Lighting and Algae Issues

D

delvin

Guest
I have a 75 gallon aquarium that has been up for 7 months. At one time I had issues with red cyano but was able to get rid of it via a blackout. A couple of weeks ago we decided we wanted to buy a clam. At the same time we upgraded our lighting to a 48 inch outer orbit lighting system. Now I am having an algae explosion both green and the red slime type. Will the green algae harm my live rock? Do I dare do another blackout with the clam in the tank?
Salinity 1.025, ph 8.2, amonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 0, temp 79
thanks in advance for your help.
 
jds31788

jds31788

Member
i dont know alot about algea and i have a bad brown algea problem im my tank as it is.. tried the blackout thing today but i have fern kalerpa that i cant let die... i dont think the green will hurt.. as for the red... i dont know if id do a blackout or not. is there any way you can block the light to everything except the claim.. i used cardboard and towels to black the light in my tank because i have mangroves in my filter that have to share the light..left me know what u decide. hope this helps
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
Green algae won't hurt your rocks... a few snails/crabs will take care of it. A blackout won't help your red slime (cyanobacteria) problem and would harm your clam. You need to get your phosphates down. Get a test kit... they should be undetectable. Water changes, RO water, phosban, feed less: four things that will help.
 
jumpfrog

jumpfrog

Active Member
The algea will only grow if it has 2 things (food and light). It could be that you already had a high nutrient level and the extra light was enough to get the algea going.
Look for the food source. You show nitrates as 0. That's great but a another check, maybe from LFS would validate. Next I would check for phosphates.
Remove the food source and the algea will die off.
 
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