Brown and Green Algae.

[jschival1]

Ever since I relocated homes, my tank has never been the same. I now constantly have a reddish brown algae as well as a green algae that haunts my 29 gal. The reddish brown stays on the live rock ad glass walls as the green stays on the sand. I have done a complete chemical test on a biweekly basis for about 5 months straight only to have no adjustment in reduction or clarity. I have one living organism in the tank which is a large conch and a good bit of live rock that is well developed with calcium, mainly Figi. I have had no fish for about two months and my dual compact florescents are about a year old on a 6 hour daily timer. My salinity is at a perfect 30ppt/1.022, the temp stays on about 79 deg f, I'm currently at 8.2 pH, 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrite, and 10 ppm nitrate. I use a dual bio wheel penguin hang-on with carbon filtration. I have no clue whats been going on. Can anyone help me stabilize this rapid algae growth and prepare my tank for a healthier environment for new fish. Any feed back would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jschival1]

Any one have any clues or advice on a cause and fix.

 

[taz_12777]

As for a cause it may be that your lights are getting old, usually they need to be changed at a year. Since you moved the tank maybe the new position of the tank alows for more sun light than your previous location. Did you test for phosphates? What type of water do you use? For a fix you might want to add a clean up crew of more snails, crabs, etc. Since all you have now is one snail you might be able to cut back on your lighting a little more. Try using a nitrate sponge and if your phosphates are high use a phosphate sponge for that to get your levels down. With one snail I don't think you would need to feed that often if at all. And do water changes with some good water.

 

[razelynn]

i cant spell so bear with me. I agree with the post above. Old lights loose their spectrum, depending on which kind of lighting you use depends on how frequent light changes are required. The reddish algea is cyano (this is an assumption based on color) The green could be any number and a description would be great. If you recently moved your tanks and know your lights have not lost spectrum look at other sources of light that may affect your tank. Is it near an window catching stray sunlight?

 

[razelynn]

btw of course I did not mention it before a good absorber is a poly filter-usually i drop them in my sump when I get algea/cloudy water/high phosphates, etc. and also you may need to increase your water changes and test your source water for problems if you mix your own salt.

 

[abethedog]

You might want to drop light times down. Less light less food. Than add light back after correction. And I agree with the clean up crew. I've had cyno and fixed it with light reduction.