algae problems

cwaters

cwaters

New Member
We have had our tank for 7 1/2 months.
75gal
1- flame scallop
1-long spine urchin
3-yellowtail damsel
1-chromis
4" maroon clown
4" naso tang
5" yellow tang
6" V. lion
We have added the lion in the past week and 1/2.... and the scallop and urchin in the past 3 weeks.
We recently upgraded our light. it has the blue light and the florescent. (seems the problem started about the same time)
since we upgraded the light our tank has been growing algae out of controll on the glass. We use our magnet everyday and scrub the tank with a 20% waterchange once a week. We have had our LFS check our water peramaters on a regular basis and nothing looks out of the ordinary. Phosphates s/p are not 0, but they are very low (according to our LFS.)
no real cleanup crew... Will that help?
I saw someone selling a "algea attack pack":
15 scarlet hermit
30 mex turbo snail
50 dwarf red tip hermit...
Will this help, it looks like an awful lot of critters, I am assuming my lionfish will have a field day...
Any suggestions?
 
wisconsinc

wisconsinc

New Member
I have a 75 and had the same problem as you. Although mine isn't stocked as much and I don't have as much light
I added 15 hermits, 14 snails and a lmb and they are doing a great job. I also added a 300 gph powerhead to move the water a little more.
They did such a great job, I bumped up my light hours to make sure they all have enough to eat.
 
hagfish

hagfish

Active Member
Originally Posted by cwaters
We have had our tank for 7 1/2 months.
75gal
1- flame scallop
1-long spine urchin
3-yellowtail damsel
1-chromis
4" maroon clown
4" naso tang
5" yellow tang
6" V. lion
We have added the lion in the past week and 1/2.... and the scallop and urchin in the past 3 weeks.
We recently upgraded our light. it has the blue light and the florescent. (seems the problem started about the same time)
since we upgraded the light our tank has been growing algae out of controll on the glass. We use our magnet everyday and scrub the tank with a 20% waterchange once a week. We have had our LFS check our water peramaters on a regular basis and nothing looks out of the ordinary. Phosphates s/p are not 0, but they are very low (according to our LFS.)
no real cleanup crew... Will that help?
I saw someone selling a "algea attack pack":
15 scarlet hermit
30 mex turbo snail
50 dwarf red tip hermit...
Will this help, it looks like an awful lot of critters, I am assuming my lionfish will have a field day...
Any suggestions?

What kind of algae are you getting? If it's just a little on the glass, that is normal. What kind of light did you add? PC's?
You definitely want some kind of cleanup crew IMO. I like nassarius snails the most. I also like cerith snails a lot. Although the critters you mention will do the job too. I wouldn't get that many though. Most "cleaning packages" like that try to give you much more than you need. I'd start with maybe half as much as what you have listed.
Do you have a protein skimmer? If not, I suggest adding one, they help a ton.
I think you are a little overstocked. That could be why you're getting algae along with no cleanup crew. Adding the light just gave the algae a spark to start growing.
 
cwaters

cwaters

New Member
Thanks for all your help....
We are definately at our max stock option....

I like adding new wonderful fish, but I guess it is time to say WHEN!
But maybe when our tangs grow, we can start a new tank!

We do have a protein skimmer. I am not sure what kind of lights we have..... I know one is Aktinic???? and the other is florescent, but I am not even sure of the watts... My husband got that little toy for the tank

Wisconsin, what is a lmb???
I will try both of your suggestions. I think I am going to try the RO water as well and see if that helps... and maybe cut the time the light is on... I noticed on some other boards they are only doing like 6-8 hrs of light... Ours are on more like 10-12hrs.
We will see.
Thanks again for the help.
 
hagfish

hagfish

Active Member
You should find out what kind of lights you have before determining how long to leave them on. I'm betting PC's since metal halides don't come in actinic and PC's are usually the cheapest option. Can you describe the look of the bulb? I have one tank running PC's and they are on for about 11 hours. On the other tank I have metal halides (MH) and VHO actinics. The MH's are on for about 10 hours, the actinics are on for about 12.
 
cwaters

cwaters

New Member
the brand of light is coralife. There are 4 short bulbs that go half the lentgh of the light. one bulb looks like two bulbs. (not sure if that is the best way to explain) so there are two blue lights in the back (looks like two long lights, but it is two short lights with two sides) the same in the front , but they are white lights. hope that explains it.
 
sharkbait9

sharkbait9

Active Member
something like the pic below. i was having the same problem with my tank and it been up for about a year and a half. when i made the switch to the lights pic below i had and am just getting over the explosion, my algae looked kind of like green dust. I would take my mag and brush it and it would just go poof and be off the glass. I'm doing a 3 day black out and so far it has helped a ton. I was told by coralife to lift the lights a little ( i had mine laying on the tank rim with the glass canopy under. I since have added some more turbo snails and they seems to be having a field day sanil trails all over the tank and lip marks from my lawn mower. Like i said since i added more snails only 5 now have 15 some scarlet and blue leg hermies along with my lawn mower and so far two day black out and a good scrub and water change all looks to be going good. I'm waiting for my adjustable risers for my pc lighting.
 
hagfish

hagfish

Active Member
It sounds like you have PC lights. You should be able to run them at least 10 hours, I'd consider 12. I don't like cutting back on lighting to prevent algae growth. The primary reason the algae is there is because of too much nitrate and/or phosphate and decreasing those nutrients is the best way to attack it.
 
cwaters

cwaters

New Member
those are the exact lights I have .... I will try the risers too. We were looking into that when we bought the light but thought we would wait. I did get some hermits and looking into some turbos. I am going to get the RO water today for my change and I will check into the risers. thanks for the help. I am sure this will help controll the poblem. I will keep you updated.
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
Originally Posted by cwaters
We have had our tank for 7 1/2 months.
75gal
1- flame scallop
1-long spine urchin
3-yellowtail damsel
1-chromis
4" maroon clown
4" naso tang
5" yellow tang
6" V. lion
We have added the lion in the past week and 1/2.... and the scallop and urchin in the past 3 weeks.
We recently upgraded our light. it has the blue light and the florescent. (seems the problem started about the same time)
since we upgraded the light our tank has been growing algae out of controll on the glass. We use our magnet everyday and scrub the tank with a 20% waterchange once a week. We have had our LFS check our water peramaters on a regular basis and nothing looks out of the ordinary. Phosphates s/p are not 0, but they are very low (according to our LFS.)
no real cleanup crew... Will that help?
I saw someone selling a "algea attack pack":
15 scarlet hermit
30 mex turbo snail
50 dwarf red tip hermit...
Will this help, it looks like an awful lot of critters, I am assuming my lionfish will have a field day...
Any suggestions?

You already have some folks helping you out, but I just want to mention you have Lion Fish? You do know they will eat the smaller fish right? :happyfish
 
clownfish0

clownfish0

Member
Originally Posted by sharkbait9
something like the pic below. i was having the same problem with my tank and it been up for about a year and a half. when i made the switch to the lights pic below i had and am just getting over the explosion, my algae looked kind of like green dust. I would take my mag and brush it and it would just go poof and be off the glass. I'm doing a 3 day black out and so far it has helped a ton. I was told by coralife to lift the lights a little ( i had mine laying on the tank rim with the glass canopy under. I since have added some more turbo snails and they seems to be having a field day sanil trails all over the tank and lip marks from my lawn mower. Like i said since i added more snails only 5 now have 15 some scarlet and blue leg hermies along with my lawn mower and so far two day black out and a good scrub and water change all looks to be going good. I'm waiting for my adjustable risers for my pc lighting.
what kind of lighting is that? Jebo?
 
cwaters

cwaters

New Member
It has been 3 days since my last water change. (I feel like I am in confession.)
I have noticed a significant decrease in algea... (almost none on the glass) no extra on the rocks. WOOOOO HOOOOO :cheer:
Changes that were made....
**Changed with RO Water
**put risers on my lights
**added 3 Medium size hermit crabs (I know, I probably need a little larger clean up crew.... am working on it.)
Bennifits of changes
**Water looks clearer
**very little algae on glass
**lights cover more area in the tank light up all the back and front, looks brighter and better.
other problems noticed
**lionfish has cloudy eye (not sure if got scratched or has infection)
took water to lfs immediately.... said everything is perfect. may be some leftover food sitting... maybe not good water flow... (working to correct that.)
**when I put the medicine in for the lionfish eye prob.... I noticed there were little white worms squiggling aroung that I have not seen before. Maybe they did not like the medicine and it brought them out of the rock. also may be caused by leftover food due to poor water circulation....
any comments welcome.
 
hagfish

hagfish

Active Member
What medicine did you use? Check to see if it had copper in it. If so, those worms were gasping for their last breaths of air before they die.
If the eye is bad, I would start a new thread in the disease forum about that. Sounds like it could be pop-eye, but I'm no expert on fish diseases.
 
hagfish

hagfish

Active Member
I just reread your original post and saw that you have a scallop (flame scallop I presume). Do you have phytoplankton to feed it? They are fairly difficult to keep so I thought I'd make sure you had some food it would eat.
 
cwaters

cwaters

New Member
thanks for the reply. I am using pimafix (sp) all natural no copper, but I do not think they like it..... do you know if the worms are good or bad???? they do not look good, so glad they usually hide... they give me the creeps....
Yes, I have a flame scallop. we have some phytoplankton (sp) that we regularly use, and he seems to be doing great. No problems with him. He sometimes finds a place to sit where we can not see him as good as we would like, but it is his home, so I guess I will let him sit where he likes. :joy:
Thanks for all the advise. I do have another post about the worms. Hopefully someone can give me ideas, but I do have a pretty good LFS. They took my call at 930 last night about the worms (they close at 7 but heard me on the machine.) I just like to get second, third and fourth opinions. These are my babies and I want to do the best for them.

Take care all.... Thanks for all the help.
 
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