alegae problem

[newbie911]

My tank has been havin some problems with green alegea its been manly growing on the glass and a little on the bottom. i wipe it off with the magnet but grows back within the day. wat is it from and how do i get rid of it.
Thanks
Drew

 

[beaslbob]

Your system has ammonia, nitrAte, phosphates and carbon dioxide. anytime you have those you will get plant life of some form. In this case it is the green algae.
the best way is to introduce plant life you desire. that way the good plant life will out compete the green algae for the same nutrients. and with new plant life those things are still being consumed. plus tha daytime ph stays up, heavy ions are filtered out, and the system is much easier to maintain.
whatever you do do not just remove the exisiting plant life. The plant life is extremely benificial.

 

[newbie911]

well i dont know wat kind of plant life to but in and i do want to be able to see into the tank. Any other oppinions? could it be light. or is there somthing that will help besides plant life

 

[bking]

is your light new,, or have you added more? if so, it will take your tank time to get used to them,, I added a pc, and had an algae outbreak for about 2 weeks,,,then it stopped...

 

[dburr]

We need stats to help ya.
How old is the tank, the lights, what kind of lights. Post water readings what ever you have. Whats in the tank, fish, corals, ect. Is the tank near a window?
What ever you can give us.
Dan

 

[maroonclownfan]

Do you have a clean up crew?
If not, snails will clean the glass and hermits the bottom and rock.

 

[newbie911]

no this is wat i have had all along but then my tank is only 2 in a half months old. would not having a skimmer have an impact. were planning on getting one soon. i also chnged the time on the lights so it not on for soo long..
Drew

 

[newbie911]

all the levels are fine it gets some natural light but not derect light have a clean up crew but its growin faster than they clean. i have two 65 watt pc one actinic and one 10K over a 29gal
Drew

 

[bang guy]

Sounds like you're getting a good dose of Silicate from somewhere.
Common sources of Silicate are from the makeup water if you're not using RO/DI water or possibly the sand if you have impurities in the sand (playsand for example).
Diatoms are normal but if you have to wipe them off more that once or twice a week then that's a problem.

 

[newbie911]

so wat do i do?!?
i stoped using tap water(but used it when i first filled it) and know use RO/DI
is it a real bad thing

 

[newbie911]

bang or someone so is there anyway to get rid of this Silicate or is there something that can counter it like a chemical
Thanks,
Drew

 

[newbie911]

someone please

 

[beaslbob]

There is no need to remove any silica present. Again, diatoms and all ugly algea can best be reduced or eliminated with plant life you desire. As long as you have carbon dioxide, ammonia, nitrates and phosphates, you are going to get plant life. Those things will come from the bioload in your system which can not be reduced or eliminated by water changes or water stripped of everything.
So your choice is diatoms or green slime/hair or other plant life. There is no other alternative(s).

 

[bigmac]

Originally posted by newbie911
no this is wat i have had all along but then my tank is only 2 in a half months old.
That's why your having problems.. Its part of the cycle.
A good skimmer aways helps

 

[dburr]

Yup, i agree w/ Bigmac. ( speaking of bigmac, i'm hungry, )
It's part of being a new tank. It will stablize with time.

 

[bang guy]

I agree with Beaslbob that there's no problem with Silica. But you may have problems with the Silicates you introduced with your tap water initially. Since you've switched to RO/DI water the problem will be rather short lived. Your filter feeders & sponges (always present) will eventually consume enough Diatoms to remove most of your Silicates.
Shouldn't be more that a couple months now that you're using pure water. If after a couple of months you don't notice a decrease in Diatoms you may need to look at other possibilities.

 

[marineman]

are there any species of reef safe fish, crabs, snails that do a good job consuming red slime algae growth, Anybody?:notsure:

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by marineman
are there any species of reef safe fish, crabs, snails that do a good job consuming red slime algae growth, Anybody?:notsure:
Your question is worthy of a new thread. Since it has nothing to do with the original topic you should probably just start a new one