Arghh Algae problems!

L

LSBBA

Premium Member
I am having some problems with my algae in my tank. My parameters are fine. (I have had them checked by my LFS). I have the following things to help clean the tank : 4 turbo snails, 2 astrea snails,2 snails that live under the sand(dont know the name), 4 hermit crab, Blue spiny lobster, banded star fish(i think, it is brown with black bands and a black star in the middle of its body, it is about 5 inches), I bought a diamond goby but havent seen it since i put it in the tank a week and a half ago, Look at the pics below because I have a purple algae that is on the sand itself and a green hairy algae that is growing on the rocks, and on the glass by the sand . What do I need to do? Someone suggested a phosphate bag in the back of the tank to help with higher phosphate values. I got the diamond goby to sift the sand but i havent seen the guy since i put him in and there is no where to hide. Would my big starfish eat him or my rbta? Someone also suggested I get a sand sifting starfish. I was thinking to get some more turbo snails ! I dont know I need help! I never had these problems to worry about with my freshwater.
 
Looks like you have Cyano bacteria, Dinos (stringy brown stuff w/bubbles), and bubble algae (green bubbles).Try and maintain high ph for the dinos and syphon what you can. For the cyano you can use chemi-clean as stated above. For the bubble algae , try to syphon without bursting the bubbles or it multiplies. I think they have something that eats it, but I'm not to keen on that one ! Do add carbon and some phos media if you haven't already. What kind of skimmer do you have? Stay on it or it gets worse.
 
@LSBBA wrote:
It is a brand new tank that is all LED! said:
Can you explain "brand new" because that might help us understand what's going on with the algae? I'm asking because it doesn't look like a tank in the begining stages.
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Yea, I'm wondering how old this setup is as well. How much flow do you have going through the system? Cyano will usually go away with turbulant currents - it likes to sit on stagnant areas. If the rock and sand are new or have been used in an old setup and recently added here, it could be leaching phosphates and nitrates feeding the algaes and being taken up by the algaes as fast as it's produced, therefore making your tests look good. Reef tanks have a tendency to do that - something comes along to consume whatever is in abundance, it's called a cycle. Something will grow to consume a chemical or nutrient produced, and may look like an outbreak of something bad, but itself will begin to die back once the food item is all gone, then something else will arrive to consume the next thing produced.....

I'd say for now, increase your flow by adding another power head and point it at the sandbed or into the rocks. If your lightbulbs are over 6 months old, start changing them out one at a time over the next 3 months so the change is gradual.

I didn't see what size tank you have here.
 
In addition to what everyone else advised, you might want to increase your snail/Clean up Crew amount as well. If I read that right, you have less than 10 snails? What size tank is it?
 
Sorry I will post my parameters. It is a 28g jbj full LED tank. I originally started with a 14 g biocube nano in November on the first. The week after christmas I upgraded and switched everything to this tank due to the heating and over crowding issues I knew I would eventually have. I changed the water last friday with 5 fresh new gallons of saltwater and I am going to do the same today. When I tested last time my parameters where the following: salinity is 1.024, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 12.5-25, ph 8.0. How do I get my nitrate lower? I am going to the LFS today to buy an led light for the back of the refugium so I can add some chateo to help but that is all I know.
 
I forgot to add that I am using the biocube skimmer still and I have live sand and rock in the back of my refugium.
 
It's entirely possible that you had some sponge or something die when you transferred over to the new tank. Maybe nothing big, but enough to boost nitrates and phosphates that are now being consumed by the algae blooms, so they aren't showing up on a test? Just from the look of it, it makes me think there's something extra there feeding the algae.

Good maintenance and water changes will likely fix it given time.
 
@LSBBA wrote:
Sorry I will post my parameters. It is a 28g jbj full LED tank. I originally started with a 14 g biocube nano in November on the first. The week after christmas I upgraded and switched everything to this tank due to the heating and over crowding issues I knew I would eventually have. I changed the water last friday with 5 fresh new gallons of saltwater and I am going to do the same today. When I tested last time my parameters where the following: salinity is 1.024 said:
go to DNA for the cheap JBJ Nano Light. Its the cheapest there. I think it was 45-50 bucks with the DFWMAS discount.

Chaeto can help lower nitrate along with your skimmer. I also add a bag of chemi-pure elite and a bag of purigen. But like Gramalkin said, a good maintenance schedule will almost eliminate the problem you have.
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Best thing I've found for cyano is a mini siphon. Go get the smallest hard tubing they make and some airline. Put the airline over one end of the tubing to make a mini siphon. Use it on the cyano it sucks it right up with minimal sand removal.

4 weeks of once a week got rid of it entirely when my tank was still new. Also a nano refugium is a great idea to reduce all microalgae. I wouldn't buy the jbj nano light since 50 bucks for 4w of LEDs is ridiculous. I have a submersible pond light that was 15 bucks and it grows chaeto like crazy. Much better than my diy led with 9w on my 24g nano. (note that is more than double the jbj)
 
Mginster, can you post or PM a link or other info for the submersible pond light? I've never had any luck finding those even though everyone recommends them. Thanks!
 
I had great growth with the submersible LED, but saltwater leaked into the housing of the LED. I didn't know it had leaked until I was cleaning out the fuge area of debris and noticed the light was somewhat burnt. I personally did not want to try my submersible backup LED and opted to spend the $50 for the light.
 
So I ended up doing a water change and a great rock work cleaning. I rearranged and syphoned off the rock rock. The red slime algae has disappeared so far. Now I am only having problems with the brown stringy algae! What is the correct name of it? What would be the process to get rid of it? I have been syphoning it off of my rock work and fire algae everyday since work has been shut down this week. Everyday when I go back it is back with a vengeance. So how do I get rid of it completely? All of my fish are doing great and corals are great as well. This is just an eyesore and could be nuisance if it gets too bad.
 
If you have dinos...here is a long, but interesting post on clean up. Someone else on this forum had dino 's and the was recommended by someone else. http://www.reef2reef.com/forums/general-reef-discussions/52084-dinoflagellates-my-experience-h2o2-reefing-tool.html
 
Sweet so I am thinking about doing that 1ml/10gallon of peroxide idea. What do you think about me getting a GFO / carbon reactor? I am thinking I need to get something to help me remove phosphates. What are your thoughts?
 
I personally have never tried using peroxide, but it sounds like it helps. You don't need a reactor. Try keeping a bag of phos ban or phos guard in one of your tanks rear compartments. Most important is weekly 10-15% water changes. Maybe until this clears up try a 1 or 2 gal water change mid week. Changing too much water a once is usually not good. Be sure to use RO/DO water and a water conditioner in your top off water. If you feed frozen food, thaw & lightly rinse in a sieve before adding to tank. Don't overfeed. Don't add any new fish or coral till your tank is healthy. Healing a tank is a slow process, it can take weeks. Adding more snails (turbo or cerith) & blue legged hermits will help. In my opinion, in a small nano, as long as you are doing weekly or bi-weekly water changer, you can skip the skimmmer and use that space for cheato or bio media like carbon, chemipure, or purigen. Limit light on time. Some people do a lights out for 3 days to help slow algae growth. Your red algae is helping. It is eating nitrates, which cause phosphates to rise. Hair algae thrives on phosphate.
 
i am doing a 5 gallon water change every week on fridays. I will add the phos bag tomorrow after I get some of that and a chateo (sp) for the back of my tank. I cut my feedings in half now and I am feeding half of that feeding, waiting or them to eat it and adding the rest in 5 minutes later.
 
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