algea questions

[ashenwolf]

I've been cycling my tank with damsels since about August or September while adding peices of LR occasionally. Well, lately in the last few weeks i had a huge burst of maroon algea ALL OVER. well i did a good clean of the tank and it's looking good right now. But, i was wondering, if future algea blooms come up is/would it be safe to add snails or some other inverts that would help me deal with that? What kind would you reccomend? And also, what kind of algea is this and what is it caused from? Thanks!

 

[salty rick]

I would recommend a reef janitor crew. This would consist of Astera, Narsisus and Turbo snails, red legged, or blue legged or scarlet hermit crabs, maybe a ermerld crab and maybe fighting conchs. The rule of thumb is one for every 1 to 1 1/2 gallons of water that your tank holds. The Astera and turbo snails help keep the glass and LR clean. The crabs work on the LR also. The Narsissus snail and fighting conch work on the sand bed. This sight offers reef janitor packages to suit the size tank you may have.

 

[ricksreef]

sounds like you might have met
the dreaded 'cyano' algae,it feeds
primarily on phosphates.check your
water source,foods,etc..for it.
it also seems that as bulbs age,
the spectrum shifts downward to
favor this algae.try a search for
"cyanobacteria" you'll find all kinds
of info. i also second saltyrick's
advice on picking up a cleanup crew,
but i'd also add a holothuria
cucumber to the mix,mine love cyano.
JMO/HTH

 

[steve40]

From what I have heard about that algae is that it will not come unless there is something wrong with the water params. I was having alot of trouble with it this past month. That algae hates oxygen. If you got more oxygen in the water it would definately kill off alot of it, at least it did for me. Do you have a protein skimmer.

 

[ashenwolf]

Well, I have a CC bottom, suppose i should've told you that in the first post, will the clean up crew you stated before work with that too? I do not have a protein skimmer yet because I was told that i should buy my LR first and then a skimmer because i'm buying my LR peice by peice. Thank you for all your help.

 

[ricksreef]

with a CC bed the grains are to angular
for snails,conchs,or cukes.not to mention the
normal sandbed critters.it would be like
you walking on a beach filled with broken
glass.CC beds will also trap food/detritus,
raising your nitrate & phosphate levels.
both of which are fertilizer for plant growth.
you'll need to deep vac the bed to rid
the system of organics BEFORE they break
down.is this going to be a fish only system?
if not i'd recommend switching over to an
aragonite sand bed.

 

[salty rick]

Probably the only other alternative is vacuum your CC bed each time you do a water change. If your nitrates and phosphates are measuring high you can try the phosphate & nitrate sponges in your filter.
If this is a newly set up system then this may be a normal part of cycle. I would suggest that you test your water and get back to us.
Ultimately I would recommend that you go from CC to a deep sand bed or indtall refrugium (spelling?). The DSB was what finally got my nitrates down. Switching is easier if you do not have alot of LR, corals and fish in the system now.

 

[ashenwolf]

i thought about switching to DSB but iwasnt sure when i would be able to. i do vaccum my CC regularly though, and thats what seemed to help this time. no sign of mroe blooms since i last cleaned it but it may take a few days. is there any clean up crew that doesnt mind CC?

 

[dreeves]

The maroon "algae" you described sounds like cynabacteria. This is not an algae at all. As the name includes...it is a true bacteria. This type of outbreak usually occurs when there has been a significant change in the bio filter portion of your filtration, or any other time the bio system is cycling, or otherwise not performing to its needed capacity. Water quality is the key here.