Help!!!!!!!!!

[sharkbait09]

hi,
i am new to swf.com and i have a question..
i left my tank for 2 DAYS thats 2 DAYS! and i get back home and alge EVERYWHERE!!!! i have a very dark brown alge thats on my glass that will NOT come off. i have a red slyme alge all over my substrate..
i have these leaf looking this al over one of my peices of live rock.
i have green hair alge.
here are my test results..
nitrate ntrite ammonia all 0
p.h. 8.3
sallinity 1.025
temp 79.5
light 65 watt compact floresent
sorr i cant post pics
any help would be highly appreciated!!
p.s. i even got a skunk cleaner shrimp before i left the tank for the 2 days!

 

[flower]

Take a deep breath, count to ten, and relax.
You need a cleaner crew, is the shrimp all you have? The cleaner shrimp cleans parasites off fish and in the tank. They don't clean the tank of algae.
Clean what you can off the rocks, rinse in saltwater so you don't kill everything. That will give the algae eaters a head start, get a proper cleaning crew.
Example: I have a Kole Tang, 2 sally light foot crabs, and a lawnmower blenny besides snails, and hermit crabs. I have a 90g tank so you need a crew for your size tank.
Run some kind of phosphate remover as well, that is what I believe is feeding the algae. an old credit card will scrape the front glass if the algae won't come off easy.
Look at my advice and see what you may need to do. If you already have a CUC then perhaps you just need another algae eater, after you clean up the rock so it has a head start.

 

[sharkbait09]

okay thank you very much i dont have a clean up crew planning on getting one i just put in a poly filter with my carbon.
i have had the red slime before but it wont go away i hit the bottom i scrub the rocks but it comes back within hours????

(not the pretties alge!)
and are the leaf like alge thing bad should i remove the small piece of rock their on??
thank you verry much!!!

 

[nordy]

Good advice above-going that way will put you on the path to treating the cause of your algae/cyano outbreak instead of just the symptoms (scraping/removing), which is important but will not permanently solve the issue. Eventually your tank will get in balance and your algae issues will be a thing of the past!
I use a razor scraper to claen my glass-just be careful not to scratch the glass.
What size tank do you have? What circulators/powerheads do you have to move the water around?

 

[sharkbait09]

my tank is a 26 gallon bowfront
for flow i have a penguin 100gph filter
i have one penguin 550 145gph power
thankyou!

 

[gypsana]

First of all welcome to SWF! How old is your tank, what size is your tank, what are you using for filtration, how old if your light, and what do you have in there beside the shrimp?
The red slimy substance is not an algae but a bacteria called Cyano. This happens for in tanks for a few different reasons. Here is a thread with some good info about cyano.https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/353797/cyano-question
The dark brown may be diatoms and sometimes take elbow grease to get it off the glass (do you have glass or acrylic?)

 

[gypsana]

Originally Posted by sharkbait09
http:///forum/post/3040884
my tank is a 26 gallon bowfront
for flow i have a penguin 100gph filter
i have one penguin 550 145gph power
thankyou!
Well you answered one question while I was typing.

 

[sharkbait09]

hello

thank you for youre reply
it is 5-7 months old
i have ...
2 clowns
star polyps
new leather toadstool
mushrrom
polyps
and lots of alge!!! lol
65 watt coral life compact floresent 3-4 months old
penguin bio filter 200
26 gallon
what about the green leaves
discription
skinny
dark green
white spots
little spikes on the sides
i removed the peice that it was on but it already spread to the other rocks!
im not sure if its glass or arcrilic

 

[gypsana]

Originally Posted by sharkbait09
http:///forum/post/3041622
hello

thank you for youre reply
it is 5-7 months old
i have ...
2 clowns
star polyps
new leather toadstool
mushrrom
polyps
and lots of alge!!! lol
65 watt coral life compact floresent 3-4 months old
penguin bio filter 200
26 gallon
what about the green leaves
discription
skinny
dark green
white spots
little spikes on the sides
i removed the peice that it was on but it already spread to the other rocks!
im not sure if its glass or arcrilic
Your tank is young, it needs time to build stabilize and mature. You really need to get a better lighting system. That is really low lighting if you intend on getting more corals. The algae (brown) will should diminish over a period of time as the tank matures. How often do you feed?
I also would consider as sump. If you can not have a unit underneath your system they have HOB systems that will do wonders for your tank.
As for the green leaves, do they look like long blades of grass but stiff and growing in clusters?
If you do not know if you have glass or acrylic do not use a razor blade. If it is acrylic you will scratch your tank and damage it horribly. The only way I can help you determine if it is glass or acrylic is if you know the manufacturer of the tank and does the front and sides look like one piece or are they separate joint with caulking? Too bad you can not post pics, they would help immensely.

 

[frightmare]

Also did you leave the lights running while away? Are they on a timer? If the lights where on the whole time that would explain the algae outbreak.

 

[sharkbait09]

i have a camera i just dont know how to post pics???

i am planning on getting a light in 2-3 months ( my b-day lol)
i am also planning on getting a protein skimmer would that help and it is seperate pieces glued together
yes the leafs look like long stiff blades of grass
i feed once daily
and no my light arent on a trimer (timer broke)
when i am home my lights are on from 7am-8pm
thank you for all youre help so far!

 

[gypsana]

Originally Posted by sharkbait09
http:///forum/post/3041666
i have a camera i just dont know how to post pics???

i am planning on getting a light in 2-3 months ( my b-day lol)
i am also planning on getting a protein skimmer would that help and it is seperate pieces glued together
yes the leafs look like long stiff blades of grass
i feed once daily
and no my light arent on a trimer (timer broke)
when i am home my lights are on from 7am-8pm
thank you for all youre help so far!
Posting pictures is pretty easy. You have to resize the picture to the sizes stated when you click on Manage Attachments which is under additional options(right under where you post reply to thread).
A protein skimmer will help so will the new lights, more flow (add another powerhead), cut back your lighting a couple of hours and only feed every other day. The cyano is more of a problem then the brown algae, which in my experience slowly diminishes as the tank matures and a good cleanup crew is essential. GET SNAILS!!

They are pretty cheap. Even three or four will help. The turbo snail are fast and efficient.
It probably is glass, did you buy it new? Does it have a black frame on the top and bottom?
As for the leaves/grass stuff I had it too. I never found out what it was exactly but it seems to grow for about 3 months then goes away. It seems to like new LR it seems. I liken it to crab grass. It has never harmed my tank, but I also would love to know what it is. If mine got too long or out of control I would pull it out, but sometimes it really sticks to the LR.

 

[gypsana]

I still have a few clusters left. He is a pic. Is it the same thing? (My Royal Gramma wanted a pic taken I guess.)

 

[number1gsxxr]

Originally Posted by sharkbait09
http:///forum/post/3041666
i have a camera i just dont know how to post pics???

i am planning on getting a light in 2-3 months ( my b-day lol)
i am also planning on getting a protein skimmer would that help and it is seperate pieces glued together
yes the leafs look like long stiff blades of grass
i feed once daily
and no my light arent on a trimer (timer broke)
when i am home my lights are on from 7am-8pm
thank you for all youre help so far!
Are you saying that the lights were on the whole time you were away? If so, that will definitely contribute to the algae outbreak. I would cut back on the lights a bit and I bet you will see an improvement right away. Also for the cyano, you might want to rearrange your powerheads so you don't have any dead spots. If you don't have enough flow you might need to add a powerhead or two. Hope this helps. Just stick with it and eventually it will get better. You just have to keep ontop until you finally gain the upper hand.

 

[sharkbait09]

i put two power heads in and it was way to much flow

 

[gypsana]

Originally Posted by sharkbait09
http:///forum/post/3041849
i put two power heads in and it was way to much flow
You have to adjust them to get them in the right spots, sometimes it takes awhile. Do you have one agitating the top of the water?

 

[sharkbait09]

i only have one in right now and you can adjust the ammount of bubbles it puts out and it is aiming towards the middle from the side

ya i figured it out it is glass
yes that is what the grass/leaves kinda looks like
and i will definatley get some snails this weekend

 

[mie]

Suck the cyano off the sand bed with a gravel vac hose but dont use the big attachment, then rinse the sand in fresh salt water to get rid of the cyano so you can reuse the sand, the vac will even work to suck it off the rocks.
Your toadstool wont survive for very long under those lights. I also agree you need to pull the rock out and scrub the alage off useing salt water to rinse, this will help your cleaner crew. What type of water are you useing? Is it ro or ro/di? If you are useing tap water this could be a big part of the problem as well.

 

[sharkbait09]

i have tap water but i have a PUR water purifier attatchment i use for the tank water

 

[oceansidefish]

IMO you NEED to get a new timer....7am to 8PM is really too long to have lights on....More like 10-7 would be ok. I have halides and actinics...My actinics turn on at 8:30 and my halides at 10am, halides off at 6:15 or so and actinics off at 7:30ish...