Hairy algae

[xCCxLt]

Hi I have a 75 gallon with a wetdry. It has a Clowntrigger, green spotted mandarin goby, falcos hawkfish, and a snowflake eel in it. My question is I have all this purple and brown hairy algae growing everywhere, what do you guys think it is and how do I get rid of it?

[Geoff]

you have a phosphate problem. the wet/dry and the bioload is the cause. the critters you have in there are heavy eaters, and i am sure you are more than happy to keep them fed. they produce a lot of waste and it sounds like you are not removing the wastes fast enough. wet/dry's will trap these wastes then rot, releasing the bound phosphates back into the system to fuel algae growth.

what kind of skimmer do you have on the system? how much skimmate do you pull a day out of the skimmer? when you do water changes are you siphoning out detritus from the display and the sump? are you able to siphon detritus from behind all of your LR? how long has the tank been setup?

G~

[xCCxLt]

The skimmer I have came with the Wet Dry but it seems to work quite well. I do a water change about once every month. I am not really able to take the excess "dust" out of the sump without removing all the balls. The tank has been setup for a little over a year now. And yes I do siphon the substrate when doing a water change.

[Geoff]

get rid of the bio-balls. they are exasperating your problem. bio-balls trap detritus allowing them to rot and release bound phosphates back into the water column. at this point the algae can uptake them.

G~

[Hop]

I agree with Geoff of course I would remove the bioballs also, but in maybe three sections, spaced a week apart. Keep everything in the sump cleaned out, set the skimmer to skim wetter if possible and remove as much of the algae by hand as you can.

[xCCxLt]

What if anything should I replace the bio balls with?

[Loverotties]

DON'T change the balls if it's a FO tank.That is your only filter and you will kill your fish.What is your water parimeters?Do you use RO/DI water?

[Geoff]

you have a skimmer so it will be providing the mechanical filtration for the tank. the LR will be providing the biological filtration for the tank.

if you are worried about removing the bio-balls then do it slowly and watch your ammonia and nitrite levels. if you start seeing any of these levels then you need to stop removing the bio-balls. as long as you are not seeing any ammonia or nitrite then the tank is capable of removing these wastes and the bio-balls are not necessary and are helping the water quality of your system.

G~

[no_sushi_for_you]

If you have plenty of Live-rock and a sandbed in a large tank with a skimmer and a wet dry filter with bio-balls and want to remove them, what should you do in it's place?

Fill the sump with coral submerged in the water?? Sump light required?