Green Algae

[fattrainman]

We have a lot of green algae in our tank. Is there anything that will eat it or is there something I can put in the tank that will destroy it with out hurting my fish, shrimp, or star fish? We are new at this and could really use some good advice. It's a 75 gal. saltwater tank. We've had fish in it for 3 months.
Thank you in advance.
Donnie and Marie

[YLChik]

Do you have any snails?

[crvz]

Welcome aboard!!

Green algae, most likely green hair algae, is definitely irritating. Unfortunately, there arent any magic fixes, but it's definitely something you can overcome. The best bet for long term removal is to determine what is causing/fueling it's growth, and there are many variables. Can you provide some of more details?

-What kind of lighting are you using, how old are the bulbs, and how long is the photoperiod?
-What do you feed, how often?
-What type of filtration do you use (any skimmers, otherwise)?
-How many fish do you have, what kind? What kind of coral is in the tank (if any), or other invertabrates?
-What water do you use (tap water, RODI, something else)? How often do you perform water changes?
-What do you use for flow/circulation in the tank?
-Have you tested for nitrate, phosphate, or anything else lately (calcium, alkalinity, pH, etc.)?

- Chris

[fattrainman]

No, we don't have any snails. How many and what kind do we need to benefit the tank?
Lights are brand new and its a 48 in. aquarium fluorescent tube light. (Standard). Made by All-Glass. Light is on for approx. 18 hrs. a day. As far as we know very little sun light hits it. There is some, but we think it's very little.
Aquarium marine flake fish food. Super soft frozen food alternative with krill for marine and fresh water fish. Spirulina algae tablets-half to one tablet every other day. Feed 3 times a day.
No skimmers. Emperor 400 Dual Filtration.
7 fish. 5 are Damsels (2 of which are clown fish - nemos), 2 are Cardinal, 2 star fish, 2 hermit crab, 1 cleaner shrimp. No coral.
Tap water. We have not changed the water. We replace water as necessary due to evaporation. We put in chorine neutralizer.
I really use no flow circulation other than air bubblers that pull the water up in the back and down in the front in the same direction as the water comes out in the Emperor 400. Artifical plants that I have in the tank sway back and forth from the flowing of the water.
I take my water to our True Value store. There pet dept. offers free water testing for all salt and fresh water aquariums for people who buy there fish from them. Tank has been established for 3 months. I have it tested about every 3 weeks. Always tests in the good, the last time the alkaline was still in the normal range, but was a little higher or lower than right on the mark.
We have lost 3 fish since starting the tank, 1 three stripe Damsel, 1 black and white Cardinal, 1 Domino fish that started turning white to which point that you could not distiguish its white dots from the rest of its body.
Any help to get us a clean healthy fish tank is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Donnie and Marie

[Phishy]

55 g or 90 g tank?

You should have a skimmer, and more hermits and snails to clean up.

I do it too but RO/DI is better for h2o changes. I only run 12hrs of light, and try feeding less.

What are you parameters? Do a water change. You could have sky high nitrates, your fish are pretty hardy.

Get some power heads to move the water more, you want at least 4x turn over for FO (someone correct me if I am wrong, but more won't hurt).

The biowheels are nitrate factories.

[Mike01z]

Holy Crap!!! I remember these days when i first started here is a short list that should help.

1. get a Protein Skimmer (Coral life Super Skimmer can be hung on the back of the tank and is decent)
2. Ditch the Canister filter
3. Get some compact florecent lights
4. Get some snails, Astrea, Margerita, and Cerith are good even some turbos
5. Get an RODI unit to refill the water and for water changes
6. Flake food has high phosphates which can lead to algae outbreaks
7. Cut down the Photoperid to maybe like 10 hrs, but def get a diff light it will help with corals etc.
8. Only feed max 1 time a day and thats after you get the skimmer and ditch the Emperor, really every other day is better.
9. get some Maxi Jet powerheads, they are cheap, generally more flow is better but not to the point that you have sandstorms etc.


Also how is your tank setup?

is the bottom sand? Do you have live rock?

[fattrainman]

We have a 75 gal. tank - saltwater.
What exactly is a skimmer? Do we really need one, money's tight. What do they do?
How many hermits and snails and kinds needed for a 75 gal. tank?
RO/DI?
We are real new to this. My husband is looking thru a Fosters catalog right now to try to figure out what you are talking about.
Power heads?
FO?
We're just a little lost at the moment. A little more basic with less abbreviations.
Thank you very much.
Donnie and Marie

[Hendersonracing]

I would definately cut back on the lighting cycle to abou 12 hrs a day....also Turbo snails will help alot with algae clean up....You can pick up a decent protein skimmer for about 100.00 or so that will definately make a difference....and (water changes) atleast every 2 weeks 10%...Tap water is bad you definately need a small rodi unit or distilled water from a local Kroger!

Good luck
Joe

[Hendersonracing]

Originally Posted by fattrainman

We have a 75 gal. tank - saltwater.
What exactly is a skimmer? Do we really need one, money's tight. What do they do?
How many hermits and snails and kinds needed for a 75 gal. tank?
RO/DI?
We are real new to this. My husband is looking thru a Fosters catalog right now to try to figure out what you are talking about.
Power heads?
FO?
We're just a little lost at the moment. A little more basic with less abbreviations.
Thank you very much.
Donnie and Marie

Skimmers take all the junk out of the water(In small terms)

get a few seio 820's(foster & smith) they are about 48.00 a piece that way you can keep things flowing In the tank..

I would start with about 3 turbos & a few cone heads

& water change water change

fo= fish only...you really need to decide if you are keeping fish only or fish & corals...this will determine what is needed for the tank and save alot of time & money buying stuff up front that is need for corals to survive!

rodi= reverse osmosis..takes all the chemicals out of the water and puts water back to its natural stage...

[Mike01z]

yeah fosters is a good place to look,

Check this site out also

Here is the link to the Protein Skimmer I'd probably get if budget is tight, get the 125 version or 220 for your tank.

http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_...tem.asp?CartId=

Thats probably the most important thing you need followed by some snails, more flow, and then a better light.

A protein skimmer creates alot of bubbles and takes out dissolved solids in the water by pushing the bubbles into a container, It works similar to how if you see a bubble in the air and it kinda gleams like a greasy look, thats because its dirty basically, protein skimmer does the same thing but with micro bubbles, the disolved solids stick to the bubbles and are pushed out of the system, Really cool stuff.


A power head is like a low wattage mini pump that you can submerge in the water


Here is a link to the Maxi jets

http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_...jet.asp?CartId=


The flow will not only help the fish in general but will also keep poop and what not suspended so the protein skimmer can suck it up and take it out of the system.


RO/DI stands for Reverse Osmosis De Ionization,


What this does is filters the tap water and removes all the bad stuff that fuels algae before it hits the water, The units cost around 300-400 bucks roughly but you can by Reverse Osmosis water from Wal-Mart sometims for a couple bucks a gallon.


The other thing is the fish will be able to live if you feed them alot less

go down to 1 time a day and then 1 time every other day that will help alot,

Keeping your lights on all the time will fuel algae as well which is why I said cut down on the time they are on to like maybe 10 hrs or so, The light you have is probably fine for just fish but as you get into the hobby you will see that you will want a more powerful light for corals as well as general health.

[fattrainman]

very much for the info/education. Lord knows we really do need it. This guy I work with gets his fish from a store about 1 hr from here and gave me the number. Donnie called and is on his way down. He talked to the guy on the phone and I guess we are getting a skimmer for a 125 gal tank, we have a 75 gal tank. And so far the plan is to get 6 snails, 3 emerald crabs, and a 'hair' something - all to eat algae. I don't know if we will ever get any coral, I've never seen any that I remember, I'm guessing they are pretty, but I have two star fish I really like and I've been told you can't have star fish and coral. Always worried when the hubby goes shopping thou, never know what he is going to come home with.
Marie

[Hendersonracing]

Originally Posted by fattrainman

very much for the info/education. Lord knows we really do need it. This guy I work with gets his fish from a store about 1 hr from here and gave me the number. Donnie called and is on his way down. He talked to the guy on the phone and I guess we are getting a skimmer for a 125 gal tank, we have a 75 gal tank. And so far the plan is to get 6 snails, 3 emerald crabs, and a 'hair' something - all to eat algae. I don't know if we will ever get any coral, I've never seen any that I remember, I'm guessing they are pretty, but I have two star fish I really like and I've been told you can't have star fish and coral. Always worried when the hubby goes shopping thou, never know what he is going to come home with.
Marie

good luck...BTW I have 3 starfish and alot of coral....certain starfish will work with coral...

[chaynes73]

I had green hair algae all over the rocks, on the backs of snails even. Got a Lawnmower Blenny and all the algae in the tank was gone in two days even on the glass and backs of snails. Only algae he wouldn't touch was some red algae I have on one rock, some bubble algae I have on one rock, and some macro algae I want to grow.

[crvz]

Picking up a skimmer is definitely a great first step. I'd also recommend dialing back the feeding to once a day for a little while if you're comfortable doing so.

[fattrainman]

I don't know a lot about fish myself, but in the fish book we have a lot of the fish say feed 2-3 times a day. If we cut back to one time, will everyone get enough to eat?
Marie