitable environment.

 

As for pods and other critters, go visit Marine Scene in Reston. (I see that you're in Sterling.) See if they have some "grunge" or some of the stuff that sits at the bottom of live rock tanks. What you're looking for is stuff that is teaming with small organisms, pods, worms, tiny shimps, etc. Acclimate the material just as you would with any other invertebrate and seed your tank with it. Then, just sit back, be patient and let the tank settle in. Without pressure from predators (and as long as you're feeding the tank), the pod population should explode over time. Add a few snails (no crabs at this point as they're predatory) and wait. Then you can begin to add fish and stuff. (These will begin to pick off the pods but, as long as you have a healthy population to start with and enough cover for them to hide, you should have a decent breeding population that has a chance of being sustained.)

[rtelles]

You could always pick up a bottle of tisbe pods as well. They're incredibly small and you can barely see them, but they'll propagate on the rocks and in the sand if you seed them in the tank and there aren't any predators. The same goes for amphipods and other small inverts. Don't go for tigger pods, they can't live comfortably in reef temps and will die out (learned that one the hard way). Agreed that you should try to find some grunge from an aquarium shop, and since you won't be adding any fish for a while, you won't need to stress about introducing parasites or any of that mess.

 

As for the algae, you're going to have some terrible eyesores as the tank develops and matures (nasty looking diatom outbreaks, hair algae, other nastiness), and you'll be tempted to do stuff to pretty it up (getting large clean up crews early, etc), but fight the urge. So long as you're feeding the bacteria and doing water changes, it'll move through the ugly sooner than you think.

[rockstarta78]

Ok. I was going to go to Marine scene today anyway. I'll see what they can give me to get summer pods going in the tank.

[rockstarta78]

Keep in mind that the kind of bacteria that you're trying to develop need to feed, OK? So you'll need to provide some sort of food to the tank. Whether you're adding flake food or small, measured amounts of ammonia, you need to feed the tank. Using a bacteria-in-a-bottle solution doesn't remove this requirement. Whether or not you use a bacteria-in-a-bottle solution, you'll grow bacteria. They're everywhere. All you need to do is to provide the suitable environment.

 

As for pods and other critters, go visit Marine Scene in Reston. (I see that you're in Sterling.) See if they have some "grunge" or some of the stuff that sits at the bottom of live rock tanks. What you're looking for is stuff that is teaming with small organisms, pods, worms, tiny shimps, etc. Acclimate the material just as you would with any other invertebrate and seed your tank with it. Then, just sit back, be patient and let the tank settle in. Without pressure from predators (and as long as you're feeding the tank), the pod population should explode over time. Add a few snails (no crabs at this point as they're predatory) and wait. Then you can begin to add fish and stuff. (These will begin to pick off the pods but, as long as you have a healthy population to start with and enough cover for them to hide, you should have a decent breeding population that has a chance of being sustained.)

Marine scene just siphoned all their gunk just this week. So I went and got some Tisbe pods. Now I guess I'll sit and wait.

[LoCoReefer]

There is nothing wrong with having that alage. Your rock is just new. My tank is fairly new and it went through the same process and eventually turned to a nice gold brown color which I could tell my rock was becoming live! Just stay on top of your water changes and use a phosphate controller.

 

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