Algae everywhere

yummysalt

yummysalt

Member
Tank is 90 gallon
sump is 29 gallon
Salt level is 1.024
Amonia=0
Nitrate=5
Phos=5
Cal=350
Nitrite= don't know.
Temp= 78 to 80
Stock
2 maroon clown fish
1 firefish
1 lawnmower blenny
4 green chromis
2 bangai cardinals
2 cleaner(skunk) shrimps
1 peppermint shrimp(great at killing my aiptasia)
1 LTA, just got it not too long ago before the mh upgrade.
Feed my fish once a day around noon. Feed my LTA once a week.
CUC
100's of nassarius snails
10 turbo snails, 2 emerald crabs
I think tank's been up for 6 months, and without any algae outbreak. I do however just got myself new(used) Mh light a week ago.
Light have 3 Mh double sided 250 watts, 4 short actinic blue compact bulbs, and yes it is 72 inches long. Planning to upgrade to 220 or 240 gallon tank next summer. Didn't want to have to buy another set of light.
The guy said bulbs have been used for 6 months.
What I am getting is, major algae growth. It is light green and will cover all my glasses. If I wiped it down, 4 or 5 hours later it will be back. Live rock's turning brown and getting darker, my live sand is getting green in most places, but do not get any worse.
Here's what I have done so far. I have limited my Mh to 5hrs for 1, 3 hours for the other two, and 8hrs for the 4 actinic blue.
I did 18 gallon water change 3 days ago, and just another 18 gallon today. I also bought a super skimmer 220 3 days ago to help out.
I don't know if it is going to get better, or if I made any good changes so far.
The water looks better and not greenish no more, but I still have to wipe my glasses like 3 times a day.
Questions:
Are my bulbs too old?
too many fishies?
What else can I do?
and last, but not least, am I on the right track to eliminate my problem?
Any ideas or opinion is greatly apprieciated.
Thanks,
YummySalt
 
manycolors

manycolors

Member
I will give my imput but thats all it is...
I would turn the lighting period down a little bit, i don't have a MH but with just my VHO if i leave the lights on more that 8 hours my algea goes crazy, and i feed every other day, on the days i dont feed, i throw like 3 flakes in just for good measure, but i only have 2 clowns in a 50 gal tank. The skimmer perchase was a very benificial decision... As far as your lights go i think they should be alright if there only 6 months old. I don't want to point the finger but i wouldn't put it past the sales man to try and sell old lights, just some thing to keep in mind. thats just my 2 cents
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Originally Posted by YummySalt
http:///forum/post/2750013
Tank is 90 gallon
sump is 29 gallon
Salt level is 1.024
Amonia=0
Nitrate=5
Phos=5 This is a problem, food for algae here
Cal=350this is low but not contributing to algae. should be around 420
Nitrite= don't know.
Temp= 78 to 80
Stock
2 maroon clown fish
1 firefish
1 lawnmower blenny
4 green chromis
2 bangai cardinals
2 cleaner(skunk) shrimps
1 peppermint shrimp(great at killing my aiptasia)
1 LTA, just got it not too long ago before the mh upgrade.
Feed my fish once a day around noon. Feed my LTA once a week.do you feed so that all food is eaten in about a minute or two? Could feed every other day with no problem. what foods are you feeding? some contain phosphates
CUC
100's of nassarius snails
10 turbo snails, 2 emerald crabs
I think tank's been up for 6 months, and without any algae outbreak. I do however just got myself new(used) Mh light a week ago.
Light have 3 Mh double sided 250 watts, 4 short actinic blue compact bulbs, and yes it is 72 inches long. Planning to upgrade to 220 or 240 gallon tank next summer. Didn't want to have to buy another set of light.
The guy said bulbs have been used for 6 months.if the sales person is being square with you this would be close to time to change out the MH bulbs.
What I am getting is, major algae growth. It is light green and will cover all my glasses. If I wiped it down, 4 or 5 hours later it will be back. Live rock's turning brown and getting darker, my live sand is getting green in most places, but do not get any worse.
Here's what I have done so far. I have limited my Mh to 5hrs for 1, 3 hours for the other two, and 8hrs for the 4 actinic blue.
I did 18 gallon water change 3 days ago, and just another 18 gallon today. I also bought a super skimmer 220 3 days ago to help out.
I don't know if it is going to get better, or if I made any good changes so far.
The water looks better and not greenish no more, but I still have to wipe my glasses like 3 times a day.
Questions:
Are my bulbs too old?Very close
too many fishies?I don't think so
What else can I do?
and last, but not least, am I on the right track to eliminate my problem?
Any ideas or opinion is greatly apprieciated.
Thanks,
YummySalt
I would point to the lights if this algae has just shown up since adding them. Also need to get the phosphates down to zero.
 
yummysalt

yummysalt

Member
Originally Posted by ManyColors
http:///forum/post/2750124
I will give my imput but thats all it is...
I would turn the lighting period down a little bit, i don't have a MH but with just my VHO if i leave the lights on more that 8 hours my algea goes crazy, and i feed every other day, on the days i dont feed, i throw like 3 flakes in just for good measure, but i only have 2 clowns in a 50 gal tank. The skimmer perchase was a very benificial decision... As far as your lights go i think they should be alright if there only 6 months old. I don't want to point the finger but i wouldn't put it past the sales man to try and sell old lights, just some thing to keep in mind. thats just my 2 cents

Thanks for your input. I want to try to lower my Mh timing more, but also do not want to limit lights to my LTA.
 
yummysalt

yummysalt

Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/2750153
I would point to the lights if this algae has just shown up since adding them. Also need to get the phosphates down to zero.
Cool, thanks for the pointer Spanko. Going to do another water change tomorrow to help reduce my phosphate. Calcuim is a little low, but I thought it was fine around that. Will get it up.
I'm going to see if I can buy some new MH bulb and replace them to see if there's any changes. I really hope one of these things solve my problem.
I will let you guys know how it is doing.
 
yummysalt

yummysalt

Member
Well today things were much better. With the skimmer doing the dirty work, things cleared up pretty good. So far I have dumped 4 gallons of nasty from skimmer already, and still more coming out.
Did a wet skim for the first 3 gallons and the last gallon more of dry skimming.
I also turn down the amount of lighting time to 4 hrs 1mh, 3 hrs 2mh, and 6 hours for the actinic for the last couple of days. Now when the lights comes on, I don't have much aglae bloom on the glass like before.
When the bulbs for the MH comes on it is yellow first, then it gets brighter until it is fully white. Is that how it should start? or that is a sign saying my bulbs are old?
YS
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
No MH starts out yellowish when first fired then gets the brighter blueish tint to it as it warms up. The 6 months is what is telling you that you are on the edge of needing new bulbs.
 
yummysalt

yummysalt

Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/2753159
No MH starts out yellowish when first fired then gets the brighter blueish tint to it as it warms up. The 6 months is what is telling you that you are on the edge of needing new bulbs.
Thanks for the quick knowledge Spanko.
Next week I will be ordering new bulbs, and likely go with either 17,000K or 20,000K. If I have time this weekend, I will try to post some pictures of my tank.
YS
 
salt210

salt210

Active Member
are you still having the algae issue? to me it would seem like the light and phosphates would be a good home for the algae
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
You have too many nass and not enough snail variety. There's not enough food in there for all of those carrion eating snails... and if there is enough food for them than you are feeding too much.
Do you have a pic of those nass snails... usually when they are bought in those numbers they are mud snails... or Ilyanassa obsoleta. They are often called nassarus and were once officially labeled as such.
And if one thinks you can never have too many snails... snails poop too and is adding to your bioload. And if they are starving and dying... more nutrients to lead to problems. So it's best to have just enough in th eright vareity so they will take care of all your cleaning needs.... but right now they are competing for the one food group which isn't even alage (talking about the nass of course... not the turbos).
And please everyone ignore typos... my finger splints are getting in the way.
 
yummysalt

yummysalt

Member
Originally Posted by salt210
http:///forum/post/2759406
are you still having the algae issue? to me it would seem like the light and phosphates would be a good home for the algae
No, my algae issue is gone. After the last couple of weeks, the skimmer is doing a great job. My overflow box is still cover in algae, because I haven't cleaned it yet, but all the green algae on the sand, glass, and rock are pretty much gone.
Cranberry, you are right, I do have too much Nass snails. I will try to take a picture of it for you later when I get home. Which might be tomorrow.
Right now I am slowly seeing coraline through out the tanks, and all my corals are happy.
YS
 
pedro_mann

pedro_mann

New Member
It seems that your algae bloom is under control for now but I would recommend lowering phosphates to prevent hair algae problems down the road, etc. This has been mentioned by others but nobody said how. I have great results myself by using Seachem Phosguard. They also have a product called sea gel which is a blend of carbon and phosgaurd if you prefer. I would get the 1 litre size becuase I tried the 250ml size to start and went through it in a few months. Just keep some in a filter bag down in the sump. I keep some in mine for 2 weeks and then take it out for 2 weeks. It doesn't need to be in there all the time. My phosphates read 0 now. I also have chaeto growing in my sump to use up extra nitrates.
 
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