[darkserpant]

My tank is fairley new. About 3-4 months old. I have a clownfish, bubble tip anenome, leather and some feather dusters and a clean up crew. Yes the tank cycled before I put anything in it. Fot the past couple days I have been noticing a redish or brown algae forming on my sandbed. Sand bed is about 2-3 inches deep. This is a 20 long tank. ANyway today I noticed lil bubbles all over the algae on the sand and bubbles all over the rocks and bubbles on my sponge that is on the return from the skimmer. And the sponge also has brown algae on it. It is a hang on the back octopus. I read online that emerald crabs eat bubble aglae which is what I thought I had. So I went and bought 3 crabs for my tank. Then tonight as I doing some research online I find out that those crabs eat green bubble algae. I dont have any green bubbles. They are lil tiny oxygen bubbles I think they are forming from the gasses from the algea. Here are my readings. Temp. 79-81. Depending on when the t-5's are on or not. Amonia-0 Nitrate-0 nitrite-0 ph-8.0 I am at a loss here. Where is the redish brown algae coming from. It looks horrible. It's all over the tank. How can I control this outbreak. What eats this type of algea. I have blue legged hermit crabs 2 types of snails and now emerald crabs. Please help

 

[Chad]

It sounds like cyanobacteria. It's usually caused by high phosphates in the tank. What are your Po4 readings?

 

[Loverotties]

Powerheads will eat it!You need more flow to get rid of it.Also your tank is to new for anenome.

 

[darkserpant]

thanks for the replies. i dont have a phosfate checker. i will buy 1 today. and will check the readings. i will post back with the results. thanks again. and about the powerheads i have i have almost 800 in a 20 gallon. i have a 420 and 280 powerhead and my power filter. i tried more but the sand started 2 blow on the 1 side of the tank and u could c the bottom.

 

[Loverotties]

Phosphate test are so inaccurate,but if you get a reading it really a lot higher in real life because your tank absorbs alot that isn't in the water your testing!

 

[Chad]

Salifert or ELOS are good phosphate tests. They are accurate to .05 Salifert I think to .03.

Unless you have very high phosphates the cheaper brands won't register.

 

[Darryl n NC]

Also for an fyi. You shouldn't go out an buy livestock to take care of problems you are having with outbreaks.

 

[Chad]

Also for an fyi. You shouldn't go out an buy livestock to take care of problems you are having with outbreaks.

True...they just add to the bio-load and make the actual water quality worse. Sure, you don't see the algae, but the cause of it is still there.

 

[Loverotties]

True,your only bandaiding the problem.

 

[Kamel]

Not an attempt to thread hi-jack here, but just had a small quick question. I went ahead and got an emerald crab because I like him early on in my tank's life, should I have waited to verify there isn't a problem like this before doing that? Also, with the crab there, surely I would still know if I were having trouble, right? (right now I have to feed him algae tabs, can't wait for the day he can just harvest the tank w/o me feeding him lol)

 

[Darryl n NC]

Actually Emerald crabs should be part of a clean up crew that you put into your aquarium especially if it is a reef tank. Also if there is a problem one emerald crab is not going to be able to keep up with the bloom you are going to be having.

 

[richkor]

you may enough power for the flow, but where is it going. I have the flow oversized in my tank as well, but there will still be spots where the flow is less than others and that is where my algae issues pop up. Loverotties said it best. Phosphates will hide in the tank in places other than just the water. Make sure you are "cleaning" out the crevices in your rocks as this is where waste will collect and bleed into the water. The bacteria doesn't need much to grow. I use a turkey baster to "blow" out the rocks and get the crap out. Sometimes I'll even take the aquajet 1200 and use that, but that tends to knock over corals.

 

[Chad]

Not an attempt to thread hi-jack here, but just had a small quick question. I went ahead and got an emerald crab because I like him early on in my tank's life, should I have waited to verify there isn't a problem like this before doing that? Also, with the crab there, surely I would still know if I were having trouble, right? (right now I have to feed him algae tabs, can't wait for the day he can just harvest the tank w/o me feeding him lol)

I have a black Mithrax in one tank and an Emerald in the other, I love them both and they have been harmless for years.