Can't shake Algea Bloom

[weberian]

Fish-only would be a lower specific gravity, but reef you should go 1.025. Who told you 1.023? Did they give a reason? I was just reading an article in this month's Marine Fish and Reef magazine about refugiums and it said some types of macroalgae release water-coloring pigments. What type of macroalgae(s) do you have??
Also, I have read some people's lighting schedules and they seem to have halides on 6 hours per day with actinics coming on before and going off after halides.

 

[subvillian]

Intresting stuff guys!!
Not tring to butt heads here Reef Nut. But i am just alittle scared that carbon is going to release phosphates in to the system. I been researching carbon on line and there appears to be a tossup on what is the right kind... there is activated ultra activated and Acid washed. They say Acid is the best but not sure i want somthing called acid wash in my system
Weberian how do i tell what kind of macroalgae i have and exactly what are the the differences of Actinics and halides? I have the blues tubes on one switch and the halogen on the other. Is that the difference?
Thx guys!

 

[celacanthr]

I would guess ur caulerpa went sexual...

 

[olga]

I had very severe algae problem, and my water was cloudy and green-yellow as yours, if not worse! I posted a picture of it on this forum.
Activated carbon did not helped, and I had a lots of it in my both filters. Does not mean it would not help you.
What eventually did helped me (my water is crystal clear now).. after I switched off lighting completely for 3-4 days, and covered tank with dark blanket. After that, water become more clear and clear every day. It was like a miracle!
Give it a try! No promises, but its my experience.

 

[brat]

Originally Posted by Olga
I had very severe algae problem, and my water was cloudy and green-yellow as yours, if not worse! I posted a picture of it on this forum.
Activated carbon did not helped, and I had a lots of it in my both filters. Does not mean it would not help you.
What eventually did helped me (my water is crystal clear now).. after I switched off lighting completely for 3-4 days, and covered tank with dark blanket. After that, water become more clear and clear every day. It was like a miracle!
Give it a try! No promises, but its my experience.
While I was planning to upgrade, I too had this problem with my 20g- after getting extremely frustrated and just water changes not helping, I finally decided to turn the lights off (I had low lighting on a 20 g) for most of the day. It was at the time a FO tank about 8 months old all parameters were exactly where they needed to be. I did a 50% WC added 10lb of cured live rock and only run the lights from 5pm to 9pm, continued w daily 10-20% WC with RO and continued to test water - each day, I was seeing inprovements in the water clarity - by day 4, it was crystal clear. I continued for one week with running lights for 4 hours a day. no problems since. - It might help, just don't give up.

 

[weberian]

I can't tell what type of macroalgae you have from the picture. Definately not cheatomorpha, so it's most likely caulerpa, but there are different kinds of caulerpa. Like an above poster mentioned, caulerpa can go sexual and release stuff into the water.
The metal halide light is the brightest one in the center of your light. The actinic lights are the blue fluorescent tube lights on the sides.
Lights off a few days sounds good to me too. And read some thread searches on lighting schedules in general.

 

[olga]

CV..here is a picture of my tank when it was going through the algae bloom, and a week after I switched off the lights and covered it with a dark sheet.
Ok, some might say: that algae bloom might comebak, after you will keep lights on again for 8-10 hours a day. But it was not in my case so far! I can expalin you why its hapenned, but I think other experinced hobbyists people will do it much better then me and in more proper "english"

 

[gtiguy]

Ok I dont know if anyone mentioned this but i know exactly what your going through...
I tried everything, cutting back on lighting, feeding, closing my blinds in my room, medias (phosphate, carbon, etc..) even got a better skimmer no help! Also i found out that doing water changes adds to the green algae bloom instead of helping it, i swear that was tru bc my tank would be clear after a huge water change only to get worse 2-3 days later.......I did research i posted on other sites and still nothing....2months went by green green green...i was getting desperate, until i came across the miracle that save my tank in 2 weeks NO LIE....I hope SF will let me post this but i kid you not the stuff work....ALGONE.....Check it out, ......... this was my tank before and after in about 2-3 weeks simplying following the instructions which by the way was nothing more than changing packets every 5 days......

 

[gtiguy]

If anyone is interested water changes in a severe algae bloom only make things worse, cabon will not do anything either will any other media to be honest, i dont know how a green algae bloom starts or for that matter goes away i just know it has to do with an inbalance in your water parameters coupled with possibly over feeding, to much lighting etc....i still cant believe my tank is as clear as it is now, i am simply amazed and the weird thing is a green algae bloom in a marine tank is a rarity of conditions ....but trust me when i say i tried it all, i even removed all my sand bc i think i was also having a DSBP (deep sand bed problem) which creates hydrogen sulfide and can wipe out a tank over nite...and even that still didnt do the trick, now only have about 1" sand bed compared to a 3" bed....so if you need anymore assistance lemme know bc i battled it for awhile and almost gave up the entire hobby.....

 

[olga]

Originally Posted by GtiGuy
Ok I dont know if anyone mentioned this but i know exactly what your going through...
I tried everything, cutting back on lighting, feeding, closing my blinds in my room, medias (phosphate, carbon, etc..) even got a better skimmer no help! Also i found out that doing water changes adds to the green algae bloom instead of helping it, i swear that was tru bc my tank would be clear after a huge water change only to get worse 2-3 days later.......I did research i posted on other sites and still nothing....2months went by green green green...i was getting desperate, until i came across the miracle that save my tank in 2 weeks NO LIE....I hope SF will let me post this but i kid you not the stuff work....ALGONE.....Check it out, .......... this was my tank before and after in about 2-3 weeks simplying following the instructions which by the way was nothing more than changing packets every 5 days......
I am glad Algone worked for you. I was so desperate to deal with cloudy water/algae bloom and ordered it from US with hefty shipping cost (as i could not buy it in UK).
I must say: it was some improvement to clear water in my tank, but not much. However its a brill product to lower nitrates.
As it was said before: different things works in different set ups. I think, I've tried most of them, until I switched the lights off for 4 days, and put some holy water in the tank. lol Not sure, what helped. :notsure:

 

[reefnut]

Activated carbon reduces organics in the water so it helps remove the food source... a good grade carbon such as black diamond will NOT leach phosphates into the water. Low grade carbons will.
After reading all the testimonies on here it seems to me the thing that works the best is reducing the lighting. Remember though, there is a reason for the algae bloom... removing the food (nutrients)... removes the algae. Water changes, macro algae, carbon, etc...

 

[olga]

Originally Posted by GtiGuy
battled it for awhile and almost gave up the entire hobby.....
So did I, Gitguy! I was fighting cloudy water for 2 months, nothing seems to help after taking all advise and spending £££ for various equipments and water treatments. I even was on a brink of divorce with my husband, because of this problem.
Not any more though! :jumping:

 

[subvillian]

THX Everyone for there posts? I am leaning toward it being a lighting problem. In the morning it looks more clearer but in the evening, after the halides been on the water all day, it looks real think. Like this morning i could see it cleared up a little. I am going to starte regulating a better light schedual. LED from 7:30am till noon. then noon i will turn on blues. 4:30 i will turn on the halides till 10:00 then another 2 hours with LEDs. I will let yall know the progress.

 

[olga]

SubV: Can you just try to turn ALL your lights off! For at least 3 days. Not any scheduling..for now.
According to your set up: you don't have any corals and inverts who require lighting. Or am I wrong?
Please try to do it!

 

[whitebird]

the 53 gal we have had bad algae and was a pain i we added another power head and more water movment and its realy helped not even close to what it was before

 

[miked0523]

Do you keep your refugium light on 24/7, And also do you have any macro algae in your main tank? Is your skimmer pulling alot of stuff from the water?

 

[gtiguy]

The lighting may work, and you could try it for 1 day or 2 esp if you dont have any corals or inverts, but if that doesnt work i have heard people who have covered there tanks completely with dark coverings for 24-48hrs with no light and that has worked...alittle to crazy for my standards but another way to do it :thinking: If all else fails i honestly would try algone and leave the tank alone for 2 weeks (thats what i did, and it was extremely hard not to touch anything or add anything) but it worked.....Just my 2 cents....

and by the way my tank acted the same as yours sounds, clearer in the moring, and thick green at night, sounds like a phytoplantonic green algae bloom to me, and unless you want to invest in a UV sterilizer which claims "rids green water" changing the lighting will only delay the green....

 

[subvillian]

Ok i just got a UV sterilizer yesterday and this morning there is great improvement!!! Finally some peace I will run it for 2 more days and then turn it off. I hear mixed feelings on running it all the time. Was also thinking about getting some carbon. Is this bad for a reef tank?
To answer a few questions... I have 2 corals and an anemone. My skimmer is always getting dark green gunk in it as of yesterday that is.. And, i DO run my refugium lighting 24/7..
I just read Reefnut's post again and i will pick up some black diamond today.
It turns out, from 2-3 months of experice with green water, That the algea (LFS says Plankton) turns Asexual in the lighting. So In the mornings there was always less then in the evening. Now this could all be wrong but its how i understand it. If anyone wants to clear it up for me better plz do.
i will post my tank pics in 2 days.

 

[subvillian]

Ok Here is my tank after UV sterilizer. Only ran it for almost 2 days. and its been 2 days i guess Off. you can see the difference and my levels are all stable.

 

[subvillian]

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