algea problem

kypitbull

kypitbull

Member
I got green hair and red slim. I started doing more frequent water changes. I cutting back on my light from 10 hours a day to 8. nothing is helping.
If i but my 3 corals in another tank for a week and run my tank for a week with no light then clean it real good would this help or hurt my tank? I don't want to kill the coraline algea. what do you guys think.
water Quality looks great and i do use RO/DI water
 
granny

granny

Member
Ok, three things are required for algae; Light, fertilizer in the form of phosphates and nitrates, and Carbon Dioxide
You have to eliminate all three to be free of this nasty stuff. Red slime is not as hard to get rid of as the green stuff. you can siphon it off daily and eventually it will disappear. It seems common in new tanks to first have brown diatoms, then red slime and unfortunately, frequently green algae.
You may need to add an airstone to your tank, which helps oxygenate it, which the algae doesnt like(wierd, huh?) make sure your lights are not old and the wavelength has changed-they need replacing every 9 months to a year max. Make sure you are not getting direct sunlight from outside on your tank as well.
Have you checked your phosphate and nitrate levels?
Phosphate should be 0 and nitrate below 10 to control the algae. I had to add a phosban reactor to my tank, which helped some. A refugium works because the plants in the refugium soak up all the nitrates and phosphates in the water. Right now, you will need to crop the algae daily and get as much as you can off your rocks, while perhaps adding phosban, a denitrator, even a refugium, make sure not to feed too much and shorten your light cycle.
The coraline will come back, if you lose some of it. Iwouldnt worry abuot that cause you cant see it now anyway with algae all over it!
 
120reefer

120reefer

Member
Originally Posted by Granny
http:///forum/post/2519871
Ok, three things are required for algae; Light, fertilizer in the form of phosphates and nitrates, and Carbon Dioxide
You have to eliminate all three to be free of this nasty stuff. Red slime is not as hard to get rid of as the green stuff. you can siphon it off daily and eventually it will disappear. It seems common in new tanks to first have brown diatoms, then red slime and unfortunately, frequently green algae.
You may need to add an airstone to your tank, which helps oxygenate it, which the algae doesnt like(wierd, huh?) make sure your lights are not old and the wavelength has changed-they need replacing every 9 months to a year max. Make sure you are not getting direct sunlight from outside on your tank as well.
Have you checked your phosphate and nitrate levels?
Phosphate should be 0 and nitrate below 10 to control the algae. I had to add a phosban reactor to my tank, which helped some. A refugium works because the plants in the refugium soak up all the nitrates and phosphates in the water. Right now, you will need to crop the algae daily and get as much as you can off your rocks, while perhaps adding phosban, a denitrator, even a refugium, make sure not to feed too much and shorten your light cycle.
The coraline will come back, if you lose some of it. Iwouldnt worry abuot that cause you cant see it now anyway with algae all over it!
Agreed. The only thing I'm wondering.. is your tank an open top or a canopy? Although open tops will lose a lot more water due to evap. It will help a ton with oxygenating the water. This along with what Granny stated above should help rid of the problem
 
candycane

candycane

Active Member
I would probably say look in to red slime remover for the red slime. READ THE DIRECTIONS ON THE BOX!!!! As for the green stuff, you gotta be sure what you have. Is it a powder, is it hairy looking, does it have segments, can you see through it, is it more or less really coarse? These are all things that are usefull to know.
Both of these alga can survive and grow if the alkalinity level is low enough. Thing is, that raising your alkalinity to try to kill it off DOES NO GOOD! There are probably 17 COMMON kinds of alga that are in home aquariums. I have only seen one EVER affected by higher alaklinity levels. It stresses fish out though.
The best method I have ever seen for getting rid of any green alga, is a sailfin tang. Those things will demolish an entire population in like a week.
 
mushroomss

mushroomss

Member
Use chemi pure.It is a type of carbon.I used that and bought 3 hermit crabs and all my algae problems have since gone away
 
rusting

rusting

Member
Originally Posted by kypitbull
http:///forum/post/2519775
I got green hair and red slim. I started doing more frequent water changes. I cutting back on my light from 10 hours a day to 8. nothing is helping.
If i but my 3 corals in another tank for a week and run my tank for a week with no light then clean it real good would this help or hurt my tank? I don't want to kill the coraline algea. what do you guys think.
water Quality looks great and i do use RO/DI water
Nothing Works better than good tank maintenance. Good water flow and weekly water changes of 25% will go a long way, Always use RO/DI water, and cut back on feeding. You can add 2 small power heads, and pipe them down to get more flow on the bottom of your tank. If you have CC weekly vacuuming is a good idea.
 
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