Chronic Algae problems

[reef dude]

My tank is approaching the one year bench mark by the end of this month. Durring the first 1-4 months, I kept getting brown algae all over the sand and glass(diatoms was what i was told) Then they started to go away, but when the blooms died down, I saw a rise in a thin green filmy algae all over the glass, which has been on going up untill the present. And now in the past few weeks, its been changing back to the brown stuff. I wipe the glass almost every other day and it comes back like crazy.......
This is really starting to bother me because i thought that it was normal for "new" tanks to see this, but not after a year??
Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations?????????
-dave

 

[reef dude]

OK, here goes:
90 Gallon tank
I Just purchased a RO/DI from Kent marine and did one water change of about 10 gallons about a month ago. I top off the tank with of course my new RO/DI water.
pH = 8.3
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = less than 10 ppm
Alk = 3.5 meq/L (11 dkh)
Calcium = 510 mg/L (ppm)
Phosphates = .3 ppm
Fish:
Marine Betta, Longnose Hawk, 3 fire gobies, yellow wrasse, 1 true percula, Psychadelic Mandarin, Yellow headed Jawfish
Inverts:
Frogspawn, Green Open Brain, Button Polyps, small tree coral, a wilting colt coral, Large Finger leather, apprx. 60 blue leg hermits, 15 scarlet hermits, 60 turbo snails, 4 cleaner shrimp, 2 peppermint shrimp, 2 feather dusters, 1 harlequin shrimp
Lighting:
2 175w Metal Halides each 5,500 K (these bulbs are pushing a year old)
2 40w actinic 03 fluorescent bulbs (pushing a yr. old)
total of 430 watts
HOPE THAT HELPS!!

 

[reef dude]

bump

 

[clarkiiboi]

Sounds exactly like my tank (also a year old and the diatoms). I know, like said above, that phosphates are the main problem. If you continue to use your ro/di unit (lucky you) eventually that water should replace the old tap water. Maybe do bi-weekly small water changes for awhile, I am sure you will see an improvement.

 

[clarkiiboi]

Also, the actinics most likely need replaced, almost a year old right? Not sure about MH and how often on those. HTH

 

[reef dude]

Yes I have used Kents phosphate remover before and it did good for about 2 weeks but then the algae started to come back. I DO drip kalk, usually every other night (key word: usually) I started to decrease on the dripping b/c my Ca is moving up into the 500's and i dont want anything to precipitate out.
So how many, what % of water each weak or month of a water change would you recommend. 5 to 10 gallons every other week sound good?

 

[fishfreek]

I see you are using 5500k MH for your lighting. I'm not sure 5500k bulbs are the best for reef tanks, i beleive that spectrum may suit the fresh water planted tank a little better. That may have something to do with the algae you are experiencing. You may want to try a 6500k or higher color temp when you replace the old bulb. HTH

 

[krishj39]

Yeah, I agree that your light frequency might be an issue. Certainly, phosphates aren't the end-all to algae problems. I have only the slightest trace of phosphates (<.03), and still a huge hair algae problem. As of tonight, I THINK I've narrowed the problem down to my lighting as well (old bulbs).

 

[attml]

I post in a SPS forum on another board and I have often noticed that the aquarist running the 6500K Iwasaki's and lower K bulbs, 9 times out of 10 have Hair Algae or Bryopsis growing in the pictures of there tanks. I asked if this was normal compared to using higher kelvin temp lighting and at least one person said they had more unwanted algae with the lower kelvin rating. At a year old it is time to trade those puppies in (on some 10,000K Ushios) which will give your coral better color also!!

 

[broomer5]

9 fish in a 90
A year of using other than RO or RO/DI water.
Old lamps of lower than desired Kelvin.
Phosphates above desired levels.
All of which can contribute to nuisance alage growth.
Do you run a protein skimmer ?
What can you tell us about your water circulation and does your pH hold steady at 8.3 ?
It's hard to pin down the algae growth to "just one" thing.
Normally excessive algae growth is a result of several factors;
High Nutrients ( including the stuff we don't test for like dissolved organics )
Intense lighting of long duration.
Old lamps or lamps of improper spectrum.
Poor in tank water circulation.
Excessive CO2 gas in solution.
High phosphates.
High nitrates.
Insufficient clean up crew.
High bioload
Tapwater
Poor saltmix
and the list goes on and on

 

[fishfreek]

boomer, you mentioned in your post something about excessive CO2 gas in solution. Does this occur in kalk solution, if too much kalk is added when mixing?? Can you explain a little more about this?