Help me with green algae!

y2says

y2says

Member
OK...I need your help. Both my 75g F/O and my 35g reef is getting dominated by green algae. It's a pain in the ass scraping it off. :mad: I've been using tap water, but I'm also using Seagam Phosphates Control (I think that's what it's called). It's all over the glass and on my decorative corals and I can't get it off. I've been soaking it in bleach water for the last two days and it's still there. What can I do besides using RO water, which I'm going to do? I keep my lights on about 10 hours and all my water parameters are fine. In my 35g reef, I have 5 turbos, is there another type of snail that will eat it because the turbos aren't.
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member
can you describe it better, is it hair like, bubble like, or whatnot
it may just be part of your algae cycle,but maybe not
also, what are your water parameters
 
y2says

y2says

Member
It's green and it's on the glass and rocks. Even the turbos can eat it. I literaly have to scrape it off otherwise it's stuck. My ph is 8, ammo is 0, nitrite is 0, and it's been up and running for about 4 months. My 75g has been running for about 8 months now.
 
texasreefrat

texasreefrat

Member
I have the same problem right now. It is just part of the cycle, usually a brown bloom then the green slime follows. Im told it will die off in a little while and will be Ok. It is usually occuring around the third or fourth month of tank cycling.
 
90galreef

90galreef

New Member
I had the same problem when I f1rst set up my reef tank, and the answer is simple: you're overfeeding your tank! Clean out the green as best you can, then ease up on the food. As I was instructed: it's better to underfeed the tank 20 times a day than to overfeed once. If food is uneaten after 30 seconds, its too much. 1 year later, I have no green algae. Good luck!
 
y2says

y2says

Member
I'm going to cut back on the feeding, but I don't feed them that much anyway. It's just a pain scraping off the glass. Thanks for the help.
 
fishfreek

fishfreek

Active Member
I'm having the exact problem in my 45g reef. Green sheet type algae on the glass. I have to scrape it once a day, it sucks. The tank has been set up almost two years and i use RO water. Must just be some sort of algae cycle as stated above. I too will try to cut back on feedings and see if that helps. Hope it works.
 
fishy all the time

fishy all the time

Member
I had the same problem too. I found out though that I was getting a lot of direct sunlight. If I keep the blinds closed I dont get nearly as much. I also found an awsome magnet for cleaning. It floats, so you just drop one half in the tank and hold the magnet to the ouside of the glass. Thet stick together cleaning both the inside and the outside of the tank. You dont have to scrub like you do a brush and you dont get you hands wet!!!
 
wamp

wamp

Active Member
Is it a hard algea? By that I mean will it rub off or do you have to remove it with a scraper?
 
kris walker

kris walker

Active Member
To echo Burn's question, what are your phosphates and nitrates particularly? Chemical phosphate removal works well, but not for very high phosphate levels.
Assuming they measure 0 ppm, you have to remove all the existing algae in your tank. Simply rubbing it off the sides of the tank will not suffice because there is stored up phosphate in the algae you rub off. Once it dies, it will release the nutrients back into teh tank, spawning another algae bloom.
It is something to be concerned about, as you are. It will not necessarily go away unles you curb your setup, water-adding, and/or feeding habits.
Too much light will make things worse. For the short term, if your corals won't mind too much (you haven't listed them), I would scale back on the lights to 8 hours a day. More importantly, I would get at least 15 more turbos, and perhaps even a fighting conch. 5 turbos just is not enough if you have a lot of nutrients in your tank. I've heard that fighting conchs are algae mowers, so one of them may help.
Best of luck and happy holidays,
sam
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member
i had a lot of good luck with an algae blenny and 4 trchus snails and 6 stomatellas in my 75.,sometimes we get a very slight film, but it is not visible unless you look at an angle, this crew has kept all manageable, i do like the fact that there is some, because my blenny and snails have plenty of food, zero would have me wondering if i am gonna loose something due to starvation
 
D

diatom

Guest
Turbo's don't eat hair algae.
I recommend (drum roll here please) Urchins.
Thank you, I'll be here all week.
 
y2says

y2says

Member
It's that hard green stuff on the glass and I have to scrape it off. Thanks for telling me that 5 isn't enough. I was afraid that they would starve. :) I guess I'll get some more today when I get my water tested for phosphates. However, when the turbos are eating, it doesn't seem like they are taking it off. They eat the brown algae, but not the green. In my 75g, when I started this hobby, I put copper medicine in the tank and now I cant put any snails in there or they'll die. :( I wish I found this site sooner. :D Would caulerpa help out with this problem? Next week, I'm getting some for free. What is a conch by the way?
 
javajoe

javajoe

Member
Y2says....
here is some info and a pic of a florida fighting conch...
here is the pic:

MODS--- i don't think this site has any competitor links--- they doi sell stuff, but nothing fish realated... feel free to edit this link out if it does....
Florida Fighting Conch Info....
[ December 21, 2001: Message edited by: Javajoe ]
 
kris walker

kris walker

Active Member
Y2SAYS, after reading your posts again, I am confused. Are your 5 turbos eating the algae or not?
I don't have turbos personally, so i don't know if they eat hair algae or not. I do know that austrea snails eat hair algae. So to ammend my suggestion above in light of Diatom's observation, i would get at least 15 austrea snails and perhaps one conch. If you e-mail me, I can tell you where to buy a conch from if you want one. ktwalker@stanford.edu
sam
 
fishy all the time

fishy all the time

Member
There are ways of getting the copper out of your tank. They make poly filters that you can put right into your filter. They turn blue when taking out copper. You might want to buy a test kit to see how much copper is still left in your tank. When did you put the copper in?
 
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