overgrown algae! Help!

Shack · 03-04-2002, 12:45 PM

Algae has run rampant in my tank- the sand, the glass, its creeping up on the rock! Anyone have any remedies i may not have tried?

cath · 03-04-2002, 01:04 PM

Ewww...algae can really be a mess!

What color/density is the algae? Is is short and fuzzy, or long and stringy? How much do you feed? What have you tried? More info about your situation will help.

S.O.S. · 03-04-2002, 02:25 PM

I've also got a sudden algae attack! I've got it in all forms...slime, bubbly, hairy, stuff that looks like a bush, red cyano, green cyano...aaaaahh! Worst part is that my cleanup crew doesn't seem to be doing the job

Shack · 03-04-2002, 03:09 PM

its brownish-green on the sand and sort of stringy. on the glass its green and bushy. i have 10 astrea snail, 4 bumble bees snails and 3 fighting conch snails in a 30 gallon. do i need more? would an algae blenny help?

HOT CORAL · 03-04-2002, 03:34 PM

small Kole tang or algae blenny may help

mikeMersot · 03-04-2002, 04:48 PM

with algae it is better to get at the root of the problem than to use new inhabitants to cover up the problem, how old is your system, what kind of water are you using? Cutting out as much nutrients as possible is the best way to beat algae, and the only way I was able to conquer hair algae. adding calupera to a sump/refrugium really helps.

Jimbo · 03-04-2002, 05:38 PM

Hi shack

4gal tank

I'm not an expert on Nano Tanks. But I would remove the undergravel filter and the substrate. Do a search on Nano Tanks, lots of info out there.

Hi S.O.S.

You did not specifiy your bio load in the tank specs. A skimmer might help, add a refugium, clean up crew snails and a few hermits would also help.

Have a great day!

S.O.S. · 03-04-2002, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo

Hi S.O.S.

You did not specifiy your bio load in the tank specs. A skimmer might help, add a refugium, clean up crew snails and a few hermits would also help.

Have a great day!

My tank is a 27gal. I don't use a skimmer, sump, or refugium. It's been set up for about 4 months and I've got 2 false percs and a bicolor blenny. Cleanup crew includes 8 turbo/astrea snails, 11 blue legged hermits,and 2 scarlet hermits. I've been doing 15% water changes once a week and everything looked good up until recently. I figure that a refugium would help alot, but I don't have any room to set one up, plus I don't want to drill into my tank!

Jimbo · 03-04-2002, 09:57 PM

Hi S.O.S

I noticed that you have 40 pounds argonite sand, does that make your SB about 1-2 inches deep. Adding more sand should help a great deal 4-6inches. Do you have lots of critters in your sand? Do you use tap water or RO?

Nutrients are getting in from somewhere, possibly overfeeding the fish ect...

A protien skimmer is a safe bet, you may not really need one all the time but they are nice when you do need it. You can pickup a hang on one.

I was going to attempt a completely natural system also. But while I was on the board and setting up the tank I decided to installed a sump, refugium and skimmer. Hopefully down the road when my sandbed becomes fully populated I will be able to remove the skimmer 12-18 months, but for now it is a safty valve for excess nutrients along with the refugium.

I must say thanks to all of you on TRT, you are great!

Have a great evening!

S.O.S. · 03-04-2002, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo
Hi S.O.S

I noticed that you have 40 pounds argonite sand, does that make your SB about 1-2 inches deep. Adding more sand should help a great deal 4-6inches. Do you have lots of critters in your sand? Do you use tap water or RO?

Nutrients are getting in from somewhere, possibly overfeeding the fish ect...

Thanks for the tips Jimbo. My sandbed is about 2 1/2 to 3" in some places. Would bringing it up to 4-6" actually help prevent algae blooms? How does this work? My sand's got pods and worms and stuff, but it all came from my LR. I bought the sand as dry aragonite only.

I use only DI water for changes and top off, and I feed my fish about twice a week.

I guess I should work on the sandbed. Thanks again

Shack · 03-04-2002, 11:48 PM

My tank is a 30 gal, im running 4 VHO's@140watts ea- 12 hours a day. I have 20 pounds of live sand on top of 40 pounds of regular fine grade sand. 30 pounds of fiji rock, 5 pounds of tonga rock, im running a hang on skimmer with bio-box. Im running 3 powerheads for circulation. In the tank is a pair of maroon clowns and a 6 line wrasse, 10 astrea snails, 4 bumble bee snails, 3 fighting conch snails and one lonely blueleg. The algae has completely covered that glass now and its getting difficult to see in. Im using RO water. temp is 80 degrees. Someone please give me some suggestions or does everyone just scrape their tank once a day?

Shack · 03-04-2002, 11:50 PM

PS
the system is about a month old

Jimbo · 03-05-2002, 12:28 AM

Hay shack,

What kind of sand is that you have is it silicon based? If it is leaking silicates then that might be your problem. This is a contraversy, but a chemist/LFS guy said he could prove that silicate sand will leak into the water column. (it makes algea grow) I believe there is a test kit, but you might take some water to your local LFS and see if they can test it for you.

Also what's a bio-box? If it's what I think it is you would do well to remove it. It will trap nutrients and convert them to nitrate. This defeats the purpose of the skimmer. If you are using any sort of sponge filtering, it to can turn into a biological filter trapping nutrients, unless you clean it often. You are also trapping benificial life forms. If you remove all mechanical filtering(except for the protein skimmer) filter feeders in your tank will establish themselves as your filter overtime.

S.O.S/shack
A deeper sand bed promotes more denitrifing bacteria. Removing nitrates from your tank, nitrates make algea grow. I should say that I have had a successful tank with just protein skimming and no substrate. I siphoned off the deitris once a week. Micro organism's still live in the lr, but you get much more diversity with a sandbed and this will feed other living organism's in your tank.

Refugium- Macro algea can process ammonia, nitrites and nitrates directly from the water column. This is also a safe haven for critters to live and multiply. It also provides denitrification if you have a dsb and/or macro/hair algea. Most people advocate keeping the lights on in your refugium after the main tank lights go out. This is to prevents a ph swing.

Shack- your tank is only a month old, this could just be a phase it's going through. From several websites I've seen they recommend about 45 clean up critters for a 30 gallon tank.

This is just my 2cents, but to some it up, don't trap organic matter via mechanical means besides the protien skimmer. Make sure your protien skimmer is efficient. I've heard on TRT that it takes a year for your sand bed to become fully mature.

Phew, that was a lot of typing.

Have a good evening!