madmax7774 March 28, 2006 Share March 28, 2006 Why do all of my tanks always go to algea in the first few weeks? My 75 is on its 3rd week, and I am starting to have an outbreak of dark green algea. It is starting to cover my rocks. I could get in there with a brush and scrub it all off, but it will come back. Do I not have enough of a cleaner crew? should I just invest in more crabs,snails, and algea eaters? My water params are ok, and I could hook up a UV sterilizer to the syste, which will help a bit, but not stop it. Is this a normal problem?? :wall: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhoch March 28, 2006 Share March 28, 2006 Hard to say without more infofmation, but: 1) It could be just part of a normal cycle (if this is a new tank) die off contributes to phosphates and can cause alage to grow 2) Water changes, or how original water was made up (RO/DI or tap, etc).... this can also contribute. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmax7774 March 28, 2006 Author Share March 28, 2006 Yes this is a new tank, but the rock was from a cycled system. All of my water came from my RO/DI filter. I do not curently have a phosphate test kit, but I will get one later tonight. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhoch March 28, 2006 Share March 28, 2006 Is there sand in there? How was the rock transfered? Did it spend any amount of time out of water or in decreased temperatures? Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PupChow March 28, 2006 Share March 28, 2006 Why do all of my tanks always go to algea in the first few weeks? My 75 is on its 3rd week, and I am starting to have an outbreak of dark green algea. It is starting to cover my rocks. I could get in there with a brush and scrub it all off, but it will come back. Do I not have enough of a cleaner crew? should I just invest in more crabs,snails, and algea eaters? My water params are ok, and I could hook up a UV sterilizer to the syste, which will help a bit, but not stop it. Is this a normal problem?? :wall: I'd say it's the normal cycle... How close is your water params compared to the tank the LR came from? Maybe the params are different and there are die-offs in the LR that caused an algae bloom? I'd say get more cleanup crew if the algae bothers you that much (although i think it'll go away in a couple weeks once the nutrients are used up); maybe you can sell the extra snails and hermits afterwards! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmax7774 March 28, 2006 Author Share March 28, 2006 (edited) 80 lbs of aragonite sand was bought new and added on day 1. tank cycled for about 2 weeks and then rock was added. The live rock was purchased at BRK and was boxed and brought home and placed into my tank within about 40 minutes. As far as water parameters, I asked Byron, and we keep our temp/salinity at the same levels. I am going to go to the LFS and get more cleaners for the rock. I suspect that a bunch of snails/hermit crabs and a shrimp or two will help clean it up. Also I have a bunch of tiny white creatures that have appeared on the tank, that weren't there before. Are they copepods?? john Edited March 28, 2006 by madmax7774 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatortailale March 28, 2006 Share March 28, 2006 Maybe I missed it, but do you use RO/DI water? What photo period are you at? Maybe you need to scale back to 4 hours a day for a week or two and slowly add a hour each week. What brand of test kit you using and what device for testing salinity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhoch March 28, 2006 Share March 28, 2006 Yes I'm betting those little white critters are pds (either amphipods or copepods). I still think it's a cycle... Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmax7774 March 28, 2006 Author Share March 28, 2006 yes, All water coame from my RO/DI filter I use a cheap plastic hydromter, and am very careful to get all the bubbles off the swing arm. The test kits I use are aquarium pharmacuticals my lights are on roughly 10 hours on and 14 hours off. if it's a cycle, then it should clear up in a few weeks, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmax7774 March 29, 2006 Author Share March 29, 2006 alright, I bought a calcium and phosphate test kit tonight. My water parameters are: 100% RO/DI water supply 80'F 1.025 salinity 8.2 ph 0ppm ammonia 0ppm nitrite 0ppm nitrate 7dkh alkalinity .1ppm phosphate 430ppm calcium I added 40 snails and crabs, so hopefully they will clean up some of the algea John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Lazar March 29, 2006 Share March 29, 2006 John, Hair algae sucks. If that's what you have, I recommend you fight it full strength now before it gets worse. 1. If you don't need your lights on, keep them off. 2. If you don't have to feed the tank, don't. 3. Get the algae off your rocks. One way is to take the rocks out of the tank, put them in a bucket of SW, and scrub them with a toothbrush. Another is to siphon water out of the tank with a ~1/2" hose. Use your thumb to pinch the HA against the inside of the hose, then pull it off the rock. The siphon then pulls all the nasty HA out of the tank. Once you get the hang of this, you can put a huge dent into the HA, and it gets it out of the tank. 4. Get a fish that eats HA. I've had a foxface that loved HA, and another that wouldn't touch it, so I think different individual fish of the same species have different tastes. This won't cure the excess nutrient problem, but it still works. My old tank had terrible HA even though I almost starved the very few fish in the tank, skimmed heavily, only used RO/DI, had new bulbs, and complied with all the conventional wisdom and common techniques for combatting HA. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmax7774 March 29, 2006 Author Share March 29, 2006 I have delcared full scale war on my algae problem. Last night I put on my swim trunks and grabbed an old tooth brush and went to work on the algae. I scrubbed all the rocks by hand, then did a 50% water change. This morning, with the addition of the 40 extra algae eating snails/crabs, and the scrubbing/water change, things are looking alot better. What is so confounding is where are the nutrients coming from that are supplying the algae? I must be overfeeding. That is the only source left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkb8 March 29, 2006 Share March 29, 2006 A couple more ideas to consider: - more circulation may help - add a pouch with phosphosorb just in case (?) - way too much lighting - my 55g is well established and I only light 6-8 hrs per day for this very reason - critter crew should definitely help, there are recommended #s of snails/crabs per gallon if you search the web - how old are the light bulbs? If they are aged, the wrong spectrum of light can catalyze algea growth (I discovered this old concept firsthand, unfortunately) Just my two, or five, cents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ominojacu March 29, 2006 Share March 29, 2006 I have delcared full scale war on my algae problem. Last night I put on my swim trunks and grabbed an old tooth brush and went to work on the algae. I scrubbed all the rocks by hand, then did a 50% water change. This morning, with the addition of the 40 extra algae eating snails/crabs, and the scrubbing/water change, things are looking alot better. What is so confounding is where are the nutrients coming from that are supplying the algae? I must be overfeeding. That is the only source left. It could be coming from the live rock itself. In a new tank, some die off from the live rock will add nutrients into the water. Green algae bloom is normal in a new tank, once the live rock, and coraline algaes kick in, they should out compete the green algae. besides water changes to remove excess nutrients, I would suggest that you do not clean the algae off the glass or sides of the aquarium. This algae will compete with the algae attempting to grow on your live rock. After a while you will see it start to thin out, then you can clean it, and it will be much easier to clean then if were growing on your live rock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmax7774 March 29, 2006 Author Share March 29, 2006 (edited) The lights are brand new XM metal halide 175w 20,000K bulbs that are only about 4 weeks old. I am going to reduce lighting per day for awhile also. Actuallly the lights are pretty intense. Last night I took the garbage out into the back yard, and i stopped dead in my tracks when I came round the house, as the backyard was glowing blue. For a second my brain didn't realize the blue glow was from the backroom which glows blue at night form the lights. It was really wierd to see the backyard like that...... Edited March 29, 2006 by madmax7774 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Lazar March 30, 2006 Share March 30, 2006 Do you have any corals in your tank right now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caribbean Jake March 30, 2006 Share March 30, 2006 simple solution 1) turn the lights OFF for two or three days (if you don't have SPS demanding light corals) AND 2) do not feed the tank for two or three days This will clear most of the algae, then turn the lights for 6 a day for a week. Once the 90% of algae is gone, you can go back to your 10 hour cycles. That is what I do when I'm having problems with algae blooming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkb8 March 30, 2006 Share March 30, 2006 Just another helpful tip for those dealing with algea problems. In my previous life I lived in Utah and was a member of WMAS, the Wasatch Marine Aquarist Society. They had an excellent and very helpful thread on algea control. For general reference: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts...3033&KW=secrets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now