HELP Algea Problem

kaseykagan

kaseykagan

Member
Our whole tank is full of this algea. All our water tests are good. We have 155 gallon and hove about 175 different snails. However we still cannot get rid of the green monster!!! Our water flow seems good, no dead spots. Also our lighting is Power compacts and the bulbs are about 1 year old!
Any ideas on what the problem my be.
DESPERATE :help:


 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
In my opinion your live rock was subjected to harsh conditions sometime in the past. High Ammonia, stagnant water, dried out, something like that. If so then it's going to be a tough battle because the nutrients for the algae are coming from inside the rock.
What do you think of getting a couple of Sea Hares?
 
kaseykagan

kaseykagan

Member
We recently did a change over from our 55 gallon to our 155 gallon. However the rocks were kept under water during the process which took about 3 hours! After this the algea really took off! What are Sea Hares? Are they very beneficial. We bought a Flame Angel, someone said he would help. However he only picks a little!
Now we just bought a new house and we are going to have to do another change!!!Any suggestions?
 
kaseykagan

kaseykagan

Member
Also we have been vacuuming the dead algea during water changes, however it seems to come back worse afterwards! We are dripping Kalkwasser. Should we keep vacuuming?
 
nate0729

nate0729

Member
are you using ro/di water? Checked phosphates? Also I believe you are supposed to get new PC bulbs after about a year because of spectrum shift. That could also be causing the unwanted algea.
 
actionjack

actionjack

Member
Originally Posted by kaseykagan
We recently did a change over from our 55 gallon to our 155 gallon. However the rocks were kept under water during the process which took about 3 hours! After this the algea really took off! What are Sea Hares? Are they very beneficial. We bought a Flame Angel, someone said he would help. However he only picks a little!
Now we just bought a new house and we are going to have to do another change!!!Any suggestions?
Sea Hares are pretty much sea cucumbers I beleive. They get pretty big too. And BangGuy, where can you get them? My LFS never has any, they rare or somethin? :notsure:
 
cjeffrey77

cjeffrey77

Member
My vote is the bulbs also. I just changed mine just before the one year mark, I hadn't really noticed the shift in color until I saw the new bulbs. Once I saw it though I remember thinking man I should have done this sooner. Just try it & if the bulbs don't look much different you can always hook the old ones back up for a while.
 
klearstar

klearstar

Member
kaseykagan,
Try some emerald crabs. They have helped me in the past (to an extent) on green algae. Plus they are a natural solution for the problem and are cool looking. Just my 2 cents.
 
pyro

pyro

Active Member
Bang Guy, I was wondering if there are any ways to tell if the algae is caused by the live rock for sure... I have been fighting algae problems since I set it up and pretty much voted all variables out. It is algae of all types.
Thanks
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Place a live healthy live rock that has been treated well (no high ammonia, no drying out, no stagnant water, no cold water, no hot water, etc.)
If this rock develops algae then it's nutrients in the water. If this rock stays clean and coralline takes over then the problem is coming from inside the other rocks.
 
pyro

pyro

Active Member
Thanks; I will give it a go. It is on the glass and sandbed though so I'm leaning towards DOCs since I run skimmerless and see a film on my water time to time.
Sorry to hijack the thread; thought it was relevent.
 
bluelagoon

bluelagoon

Member
how long do you keep your lights on?? i had a hair algea outbreak a few weeks ago, and i slowly cut back the length of time my lights were on to about 6 hours. all the algea disappeared in about 2 weeks. :jumping: unfortunately i still have some slime algea, but that's getting better now too.
 
actionjack

actionjack

Member
I too have been fighting an infestation of hair algea recently. Almost as bad as you got there >.<
I was wondering, Bang Guy, I have a 125g about 100lbs of lr and tons of hair algea growing. Would I be able to get a sea hare, and not get rid of it in the future? Any prepared foods or something that will keep him alive when hes done with algea?
 
kaseykagan

kaseykagan

Member
Thanks guys. Some really great advice. I love this board.
Our lights are on for about 10 hours in total, the first and last hour being the actinics only! What do you think? Too long? Should I continue to vaccum the stuff during water changes? and I will definately check out the Sea Hares!!!
THANKS AGAIN :jumping:
 
glengoby

glengoby

Member
I didnt read all the threads, but u might try a yellow tang if you dont already have one, I had a algae prob. about a month ago and he cleaned the entire tank in about 5 days my algae prob. hasnt been back since.
 
whitey_028

whitey_028

Member
It is summer time and the temperature in alot of our tanks have risen. Therefor more algea. Turbo snails will do the trick if you dont mid ping up some thing around them as they do get large and cumbersome andlike to knock corals off the rcks but they are difinately the algea eating critters. The have one thing on their minds Eat algea Eat algea Eat algea Eat algea Eat algea Eat algea Eat algea Eat algea Eat algea Eat algea
 
seegert

seegert

Member
I don't have much experience, but I have been told that a Lawnmower Blenny will fix algae problems. I also read in the description of this fish on this site that they are named this because they literally mow the algae right down. But like I said , i really don't have any experience.... I just thought from what I have hheard and read that it is worth at least looking into. Good luck. :happyfish
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top