Algae Problem

kirsch66

Member
I have a 92 gallon corner tank that is currently being taken over by algae. I change 20-30 gallons twice a month, but have been unable to clear up the agae. My water tests normal, and my fish appear to be doing fine. I first noticed the algae growing when I added 3 large pieces of live rock about 3 months ago. However, in the past month things are getting out of hand. All of my "fake rock" is completly covered with algae. What can I do to get rid of it, and how long will it take?
-Kirsch
 

chandler04

Active Member
What color is it? If it is coralline, then that is an awesomely super thing. You might be leving yer lights on for too long, you might be using tap water, or yer tank is too close to a window.
 

sly

Active Member
Make sure you don't use anything but deionized or RO water, no tapwater/wellwater.
Assuming that you already do use the correct water, there are several things you can do to take care of this problem. Keep doing the water changes. Add a tang to the tank that will eat the algae. I had a yellow tang and it ate plenty. Add some turbo snails and they will scrape the algae off the rocks and clean them up real nice. You could plant some macro algae in the tank or in a fuge to suck up the nutrients that are feeding the nussiance algae.
Encourage your coralline algae to grow. Provide strong lighting and maintain your calcium levels and your corraline will grow and eventually cover everything. This is the algae that builds the reefs and holds the rocks together, kind of like glue. I used to have an algae problem until I added a tang and snails. Once they cleaned off the algae, my corraline grew like crazy. Once corraline is established in a tank, regular algae didn't grow. Now I don't have ANY algae in my tank except for a little that grows on the glass which I scrape off as needed.
 

kirsch66

Member
Well, I'm sad to say that I am using tap water. Obviously, I need to stop doing that. Do you purchase R/O water from the store, or make it at home? What costs are involved? The algae is not hard, and is very "stringy" if that makes sense. I have a blue hippo tang and a huma trigger that love to eat romaine lettuce. I've been putting a new piece in every day. If I stop doing that, will it promote them to eat the algea off of the rocks and glass? I'll pick up some turbo snails tonight if you think that the trigger will leave them alone. How many do I need for a 92 gallon tank? As far as the lighting goes, I thought my lights needed to be on for 8 hours or so to keep my live rock and anenomes(sp?) alive! Sorry about all the questions!
-Kirsch
 

kirsch66

Member
Can I add a yellow tang if I already have a blue hippo tang, huma trigger, green spotted puffer, fire clown, yellow saddled clown, and a hawk fish?
 

sly

Active Member
I'm not sure about the tang question, you have a big tank and they MIGHT get along but it's likely that they will not.
I have 30 Turbo snails in my 72gal tank and a few have died off, mostly from being attacked by some of my hermit crabs wanting a bigger shell. It's a little funny to see this little hermit crab trying to carry around this huge turbo snail shell, hoping to grow into it! I need to add some empty shells for the little guys.
Anyway, you might try to leave out the lettuce. I've never had a hipo tang but they probably would eat the algae if they had to. What happens is the tang eats the algae until it's just a little stump. Then it's short enough for the snails to finish off. Snails cannot eat the long "hair algae" until a tang or whatever shortens it for them.
Most of the time your lighting needs to be on for 12 hrs. I leave mine on for 15 and don't have any algae problems. If your bulbs are old (older than a year) then you may need to replace them or upgrade to MH or PC lights (or VHO). Algae likes to grow in dimly lit aquariums where the light is of the wrong spectrum. As lights age, the color shifts and includes wavelengths that encourage algae growth. New bulbs are bluer and have less of the red and green to cause algae to grow.
Once your coralline starts to grow, it will overtake the hair algae and eventually kill it all off. Once I got my snails it took about two weeks until all the hair algae was gone. It has never come back either and now I have cool looking coralline everywhere. :)
 

wakeskater

Member
MABY ALL YOU NEED IS A REALLY BIG CLEANING CREW TO CLEAN THINGS UP FOR YOU. WHEN I WAS SETTING UP MY 55 AND ALL I HAD IN IT WAS SAND WAITING FOR THE CYCLE TO FINISH I HAD A PRETTY NICE SIZE ALGE PROBLEM. AFTER I GOT THE LR IN AND GOT THE RECOMENDED CLEANING CREW SIZE THEY CLEARED THINGS UP NICELY. EVEN TOOK OFF THE ALGE THAT WAS ON THE ROCK BEFOR I HAD RECIEVED IT. REGAURDING THE TAP WATER USAGE I DINT KNOW IF ANYONE ON THIS THREAD HAS ALREADY RECOMMENDED THIS BUT IN YOUR LFS THEY SHOULD SELL THIS PRODUCT CALLED AMQUEL AND THE PRODUCT ELIMINATES NITRATES,NITRITES,AMMONIA,CLORIMINES,AND CLORINES. AMQUEL WILL NOT INTERFEREWITH THE BIOLOGICAL CYCLE. ALSO AMQUEL WILL ALSO NOT AFFECT THE WATERS PH. AND AMQUEL IS SAFE TO USE IN REEF AND LR AQUARIUMS.HTH
 

kirsch66

Member
I'm aware of Amquil, and currently use it. That's why I thought I was ok with tap water. I had no idea that it was going to cause this big of a problem.
 

wakeskater

Member
I DONT THINK THATY IT IS THE AMQUEL BECAUSE I USE IT AND IM FINE, DO YOU HAVE YOUR LIGHTS ON A TIMER? THEY NEED TO BE ON FOR 12 HOURS AND OFF FOR 12 I BELIEVE THAT IS THE SCHEDULE THAT I AM RUNNING.
 

zap800

Member
does your algae look like this? because i am into my 3 week of a cycle and this stuff started about a week ago so i am hoping this will go away when i put my clean up crew in. dont mind the letters in the pic. i was just messing around with compupic pro
 

mburnickas

Member
It is normal and it will/should go away. What is your water stats? Also what are you using for top off water? or water in general?
 

zap800

Member
i am useing tap water with cantra clorine plus added to it.
amonia .25
nitrite just s smidge above 0
nitrate 0
ph 8.0
i know i should raise the ph a tad so i was going to add a little sodium bicarbinate mixed with some tank water to raise it up .
whatcha think?
 

mburnickas

Member
I also used tap water with a conditioner to it, but still had the problem. So I switched to distilled till next paycheck (end of month). Only been using it for 8 days & it does help. Next it is RO/DI here I come! It is worth the money as I can see. I though it was BS but nope. You PH is a little low but that will not cause the problem.
You more then likely have high silicate and phosphates (from tap water). I got a fighting conch and that helped big time. Also some micro and snails will help. Also keep the lights to a min when cycling. My lights were only on 3 hours per day to help LR.
I know my rocks were covered with algae big time, which I wanted for my upcoming fish. I got some fish from SWF and within that shipment was a yellow tang. So far after 5 days he is full of color and full stomach. And now I have clean rocks and you can see the coraline alage better!
Only one little LR to go!
Oh, a skimmer will help.
 

zap800

Member
i have a prizm skimmer on the tank already. and i have a report from the local water supply. the ol thing in my water is stuff from processing the water through. and thats in the ppm. so its nominal. i will try to stop using the light though and ill see if that helps. im also going to order an invertabrate package in about two weeks. my tank should be pretty stable by then. only time will tell. thanx for the reply
 
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