clueless

[flip_x]

Hey everyone for the past week my tank is growing alot of green stuff on the tank all sides.. like its easy to wipe off.. just makes the tank not pretty..
anyway i tested some of my water and heres what it is..
Ammo 0
ph 8.2
nitrate .50
and i cant remember the other two..
any ideas why this is happening?
oh also i do about 20% water change everyweek..
thanks
Cedric

 

[crypt keeper]

its called algae. how long are your lights running? green algae on the glass is an easy fix and very normal IMO in our tanks. Snails will do the trick. As will a mag float for the front and sides.
The main other test kit is trites. Did that register at 0?
Ammonia and trites will make any fish and invert go belly up as they say

 

[flip_x]

i just never thought algae would be so powdery when u use the mag float to clean it..
i run my 250watt mh close to 10-12 hours a day.. is that too much??
i only have a few snails left the nass ones.. i never see them
ya the nitrites if i remember said 0 also.. it was just the nitrates i had.. i dont have a phosphate test.. but i put some phosban in yesterday when i cleaned the filter along with some fresh carbon..

 

[crypt keeper]

my 75 has been up and running for a few months now. I have to wipe away the green algae every few days. I dont mind it because I have a few fish that graze on it. I also use my RO/DI water. Id cut back on the lights. Nothing really to worry about. Did you just start the tank?
Id make sure the trites and ammonia are at 0. That is a must before adding any animals to the tank.
Trates arent a huge issue if doing FO. If you plan on corals get them lower.

 

[flip_x]

Um it's been up for alittle over a year now. The algea that grows oh there covers everyside on the glass I'm about 10 hours. It's slowly going to a reef tank i've got a xenia and second gen blue hornet.

 

[fau8]

It is pretty normal you can cut down on your light by an hour or two, I would test for phospates also. As the algea feeds on this.

 

[old joe]

OK, so you have an micro algae outbreak... welcome to the club !
You didn't say where your water is coming from when you do changes. Do an on line search for your area's water quality if you are a city dweller. If you have ground water thats a different subject.
Tap water has pollutants in it including phosphate... fertilizer.
Are your lights on too long ? Is your lighting, whatever it be, old ? Lights dim after months and months of use which adds to the outbreak.
Do you have macro algae ? enough to hog up nutrients the micro algae is feeding on ?
Are you over feeding your fish ? feed the fish... not the tank !
Add the proper amount of snails and algae eating hermits. In sever cases, get yourself a sea hare. But most do not live long in captivity. A Sally Lightfoot crab is another great algae eater. Just see to it that the sea hare has plenty of algae to consume since thats all they live on... they stave unless you can provide them all they need to sustain life... you might even have to buy hair algae for them ! ( believe it, or not )
I's stay away from Lettuce Nudibranchs... they dont live long and they usually find their way into an impeller. The hairy legged variety of green crabs are good algae eaters... the hairy lagged variety eat bubble algae as well.

 

[flip_x]

it just never really had a big outbreak like this.. when i first started i used my tap water.. its cleaner than most places.. never had any algae.. then i went to get ro water from the LFS and it went good but then i found out it had some phosphates and did a hairline algae breakout.. got that in control with water changes from my tap again..
now i got a new light the MH and getting ro water from a fellow reefer that sells it $1 per gal.. but its salt water with buffers and stuff.. and he has 0 tds on his system..
the bulb is about a few months old..
i do have cheato but its in the DT and its collecting alot of stuff on it..
u think it could be the weather helping it out? my tank hits 82-84 during the day from 79-80
thanks