I want to KILL everything GREEN in my tank

[Herrin811]

A few weeks past the cycle now, and got my first critters, but cant get rid of the algae yet.....My hermits and snails are makin a HUGE dent in the leftover diatom mess, but that green crap keeps hanging on.....I have hair algae, grape caulerpa, a smear of green slime, and removed one green bubble algae.....Had a little halimeda and I think a patch of bryopsis, but they died off.....The tank doesnt look like my back yard or anything, but I want to kill it before it does.....

Most of this stuff is on one side of the tank, and is and inch long or less....My last tests showed nitrAte at 3ppm, and phosphates were undetectable....My skimmer is filling up in about 5 days...Is that wet enough? I've cut my halides back to 5 hours per day, but my leds are on for another 7....Will the leds cause much photosynthesis? Been siphoning weekly with a 5g water change per siphon.....Even been plucking this junk.

Critter wise, it seems that sallys and emeralds are hit-or-miss. The tang police would string me up if I stuffed one in this 36g, and I dont much like blennies....SO......

Everything else looks good.....Water is clear, very little detritus collecting, sponges are starting and coralling is taking to the glass....So what havent I covered or what should I change to kill the aqua lawn????

[OneDummHikk]

Kill the phosphates. Phosphate testing is a hit or miss. It will only detect the free phosphates in the system, none that are bound. LED's won't contribute to photosynthesis unless you have the right light spectrum and a ton of them. They aren't hurting you.

What type filtration do you have on it? Is there a place you could try phosban (or similar) and potentially a UV sterilizer? The greatest benefit of the UV is that it unbinds phosphate (if set up properly). UV Light > Phosphate Reactor/removal > Skimming wet.

Good luck with it.

[luvmylo]

keep your rocks blown off. Even if you have a ton of flow, waste collects on your rocks in the little cravaces. I had this problem for a long time, (swill have a little) so I went and bought more hermits, cerith snails, a couple of emeralds and a pink brittle star. (not the spawn of satan green ones.)

[Herrin811]

Today was my weekly tank maintenance day, so this morning I pulled all of the rock out piece by piece and scrubbed each in a bucket of saltwater.....My nitrates held steady over the week at 3ppm, and phosphate was nearly undetectable again....It looks SSOOO much nicer in there now, but we'll see if this was a help to the system.....I was happy to find a bunch of colorful coralline hiding beneath the crap that was on the rock....I also hve a fresh new aquascape to look at....I hope though that I didnt end up causing a massive algae disaster by doing this....

[scoop]

Cleaning them off should help, you might want to not run the lights for so long if you haven't got any corals yet. That would help. Did you 'cook' the rock before you started, or did it go in to the tank right from your source? If you didn't cook it you might want to go ahead and do that w/ the problem rocks before you go any furthur. If they are already soaked w/ phosphate it will take a lot longer to get rid of it in the tank vs. cooking it in a rubbermaid container (or whatever).

[Herrin811]

No, I didnt cook it....First tank and all you know how impatience sets in ......Lesson learned for when I build a bigger one Did I mention I'm already planning the bigger one???????

[Herrin811]

Update....

After my last post (rock scrubbing) I let the tank do its normal thing for the week, and went on with my routine of a test/siphon/water change a week later. At that time I still had a little HA, either that I missed or regrowth?? Anyway, I COMPLETELY quit using the halides. I've used only led for the last 10 days or so, just so I can see in there.....So I guess Im basically cooking the rock in the display....So I did my weekly stuff this past Monday, and my parameters are WAY out of whack.....Ammonia was zero, but nitrIte was 2ppm and nitrAte was 50ppm+....Phosphate was 2ppm.....Critters "seem" healthy, the shrimp even molted last week....So what am I seeing here???? My skimmer is skimming, filling about 1/3 to 1/2 up over a week....Cant really say for sure due to evaporation....Stinky and chunky, not real dark.....Feeding the 3 fish flake and pellet food, just a pinch every other day.......

[gwaco]

may i ask where the rock is from ?
one of the tricks of the trade is to drag and pack the rock with clay or mud to get the rock to weight more , thus getting more money out of it . many times alot of it dilutes in the lfs holding tank so you don't see the deep packed stuff . try taking a powerhead and force water into the cracks and holes and see what comes out . i would do it in a seperate bucket with just r.o. water .
i just had to throw out a bunch of rock that gave me nothing but problems even though i thought i got most of the clay out . give that a shot first , as you may have a problem that is beyond your control .
also algae growth is a part of the cycle , so if its not growing out of control it may just take time for it to subside .

[gwaco]

by the way , while limiting the light source will cause it to subside , it will come back as soon as you start using the lights again .
if you plan on cooking the rock in your tank you will have to keep the lighting limited for quite some time . a few weeks or a month will not do you much good if you are already having problems this early in the start up .

[Herrin811]

I have dunked, swashed, rinsed and scrubbed the rock....Starting the day i got it, so 3 or 4 times now....What came off the rock was more sandy than muddy....During weekly maintenance, I siphon out the loose stuff, then using a koralia stir up whats left, then crank the skimmer for an hour or 2 while stuff is stirred up....After things settle I dial the skimmer back to its normal autopilot mode for the week....I got the rock from oceanpro aquatics....Seemed reputable and had good comments here....I dont have anything yet that needs heavy lighting, so the leds are sufficient for viewing, for now.....Certainly not going to risk more expensive or exotic stuff till all of this settles....I kinda feel like its re-cycling or something.....Could I have lost my good bacteria during that last scrubbing? The algae wasnt that bad yet, but every rock had at least some....I was hoping to get it under control and gone before it took over, but now Im wondering if I'e hurt more than Ive helped

[Vdituri]

What are you using for a freshwater source for topoffs and mixing saltwater?
Are you testing new saltwater before it goes into the tank?
I have read horror stories of some salt mixes being a source. And/or the freshwater. The tests on phosphates can be miss leading as the algaes (and you have alot of varieties) use most of it up and leave very little to register on the test kits.

The scrubbing was a great start. Many algae eaters can't handle hair algae when it gets longer. Too tough to eat.

Best of luck. It's a long road. Been there. Done that.