Help Green Algea On Live Rock
- Thread starter reefermon
- Start date
A
amphibious
Guest
There are many reasons this could be happening, Phosphate is one of them. Give us a little more information like, size of tank, filtration system employed, number of critters in tank, how many fish, how often and how much water do you change. It's not as simple as it seems.
reefermon
Member
the tank is a 150 175 lbs lr, a wet dry filter, a protein skimmer (CRAP BRAND), in the filter i have a phos. pad but its been in there for about 3 months. Maybe i should replace it. I have a yellow tang pacific blue tang 2 damsels, clown fish, a purple firefish. Brisstle star, 2 emerald crabs, hermits. How many hermits should be in a 150 gallon?
A
amphibious
Guest
soto,
The LFS is half correct. Hermits and a Blenny will probably eat most of it. However, more importantly, what's causing the algae outbreak to occur in the first place? If we are experiencing small patchs of algae here and there that our clean-up crew can handle fine, no problem. But, if it's getting ugly or out of hand then you'd better track down the source. Eliminate the source and eliminate the algae. It's that easy.
reefermon,
Without seeing your set-up in person I'm making an educated guess. The first "problem" I see is the wet/dry filter. They are known as very efficient converters of Ammonia and Nitrites but lack the ability to convert Nitrate to Nitrogen gas, the last stage in the Nitrogen cycle. Consequently, Nitrates build up to dangerous levels. Nitrates and phosphates are fuel for algae to grow. Have you measured your Nitrate levels lately?
You have a nice sized tank that is not over populated. You must be doing some maintenance like water changes and general cleaning. That is propably why it took 2 years for this algae to show up. Check your water parameters and get back to me.
Here's a link to a thread I explained why to get rid of your wet/dry and how to convert it to a sump/refugium - https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=231237 Check it out.
The LFS is half correct. Hermits and a Blenny will probably eat most of it. However, more importantly, what's causing the algae outbreak to occur in the first place? If we are experiencing small patchs of algae here and there that our clean-up crew can handle fine, no problem. But, if it's getting ugly or out of hand then you'd better track down the source. Eliminate the source and eliminate the algae. It's that easy.
reefermon,
Without seeing your set-up in person I'm making an educated guess. The first "problem" I see is the wet/dry filter. They are known as very efficient converters of Ammonia and Nitrites but lack the ability to convert Nitrate to Nitrogen gas, the last stage in the Nitrogen cycle. Consequently, Nitrates build up to dangerous levels. Nitrates and phosphates are fuel for algae to grow. Have you measured your Nitrate levels lately?
You have a nice sized tank that is not over populated. You must be doing some maintenance like water changes and general cleaning. That is propably why it took 2 years for this algae to show up. Check your water parameters and get back to me.
Here's a link to a thread I explained why to get rid of your wet/dry and how to convert it to a sump/refugium - https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=231237 Check it out.
mytank
Member
good luck on the green alge, my tank was overtaken by the stuff and I tried phospate remover and got the phospates down to zero and still the alge was growing like weeds. i finally just decided to start all over and threw away the live rock after we power washed the rock it just came right back. now unfortunately with several family emergencies that have come up I have not have the chance to properly take care of my tank for the past 6 months, i know i am soo bad, but it's been one heck of a year with everything coming up and even stuff I never want to go thru again. but hopefully when I get a new filtration system this will take care of the green alge. good luck again
A
amphibious
Guest
Originally Posted by reefermon
my nitrite is at o ppm, my amonia is at 1 ppm, my ph is 8.2, my mitrate is 0 i am going to do a water change tomorrow. should i take out my wet dry and just run a refugium and skimmer. or should i keep the wet dry and add a refugium? thanks
The quick answer is yes. But, this takes planning because you may trigger a cycle that could cause you some real problems. You know I can't see your set up so any change you make has to be your decision and responcibility. I recommend people replace their bio-balls with LR in the wet/dry. In fact that's what I did to mine. It's still a wet/dry but with a BIG difference. the live rock is porous and has the anerobic bacteria deep inside to convert Nitrate to Nitrogen gas. At the same time, I encourage people to use a DSB in their sump and tank. This makes a far better system to insure the completion of the Nitrogen cycle.
Here's a link to a thread I posted a couple of pictures of what I did with my wet/dry. - https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=231237
Rich
A
amphibious
Guest
reefermon,
I want to send you an e-mail but you have that option blocked. I want you to call me on a toll free line so I can ask you specific questions without having to type everything out. So, if you want to procede with this e-mail me at coralfragger@yahoo.com
I want to send you an e-mail but you have that option blocked. I want you to call me on a toll free line so I can ask you specific questions without having to type everything out. So, if you want to procede with this e-mail me at coralfragger@yahoo.com
reefermon
Member
it will not pull that site up DJ_EKPA05@comcast.net is my email