Algae Problem - Help

[krymick]

Algae grows on sand, vacume it up and it is back within 3 days.... what can I do?
7 Months Old
55 Gallon tank with
wet/dry filter
Protein Skimmer
Diatamous Filter 4 hours per day
60 lbs live sand
74 lbs live rock
2 powerheads
14K light 13 hours per day
1 mw moonlight 11 hours per day
1 Foxface
1 Green Chromis
1 Coral Beauty
1 Yellow tang
2 Blue Hippo tangs
3 Pajama Cardinals
1 Lawnmower Blenny
1 Goby
1 Black/White Chromis
1 Six Stripe
2 Black/White Clowns
3 Fire Shrimp
1 Coral Banded Shrimp
6 Scarlet Hermit Crabs
10 Blue Leg Hermit C
5 Nasseras Snails
6 Turbo Snails
3 Porcelain crabs
1 Sally Lightfoot
1 Dersa clam
1 Flame Scallop
1 Crocea Clam
1 Flowerpot Branching
1 Candy Coral
1 Acro
1 Grogorian
1 Medium Green Zoo's
1 Small Green Zoo's
22 Mushroom's
1 Elephant Ear Leather
1 small bubble Coral
See Pictures

 

[aquaria]

Wow you have a lot of fish in there lol
Anyway there are many causes of algae (ugly brown and green algae)!
I would check your nitrate level and phosphate level, because High dissolved phosphate and nitrate levels are a wonderful encouragment to nuisance algaes.
Post back with your test results

Hope this helped

 

[30-xtra high]

that is so overcreowded. I can't believe your stupidity. do you not research before you buy fish?
you cant have the foxface
the yellow tang
either of the hippos
and probably about 4 of the other fish.
don't try to fix the algae if you plan on keeping those fish... just expect everything to die.
how manu total watts of light?, you probably can't keep some of your corals either.

 

[who dey]

Originally Posted by 30-xtra high
that is so overcreowded. I can't believe your stupidity. do you not research before you buy fish?
you cant have the foxface
the yellow tang
either of the hippos
and probably about 4 of the other fish.
don't try to fix the algae if you plan on keeping those fish... just expect everything to die.
how manu total watts of light?, you probably can't keep some of your corals either.
I believe you owe an apology

 

[aquaria]

Originally Posted by 30-xtra high
that is so overcreowded. I can't believe your stupidity. do you not research before you buy fish?
you cant have the foxface
the yellow tang
either of the hippos
and probably about 4 of the other fish.
don't try to fix the algae if you plan on keeping those fish... just expect everything to die.
how manu total watts of light?, you probably can't keep some of your corals either.
Ouch Harshness lol
No one is stupid just very inexpirienced thats all
Originally Posted by Krymick Profile
Birthday:
June 2, 1960
Tank Size:
55
My Fish:
Dwarf Coral Beauty Angel
My Corals:
Alveopora
Hobby Experience:
Newby
Occupation:
Real Estate
My Location:
Spring, TX
Hence Noob status

Anyway lol, just do some research and cut down the creature list, do some research and you should be fine.
Good luck

 

[who dey]

Originally Posted by krymick
Algae grows on sand, vacume it up and it is back within 3 days.... what can I do?
7 Months Old
55 Gallon tank with
wet/dry filter
Protein Skimmer
Diatamous Filter 4 hours per day
60 lbs live sand
74 lbs live rock
2 powerheads
14K light 13 hours per day
1 mw moonlight 11 hours per day
1 Foxface
1 Green Chromis
1 Coral Beauty
1 Yellow tang
2 Blue Hippo tangs
3 Pajama Cardinals
1 Lawnmower Blenny
1 Goby
1 Black/White Chromis
1 Six Stripe
2 Black/White Clowns
3 Fire Shrimp
1 Coral Banded Shrimp
6 Scarlet Hermit Crabs
10 Blue Leg Hermit C
5 Nasseras Snails
6 Turbo Snails
3 Porcelain crabs
1 Sally Lightfoot
1 Dersa clam
1 Flame Scallop
1 Crocea Clam
1 Flowerpot Branching
1 Candy Coral
1 Acro
1 Grogorian
1 Medium Green Zoo's
1 Small Green Zoo's
22 Mushroom's
1 Elephant Ear Leather
1 small bubble Coral
See Pictures
I really think you should be running phosban on a constant basis for that high of bioload.

 

[mikeyfishy]

Woohoo! Now that I know you can have 15 fish in a 55 gallon, I know I can do at least a dozen in my 46. I thought I'd be limited to about half that. :hilarious
Mike

 

[krymick]

ph 8.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Don't have a phosphate test, I will buy one
I purchase water from LFS both fresh and salt.
I have a great deal of surface movement and lose
about 1/2 to 3/4 gallon of water per day to evaporation
Change out 10% every week without fail
Dose tank once per week with
Kalkwasser 1 once
Kent Iodine 1 once
Kent Essential Elements 1 Once
Kent Iorn 1 Once
Kent Strontium & Molybedenum 1 once
Feed corals and inverts twice a week with
Kent Micro-vert 1 once
Kent Chromo-Plex 1 once
Feed fish twice daily
3 cubes Frozen Mysis Morning
2 cubes Frozen Mysis Evening
keep green veggies available for munching

 

[aquaria]

Hard to believe your nitrate is at 0, but i would raise the ph maybe like .2.

 

[30-xtra high]

Originally Posted by WHO DEY
I believe you owe an apology

i don't think i owe an apology at all... but if this was taken the wrong way, i guess i'm sorry, but this hobby requires so much research it is rediculous. you should not buy anything at all without the help of books, local fish stores, and this site.
and by the looks of your tank... don't take any advice your lfs tells you, if they sold you all those fish for a 55.

 

[who dey]

Originally Posted by 30-xtra high
i don't think i owe an apology at all... but if this was taken the wrong way, i guess i'm sorry, but this hobby requires so much research it is rediculous. you should not buy anything at all without the help of books, local fish stores, and this site.
and by the looks of your tank... don't take any advice your lfs tells you, if they sold you all those fish for a 55.
yes you do. No one should have to be called stupid on this site

 

[who dey]

you are overfeeding and this is the reason your phosphates are high when u check them. I would suggest feeding everyother day

 

[krymick]

I will change the feeding schedule.... not sure what to do about the overcrowding... yes the LFS sold it all to me, sure they are just wanting the sale. Unbelievable because it is a specialty store that predominatly deals in saltwater fish. I called them about the tang comments and their reply was that they had them in their store for three months together and they were fine so they should be fine in my tank. I will look for the phosban and start it.
My light is a coral life 150W 20,000K metal halid and I think I can add another if you think I need to.

 

[30-xtra high]

trust me... they're going to die if they stay in their... yellow tangs get 8 inches, and need a 100+ tank, and blue hippos get 10 inches, and need a 125+ gallon tank. the foxface gets 9-10 inches and needs a 90+ tank., if your heart is set on a tang, get rid of everything, get a pair of clowns and a kole tang, and thats still pushing it.

 

[monalisa]

Originally Posted by 30-xtra high
trust me... they're going to die if they stay in their... yellow tangs get 8 inches, and need a 100+ tank, and blue hippos get 10 inches, and need a 125+ gallon tank. the foxface gets 9-10 inches and needs a 90+ tank., if your heart is set on a tang, get rid of everything, get a pair of clowns and a kole tang, and thats still pushing it.
Hmmmm, I read through this thread and didn't really take it that this poster was looking for demands on what he "needed" to do.
Krymick,
There are a LOT of people on this site who will be able to help you through all of this. I had an algae problem that was ridiculous, and it took a LOT of time (we're talking months!!) and adjustments, but my tank has been "algae free" (the bad stuff anyway) for a long time.
Do you have anyone helping you out with your tank...advising on what to put in, etc?
Things that helped with my algae, cut the lighting back, cut back on feeding, definitely get a test for phosphates (algae loves that stuff). What are your nitrates at? Do you use RO water or tap. Is your tank situated in direct sunlight?? All of these things will contribute to algae. And, as so eloquently stated previously, the fact that you have so many fish in a 55 may be leading to over stimulating the system. It might not be a bad idea to think about re-situating some of your livestock until you have a more appropriate system for them. Just trying to help you out...

Keep us posted on how things go!!
Lisa :happyfish

 

[krymick]

frustrated over the mix of information. SWF.com has information posted and they say a foxface is fine in a 55 gallon. Mr 30 gallon high has information that says no way. The LFS says it will be fine, another place says it won't. Very difficult to weed through what is right and what is wrong. It sounds like from the posts that my LFS is not the best source of information, but it also sounds like the online vendor I use may not be the best source either. I appreciate the phosoban advice and have ordered the appropriate 800 micron bags and a couple of courts of the stuff and I will wedge the bag into my wet/dry filter. If that doesn't work I found an inline device I may be able to add to my main wet/dry pump or my Diatamous filter pump. I am going to try this stuff for 30 days and see what happens.... I will let you know if the algea goes away or not. I will also let you know who lives and who dies..... While I have added a few things slowly, I have lost a few things and learned a few things. I bought a condi anomoni that just tried to eat everything in my tank. After watching it spit out the remains of a few crabs, it was removed. I bought some curly q's that ate a pair of clowns and got rid of them. Most of what I have lost has been to free add-ons on other purchases so I have decided to stay away from the we will throw it in for free things. I had a small bought with ick but treatment with a product called no sick fish and adding the diatamous filter has removed any chance of ick again. The filter removes the ick from swarming in the tank and the treatment kills anything on the fish so it has worked out well for me.
My yellow tang and my coral beauty are unseperable. They seem to follow each other. The foxface occassionally nips at the yellow tang, but the coral beauty attacks the foxface if it tries to get near the yellow tang keeping the system in check. The three seem to have differences but have seemed to work things out. The two hippos don't bother anyone and are not bothered by anyone. The coral banded shrimp is king and plays god father in the tank.
The three fire shrimp just run around and attempt to keep everything clean. I have had problems with corals being to close to each other but if something gets added and stops blooming I move it and it seems to do fine. Currently everything in my tank is real.... my lfs is pushing me to buy some of the fake coral as a baracade between live corals. It looks good and keeps the corals from hurting each other, I would like to hear any comments someone may have on how to keep corals. I have seen many 50 gallon tanks stocked with over 50 different corals and don't know how they fit so many of them in the tank without problems.

 

[30-xtra high]

Your lfs shouldn't try to "push" anything on you. it shows they're just tryin to make a sale. really your lfs should make more of a "take it or leave it" sale. and i do apologize for my earlier comment, apparently your lfs is to pushy.
and whenever me or my friends have algae outbreaks we all chip in to buy 300 snails, and 300 hermits, and we split them. we acclimate them, let them clean our tanks in a week or less, then we take'm to the lfs for store credit, and basically get our tanks cleaned for free.
what is your clean up crew? how many snails and hermits?
and think about this... a foxface gets 9+ inches. thats really big for a 55. it'd probably live unheathily for awhile, until it got about 5 inches or so, but then die. i'd strongly advise you to take it back for store credit.
and when you see people with a buncha corals next to each other, they add alot of small frags, and let the frags grow how they want to. they will naturally grow against each other and not mind each other. if you just put on against the other they freak out and tend to shrivel up in that area.

 

[payton 350]

build yourself a huge refuge with lots of macroalgae, buy yourself a phosban reactor, cut feeding down to a minimum, add some carbon, you need to get the phospates out of the system , tests may show 0 but that doesn't mean your tank is phosphate free, and please either get a bigger tank like a 220 or get rid of some of those fish

 

[payton 350]

what type of lights do you have? i seen 14k but how many watts, vho, t5's mh's...or standard flourescent......13hrs to have them on is way to long....cut it down to 4-6 for now then gradually increase it to 6-8

 

[azfishgal]

Originally Posted by krymick
frustrated over the mix of information. SWF.com has information posted and they say a foxface is fine in a 55 gallon.
Most stores (and on-line places) will tell you what you need for the fish at the size they are selling them, NOT what they will need when they are full grown. It seems some people at your lfs has taken HUGE advantage of you. But, you are smart in searching for a better answer. Buy the book Conscientious Marine Aquarist (sold on this site for a very good price) and read it from cover to cover. It will tell you just about everything you need to know. Good luck and I look forward to seeing your tank doing better soon.