Brown Crap

[keisersosei]

I thought for a couple of weeks that it was just a diatom bloom. I stirred the sand and that cleared it a lot, but the next day it was all back again. Phosphates are less than .1. I have 20 turbo snails, 5 trochus, 20 bluelegs, 1 scarlet reef hermit, a cucumber, and a linckia starfish in a 55 gallon tank. Is this cyano and if so, will my current cleanup crew ever get rid of it? It seems like as soon as one spot is cleaned more "brown crap" appears. Oh yeah, I'm using RO/DI Culligan water from WalMart. The phosphate is 0 before salt and < .1 after the addition of Instant Ocean. Thanks for your help.

 

[keisersosei]

Here's a before picture:

 

[adrian]

Looks to me like you have a real nutrient problem in your tank. Cant tell for sure what it is, looks like a form of cyano, but there seems to be some hair algae on your back glass also. Do you have a good protien skimmer? If not I would suggest one. You could also step up your water changes, cut back on feeding, and run activated carbon if you dont already. PO4 really needs to be at zero, Ive never heard of IO containing PO4, but I dont doubt it, although I and many others have been using it for years with no problems so I doubt its the cause of yours. Do you have a DSB, what are your nitrate readings? Of course herbivores will help, if they will eat what you have, but if there is a nutrient overload they may not be able to keep up. Lighting can also contribute to algae problems, ie if your bulbs are old or the wrong spectrum. HTH

 

[finland]

From the pic, it appaers that you have quite a bit of hair algae on the lr and glass. Possibly over feeding? Do you have a protein skimmer to remove organics in the water. Also what is your nitrate readings.

 

[keisersosei]

I thought algae on the back was good, providing a natural look and food for crabs and snails. But not hair algae? No, I don't have a protein skimmer but plan to get one in a couple of weeks after I set up my sump and refugium. I have had carbon in the hang-on filters until the other day when I removed it. I only have 3 fish so I don't feed much and always watch to make sure the fish eat every flake. I could do water changes more often but I have heard different opinions on this and decided to go with the school of thought of less water changes. I do have a DSB and nitrate is 0, along with ammonia and nitrite. My lights are brand new 10000K 220watt PC (2 daylight, 2 actinic). I dose strontium/molybdenum, liquid calcium, and iodide.

 

[adrian]

Algae thrives on two things, nutrients and light, you cant avoid the light part in a reef tank, but the nutrients can be all but eliminated through nutrient export, ie skimmer, carbon, water changes, macro algae growth, ect. Until you get your skimmer, and refugium up and running I would rely on carbon and water changes, carbon will suck up dissolved organics that algae will absorb and use to grow, and water changes will help to dilute these nutrients. Water changes are about the best overall method of nutrient export, and without them certain things that cannot be removed via skimming, carbon, macro algae growth, ect. can over time increase to toxic levels and have a very negative impact on a reef tank, of course this hasnt been prooven, but you may want to research the matter a little more. In any case a tank must be well established, and you must be somewhat experienced in reefkeeping before you decide not to do water changes, not to sound like a know it all, but when your tanks nutrient import and export rates havent balanced out, excessive algae growth is usually the result. True some algae is good for herbivores, and in a healthy tank some algae growth is unavoidable, but when it covers the rock and sand it can suffocate organisms and starve phtosythetic creatures for light. How old is yoru tank? HTH

 

[keisersosei]

My tank is about 5 months old but the algae has only been a problem for about a month. I guess I will start doing more water changes. What about 10% every 2 weeks? Is that enough?

 

[broomer5]

Not sure if this will help, already some really good advise given.
Reduce your lighting duration. If you have a couple corals, I would remove them to another tank or see if someone can hold them for you for a little while.
Cut off the light supply the stuff will not grow.
Decaying plant material will result, and you'll need to do some massive water changes. Basically you may want to consider doing several larger than normal water changes over a period of time, during this die off and after.
This is not a clean up crew issue, although janitors will help, they can't keep ahead of the growth.
As mentioned, this may be an excessive nutrient issue combined with lack of water circulation and a low pH.
I would not dose any more additives either, unless you are testing for each and watching their levels.
What is the pH of the tankwater ?
What do you have for water circulation ?
I noticed on an old tank I no longer have set up, that when I saw something similar, the pH had dropped considerably.

 

[keisersosei]

pH is 8.4. Lights are on for 12 hours (from 12:30-12:30) with natural light starting at sunup and ending at sundown. For circulation I have 1 Rio 1100 (300 gph) and the hang-on filter is rated at 280. The only place I have for my toadstool leather is the quarantine tank (I just set it up so there are no chemicals in it). But there is only one 15watt NO light on it; would this be enough? How much time are we talking about, weeks, months? Cutting the lights seems like a temporary fix. If that is the problem then when I go back to the regular light cycle all of the algae will come back.

 

[broomer5]

natural light starting at sunup and ending at sundown
keisersosei,
Is this tank near a window.
Does the tank get a lot of sunlight or ambient room light ?
This is not so good usually.
Cutting back on the electric lighting may remove one of the factors contributing to the the excessive algae growth. Having a lot of room light may be causing an additoinal problem as well.
Your pH, phosphate and nitrate levels are really good. A lot of people would love to have such readings.
Your circulation sounds pretty good too.
What size tank do you have ? I didn't see it or missed reading it.
Maybe the nuisance alage is a result of the spectrum of light the tank receives from that window ????
Does the tank get more light now from this window in the summer than it does in the other seasons ?? I don't know where you are located - here in the U.S. or somewhere else - but does the window face the south or southwest ??
Is the sun shining in on the tank ?
You set up this tank around Feb/March right ?
Is this tank getting more natural light now in the last month or so than it has before ?
Weird

 

[keisersosei]

It's 55 gallons. It is near a window but not directly in front. Attached is a picture that shows the tank relative to the window. I am located in northeastern Arkansas. The windows face north so direct sunlight shouldn't be a problem. The tank has been at my house for about 2 months. Prior to that it was at my girlfriend's where it sat directly in front of a window that faced east but was probably blocked from direct sunlight by a neighboring house and the black background of the tank. There was no algae problem there. It could be getting more light at my house but not significantly I don't think.

 

[keisersosei]

This is the only other source of natural light and it's about 30-35 feet away.

 

[keisersosei]

anyone else have comments?

 

[saltyman]

Have you tested your water from walmart? I use the same water and i also had the same problem.The only thing taht has helped me and i have tried lots of things is Phosguard. I add it to my filter it removes phosphates and silicates.

 

[joe's reefer]

i found ur problem ur takn is way to close to the window get something to separate the tank from the window like a dark sheet or something because it wont go away unless every inch of ur tank has a snail with that much natural light

 

[keisersosei]

Yes, I have tested the water and it is phosphate-free. After mixing Instant Ocean salt, however, posphates are about .1.
Joe-
I had thought of that. Actually, I just got back from WalMart with some black fabric. I was going to cover just the side of the tank, not the front. Do you think that will help or do I need to cover more? I thought about covering the entire tank during the day and at about 5:00 having the lights come on and taking the cover off. The lights would stay on until about 1:00am then the cover would go back on. I really don't want to have to cover my tank though, so if covering the side will help that would be much better.

 

[j21kickster]

Joe you seem awfully confident that that is the problem when i can tell you it might contribute but is not the broblem, if you notice in one of the earlier pics, the growth seems uniform in the tank not just on the left side. At my work i have a 300 gal that gets much more direct light than that and it dosent have that problem.im sure it is a chemical imbalance somewhere.

 

[j21kickster]

and no every inch of you tank w/ a snail would add a huge bioload. If you notice in this years annual marine fish and reef magazine there is an article that has a 2000 gal reef tank w/ plenty of direct sunlight in addition to several MH pendants. this is not your problem

 

[j21kickster]

i think you will have better results with a skimmer

 

[keisersosei]

That is a good point, kickster. The algae is uniform throughout the entire tank. So you are saying not to worry about the sunlight and try the skimmer first? I will get one on Wednesday. What do you think about the Red Sea Prism? That's about all the money I'll have for a while.