algae problem

hookedonreefs

hookedonreefs

Member
I was just reading the post about corraline algae, and saw that it is possible to run skimmerless. Here's my deal:
tank about 5 months old
have a fuge
have a sump
no fish yet
you can see all my livestock in my sig.
I do add some squid once a week to feed all the inverts
amm -0
trites -0
trates -0
alk - can't remember the num. but low
Ca 350
sg. 1.024
Soooo, I'm trying to spread corraline and get rid of my algae breakout. I'm going to start "b-ionic-ing" the tank tonight.
Until I get some fish can I run skimmerless except for the day I feed the inverts?
Also, how bad would it be if I ran completely skimmerless all the time? According to Kipass's post that's fine as long as I keep up with my water changes. Is this right???
Thankx
 
hookedonreefs

hookedonreefs

Member
also, going skimmerless is easier if you have a refugium with macros to take the NO3 outta the water... the macros will get a lot of NO3 this way and grow fast... there seems to be a threshold to NO3 uptake by macros... therefore keeping them trimmed and allowing them to "regrow" will continue the NO3 uptake
so turning off my skimmer will also help my macro grow faster??
Also, I don't think ANYTHING in this hobby is a '"no brain" process' at least for those of us who care...
Does this sound right: Turn off my skimmer, which should let my macro grow, and my corraline grow. These two (from what I've read) will help consume the nutrients that the nusciance algae feeds off of. Thus the nusc. algae will subside. Then I can turn the skimmer back on later, after my regular algae subsides.?
Thanks alot for the input Kip.
 
leigh

leigh

Active Member
you'll also be allowing more nutrients to get to your unwanted algae. i'd keep the skimmer running. i have no doubt there are more than enough nutrients in your system for your macro/corraline and skimmer all three to deal with!
 
josh

josh

Active Member
Few questions...
What type of skimmer?
How big of a fuge?
Most important, what type of algae outbreak do you have. If we can find out what type, it will be easier to get to the root cause of it. BTW - the coraline will spread, don't worry about that. Nothing happens overnight, it might take a year or more to get good coraline growth. If you want to promote good coraline growth make sure you have good circulation, proper alk and cal balance and it good lighting ( coraline loves actinic lights ). Just so you know, coraline can grow in lots of colors, just not the deep purple.
 
hookedonreefs

hookedonreefs

Member
josh - skimmer: berlin turbo
fuge - about 10 gallon
the corraline - I don't care what color, I just want more
Now the big problem - algae: I started with a brown dusting on the sand. (I figured diatoms) then it turned darker green. As of this morning it was getting hairy (so I figured hair algae)
I come home today, and there are bubbles EVERYWHERE!!??!! My skimmer is fine. Powerheads are fine. I can find no source for the bubbles:mad: :mad:
I'm going to try to attach some pics I took.
PLEASE HELP! This is starting to become the first problem that i've had with no clue as to why it's happening and what to do.
FEI: I use RO/DI water. I have two MHs and two Actinics. They are all 5 months old. The MHs are on 12 hours, the actinics for 15.
What do I do??
 
leigh

leigh

Active Member
thats a very long photo period. try cutting back on the amount of time you're running your lights and that might help!
 
hookedonreefs

hookedonreefs

Member
Thanks for the advice leigh. My only question for that is, if time was a problem why haven't I had an outbreak of algae until now? The tanks been fully up for at least 3 months. I can't imagine an algae breakout that happens within a week, would happen now and not earlier. I'll probably cut back anyway, but I have a gut feeling that there's another reason for all this, I just don't know what it is...
 
hookedonreefs

hookedonreefs

Member
Thanks skilos. It's not overly slimy -given that most algae is somewhat slimy. I don't have a phosphate test but I'll get one and do a test. I'm not feeding with flake. I only give my inverts some raw squid, and I've fed my corals with some frozen phytoplankton -sp?. The only change is that I added some new saltwater to raise my sg .001. I did that last night.
I think I'll do a 10% water change tomorrow, and start dosing B-ionic. Then we'll see what happens. I'll keep everyone posted.
Thanks for all the help. If anyone else has a suggestion I'm all eyes. ;)
 
josh

josh

Active Member
Yea that's red slime, there are a few things to do. Cut the photo period down, cut feedings down, run a phosphate sponge, siphon all of it out you can. Don't do water changes as it just replenishes some of what it is feeding off of and suspend any addtivies until you get this cleared up. When you siphon it, you will remove it along with the waste it uptook.
If things get bad, there is a med you can get called red slime remover by ultralife. Generally it's safe to use along as you follow the directions to a T. Some people will flip out that I recommended meds, but there are plenty of good experiences with this product from a lot of people I repsect in the hobby.....so I would say it's ok.
Before doing this you really need to adress the cause of the algae. One last thing, you probably won't get good growth from the coraline until this slime is gone, it is competing with the coraline and obviously winning.
 
M

mudshark

Guest

Originally posted by hookedonreefs
Skilos1 - RO/DI water.
That’s bad water.... no question.
Maybe the squid, it's tough stuff to break down and you don't
have that many inverts to start with.
Were do you get the RO water from? I lived in NJ near Trenton
and the water quality sucked..... even the “RO” we got from the
LFS killed my hard corals, I had to drive to South Philly to get
“clean” RO. I'm sure that the Squid cant be helping either.
Try feeding th inverts something the breaks down easier,
like Tetra marine Granules for a month or so to see if it helps.
Also try to siphon off as much of the slime as you can.
Diatom left alone will generally turn into Hair algae, if you
have Nitrates or Nitrites present in the water. The bubbles
would indicate that there is definitely one or the other in the water.
The release of nitrogen by algae as it consumes Nitrate is pretty
Common, hence the bubbles.
Sorry I don’t have any other advice…..except, make very sure that
Your water supply is really clean.
 
wrassecal

wrassecal

Active Member
Might have missed something but are the bubbles on the glass and/or on the rocks with algae or are they in the water? I still think you could have diatoms, but maybe you have both. As early as a week ago I had diatoms that were so thick it looked like slime, but it was more dusty and definately diatoms. Check your water for phosphates, run the phospate/silicate sponge, and reduce your mh lighting period to about 6 hours a day would be be my advice. I also agree with don't feed the squid. I moved my tank from a 55 to a 135 and after 2 months ( now going on 3) this is what I had and still do have a lot of it........ also to help your corraline spread you can point a powerhead at a rock that has a lot and you can take a new toothbrush and rub coralline with it to help spread spores faster.
 
josh

josh

Active Member
If you really want to check if you have diatoms, they can look like slime, leave your lights off for 2 days. The darkness will really knock down the population of diatoms, and it won't harm anything in the tank....don't worry.
 
hookedonreefs

hookedonreefs

Member
Thanks for all the info. guys. Here's some feedback:
Mudshark-I make my own water. I have a kent 50GPD ro/di system.
Wrassecal-(and others) I've already thrown out any remaining squid. The bubbles are on rock glass and sand. They weren't there this morning but as the day is progressing they are coming back. It has to be an result of photosynthesis from the algae.
All-I have cut my MH timing down to six hours. I really hope there's not a problem with the water since I just bough the darn system like six months ago. I'm going to run a phosphate spone and hope that works. I'm doing a water change today, and will start dosing b-ionic tonight. I will clean the skimmer today and see if that helps. That should cover all the suggestions.
One last question: Should I really siphon my dsb? I've read that can stir things up and it's not good to do. Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top