algae woes

nickg · 08-28-2001, 06:57 PM

hello people, this is my first post and I'm a terrible speller. i've got a 55 gallon reef tank going. it's been running for about 2 months. all life is doing well, however about once a week i get a reddish brown algae bloom on my substrate. it go's away (not quite fully) but then comes back. i use ro water i purchase from the store. in case yor wondering what i got in there...
...two species of frogspawn coral, xenia coral, sun coral, a few mushrooms, button polyps, sun polyps, feather duster, about 30 hermits, about 20 snails, clown fish, 3 cardnals, and about 30 lbs of live rock. Any suggestions would be helpful. thanx

Drew · 08-28-2001, 07:59 PM

Hi Nick, Welcome to TRT!!!

Your "algae" sounds like cyanobacteria. I had this for a while when my tank was still new. All you can do is syphon it out, and do water changes. It is normal to have things like this in a new tank, it will eventually go away. One thing I want to know is what kind of cardinals you have? If they are Banggai then you could have some trouble with a trio. HTH

Andrew

nickg · 08-28-2001, 09:38 PM

thanx for the reply,
i'm not sur what kind of cards they are, there yellow, with red dots on the rear, with a white highlight on top. Also I have silica sand, about 6 inches for substrate, is it ok to vacum, even though i lose sand?

Drew · 08-28-2001, 09:56 PM

OK those sound like Pijama cards, I am not sure but I think you will be ok with them.
When you siphon, don't siphon up any sand, you want to leave the sand alone, don't even touch it. Just get the algae up, find the point to have the hose above the sand which will suck up the cyano but not the sand. HTH

Drew

nickg · 08-28-2001, 10:12 PM

i'll try that tommorow, i have a good amont of leafy macroalgae growing from the lr. it doesn,t bother me but what are your thoughts on adding a yellow tang to munch on it. does anyone scrape the purple coraline algae off the glass? mine is getting all over.

p.s. this is a wonderful way to spend time. I've learned so much in the past two months, I can't stop staring at the darn thing.

Drew · 08-28-2001, 10:33 PM

A yellow tang would help control algae, but you may want to wait for your tank to mature a little more.
And yes, most people scrape the corallin off the glass, it tends to impede viewing

I love this hobby, its great. Oh well, I won't be making my morning "rounds" tomorrow. See everybody later.

And good luck with your tank Nick!

Andrew