Algea Problem...please help

alang

New Member
hi,
well i have a 45 gallon reff tanks with approx 50 lbs of live rock and lots of corals, fish and inverts. just recentlly after i switched from a ton of flourecents to a MH 175...10,000K. it was all good for about 3 weeks and then all hell broke loose....for 2 weeks now i am having to scrub the tanks every day because this green stuff is growing so fast........i was told it was cyano....but im no algea expert so i have no clue..........its growing all over the rock and the glass and is really slimy lookin'. ill try to get some pics....now my question is that this stuff has to be living on something....i tested the water twice and the ammonia, nitrites, phosphates, and silicates came up zero. the nitrates came up at 12.5 which is what it is usually like, but the iron came up really high. is this stuff feeding on iron? oh and the ph was a little low but i added some buffer and its back up to 8.3. i have a penguin 330 on the tank and have a few power heads. i have no skimmer and have been doing fine without one for 6 months....could this be the cause? all of the fish, inverts., and corals are doing extreemely well exept for the montipora digitata (i think thats what it is) which isnt opening fully right now. so give me some answers if you got any.....im lost....help please!
 
Not sure but...Iron is a major ingredient in grass fertilizer. I beleive it helps bring out the dark green in the grass.
 

alang

New Member
i dont run a skimmer as i said earlier and i havent had problems with it until now. i did a 25% water change w/ r.o. last week and it showed no signs of letting up or even slowing down.......so im stuck still scrubbing for now. ill try another water change and see if that helps.
 
Your algae is a result of the light change. If you are going through a greenish-film on your tank walls than it's the light. You will need to be patient and keep scrubing the walls down for the next week and half or so. I remembered when I did a light change upwards that my tank hit the crap fan for almost two weeks until the tank stabilized. I would also advise you to do water changes with RO/DI water if you are changing 20% otherwise watch your phosphate levels since that will tend to promote algae growth. Nevermind about the iron...
Good Luck.
 

quazi

Member
If it is cyno (which it sounds like) then light is not the issue, nutrients are.
Get a skimmer ASAP. Also, run polyfilters for a week or so.
Siphon out the cyno with an airline tube (because you will be siphoning for a while.)
Do you have any fish eat the algae when you scrub it off? If so, it is not cyno.
Do you have any tangs?
What kind of clean up crew are you running?
How long do you leave the lights on for?
 

jonthefb

Active Member
what color is the algae? im pretty sure that the new algae bloom is due to your upgrade in lightign. when i did this on my 135 i had the same experience. what i would reccommend is to cut your photoperiod back to say 6 hours per day, and then increase by one hour per week until the period is as long as you would like. this could be why your monti is not opening as well. he was stable under your regular lighting for so long, that now by putting him under MH's he is gettign shocked! i would maybe move the monti to your sandbed, adn then graadually move him up to the spot you want him at during the course of increasing your photoperiod, that way he can adjust to the light!
good luck
jon
 

alang

New Member
ok i have come to the conclusion that it is probablly not cyano since cyano feeds on nutrients which i have very little of in my water right now. Plus the algea only grows when the light is on...so im guessing that it is film algea. i have a good cleanup crew (turbos, scarlet hermits, emeralds, ect.) but they cant seem to keep up with it. I think im just going to wait it out and see what happens............i dont want to put a skimmer on it because i have heard that skimming remove coroline spores from the water and i want the rock to get completely covered....which it has been doing very well lately. plus my water has been almost perfect since the cycle ended so i dont really see a need for it. oh and as far as animals eating this algea the only thing that i have really seen munchin on it was the turbos. oh and as for the monti.......they have grown considerablly since i got the halide....they are just closed up.......do they still grow when in shock? there are three in my tank at different levels and none of them are really open thats why i thought it was the water.......and i did reduce my photoperiod to see what that will do.....thanks for all the suggestions
 
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