Help : New Lights = Algae Explosion

[dale-fish]

Background
I used to have one white 20 watt bulb which lit up my 20 gallon tank. No algae problem were ever noted. In the interest of one day (3 months from now) growing corals I upgraded my tank to 65 watt white light and 65 watt blue. I do not operate a protein skimmer. I did for a while but it didn't skim to much. The tank isn't overstocked as there are only 2 clownfish and 1 blenny.
Problem
Green slime algae covers everything in my tank. As well bubble algae and hair algae are starting to mass produce. I can't afford to buy a RO unit (attending university) so is there any other options I have to reduce the algae.
Possible Solutions
I only turn on my 65 watt white light for about 9 hours of the day in hopes to reduce algae growth. I also flip over my rocks when a significant amount of algae covers them. (probably not a good solution) Is there any cheap way to filter the water during water changes? Perhaps a Brita unit or something like that. Do you know of any good PS for a 20-gallon tank? I am not particularly happy with the one I was using.
Thanks for any help!

 

[drea]

bump. interesting

 

[pfitz44]

You need to check your phosphate levels. Add some Macroalgee to your tank, as that will help cut down on teh phosphates. 3 fish for a 20 gallon tank is probabilly maxed out. What are you running for filteration?? Is your tank near a window?? How much LR do you have?

 

[viet-tin]

Most likely if your adding tap water to your tank this will cause mass algae attacks. The new lights will cause them to grow since it is more intense then no flourescent. Try locating a water dispenser at a grocery store. I go to wal-mart and pay 25/gal for ro water.

 

[reefiness]

Well a good way to hide the algea is every water change siphon it out. but that will not help in cotroling it only covering it up. Try more frequent water changes.

 

[lovethesea]

live sand or crushed coral?
when we had cc we had a build up of phosphates.......and the start of green hair algea.
Ditched the cc and everything was OK.

 

[jerthunter]

I imagine that the rock flipping you do is becoming part of the problem. All you are doing is starving the algea which then dies and feeds more algea. Sucking out the algea when you do water changes in a good idea. Running your skimmer again would probably help. You will probably find that it skims alot more now then it did before... You can run phosphate and nitrate removal media...

 

[murph]

Most likely a high dissolved organic content. Especially when it comes to the slime algae part of the problem. You need a good skimmer.
Water changes and reduced lighting will help for now but when funds allow Aqua c makes a good hang on skimmer

 

[dale-fish]

More Info:
-20 pounds of LR
-20 pounds CC
-5 pounds of normal sand (not sure what its called)
-Aqua Clear 30 with carbon in it, biomax balls and a sponge
-My tank is not by a window
I just tested my phosphate and it's pretty low (0.25mg/L) or is this high? The scale goes up to 5mg/L so I thought that 0.25 was low.
Viet-tin: it costs $25 per gallon?? or did you mean 2.50 per gallon. There is a safeway near buy I could take a bunch of my friends and carry like 50 gallons back.
Jerthunter: Does nitrate and phosphate removing media mean liquids you mix in with your tank that neutralize these compounds? Is there and downside to using these?
Pfitz44: What type of macro algae do you recommend? Is there any kind that looks half decent? When I go home for the summer I was planning on starting a 10-gallon refugium. I really like the idea of naturally removing the nitrates rather than skimming them off.
I think I'm going to start up my PS again and look into buying macro algae and RO water. Has anyone else heard about CC causing phosphate issues?
Thanks so much for your help!

 

[joshradio]

RO water at wal*mart is from those water machine that cost about $0.25 - $0.33/gal...
in all honesty, you are sort of onto something with the flipping of the rocks... you are cutting off their chance at being fed by light. For about 2 weeks don't use your lights and see what happens, if that solves it, then it was free and now you know!
And it didn't seem to me that you mentioned a cleaning crew.... do you even have one? I would say get some snails, hermit crabs, stars etc. and they too will help control it....
I'm not a big fan of chemical solutions in the tanks, so try those and I would say to add maybe 8 more lbs of LR... and even remove some of the base rock if need be... LR will help add to the filtration process.... just make sure it's cured, or you'll go thru a mini cycle and possibly lose fish.
Hope that doesn't add to your confusion!

 

[viet-tin]

sorry i meant .25/gal real cheap

 

[jerthunter]

Originally Posted by Dale-Fish
More Info:
Jerthunter: Does nitrate and phosphate removing media mean liquids you mix in with your tank that neutralize these compounds? Is there and downside to using these?
Thanks so much for your help!
They do have chemicals and such to add to your tank but that is not what I mean. There are several brands of filter media that can be run in a canister filter or wetdry filter just like you would put carbon except this media removes nitrate and/or phosphate. As far as a down side I am unaware of any just don't leave the media in too long or you can rerelease everything that was absorbed..