lighting causing algae??

gmford1979

Member
Posted elsewhere. lets try here.
Alright guys and gals, I haven’t been on here in about 2 years. But have kept my aquarium. I hav moved and my mother has had major brain surgery, and I haven’t been abel to eep up my tank. So my problem is, over the last week, I have cleaned the class real good, but a thick black algae and a green algae keep coming back. The question I have, I haven’t replaced my bulbs in over 2 years. I am running a T5 supernova 4 bulb. I am at the point of just getting rid of everything, but don’t want to. Do you guys think that if I replace the bulbs it will keep that from growing back? I have the time again to mess with it, but don’t want to waste my money if that isn’t going to cure the problem. I know that not replacing bulbs will cause this growth, but just need some reassurance. Lots of aptasia also. Gonna try some joe’s juice on that. Thanks in advance for any advice.

I know that you can’t really tell me that its going to fix it, but do you think this is where I should start?
 

meowzer

Moderator
I think changin the bulbs is a start....BUT...what is in the tank? What filtration are you using? Have you canged all that out? DO you have a cuc? WHat are you feeding?
what are your water parameters?
just for starters...LOL
 

gmford1979

Member
i'm at work right now, so no pic, but when i get off, i'll post a pic. its bad though. can't see inside the aquarium at all. lol. i feed about once or twice a week and its no more than they eat in 3 min. and the coral has never looked better. kinda odd. its a 55 gallon tank and i have several corals that wouldn't grow before and are HUGE now. i'll get water parameters when i get home and post them and a pic. Thanks for trying to help me!
 

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
Algae is always "caused" by lights. (and nutirents and co2 as well).
It will always die off by killing the lights.
then you you have desirable algaes like corraline or macros (in a refugium) the desirables can keep the undesirables from coming back. You just have to find the level (duration) that allows the desirables to grow but not so ling (or bright) the uglies come back.
my .02
 

gmford1979

Member
ok, so below is the pic. i know, its gross. so here are the parameters:
Spec. Gravity - 1.027
Ph - 8.8
Amonia - 0.50
Nitrate - 0.0
Nitrite - 0.0
so what do you guys think? lots of algae floating also. but like i said, corals are looking good, and the coraline algae is nice and purple.
 

meowzer

Moderator
Sg is a little high.....ph is high....WHY do you have ammonia....that would be my first concern
do you have a test for phosphates? It's hard to tell anything from that picture though
 

geoj

Active Member
I would clean it and re-start it. It would take me all day so as not to lose anything, everything out in temp containers then back.
 

gmford1979

Member
i am running an ahem filter, and i was running a coralife skimmer, but the microbubbles were horrible. i couldn't keep it from doing all that, so i don't have it on there anymore. as for phosphates, i really don't feed much. fish - 2 clowns, some type of purple and pink spotted goby, and a blue damsel that isn't aggresive. Corals - lots of mushrooms, big leather mushroom, big frogspawn, some candy cane coral, lots of xenia, and kenya trees, and some kind of lps that i'm not sure of the name. Inverts - lots of snails and hermitcrabs, one or two emerald crabs, and a green brittle starfish
its really weird in the tank. the walls are nasty, but inside is pretty clean. there is algae floating all on the top of the water also, but like i said earlier, the fish are all healthy and all the corals have never looked better. they are growing, and multiplying. i started with just one small frogspawn, and it all but died about 2 years ago, but in the last 3 months its gotten huge and multiplied about 4 times.
one thing i have been doing is when i need to add water, i have been using tap water, and adding that chlorine killer they sell at any store. i haven't done a water change in a while, just adding water. like i said, i haven't had the time to take care of it lately. but i'm gonna get it back to looking good with you guys help!!!
 

geoj

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by gmford1979 http:///forum/thread/383073/lighting-causing-algae#post_3347839
i am running an ahem filter, and i was running a coralife skimmer, but the microbubbles were horrible. i couldn't keep it from doing all that, so i don't have it on there anymore. as for phosphates, i really don't feed much. fish - 2 clowns, some type of purple and pink spotted goby, and a blue damsel that isn't aggresive. Corals - lots of mushrooms, big leather mushroom, big frogspawn, some candy cane coral, lots of xenia, and kenya trees, and some kind of lps that i'm not sure of the name. Inverts - lots of snails and hermitcrabs, one or two emerald crabs, and a green brittle starfish
its really weird in the tank. the walls are nasty, but inside is pretty clean. there is algae floating all on the top of the water also, but like i said earlier, the fish are all healthy and all the corals have never looked better. they are growing, and multiplying. i started with just one small frogspawn, and it all but died about 2 years ago, but in the last 3 months its gotten huge and multiplied about 4 times.
one thing i have been doing is when i need to add water, i have been using tap water, and adding that chlorine killer they sell at any store. i haven't done a water change in a while, just adding water. like i said, i haven't had the time to take care of it lately. but i'm gonna get it back to looking good with you guys help!!!
Silicates from your tap will make slime algae grow.
You need the right test kit to go with the chlorine killer so it will read only the toxic ammonia... These products change the chlorine into a less toxic ammonia that is then removed by the bio-filter. Go to Seachem web pages and read about Prime.
I would stop the tap-water and use either ro/di or distilled.
I would stop the use of the chlorine killer, using ro/di or distilled you will not need the chlorine killer.
I would do a water change twice this week with either ro/di or distilled to remove both types of ammonia and the chlorine killer.
Many coral like some nitrate in the water column and will grow faster especially if your not feeding them in some other way. Yet others don't like nitrate in the water column.

Soft corals will blow up to expose the zooxanthellae to the light so old light bulbs can make them look big.
 

gmford1979

Member
what amount of water change do you think i should do each time? i have a 55 gal. so do like10 gallons? or 20? i am planning on saturday, getting new lights, then sunday spending my day cleaning all the algae out of the tank. so should i wait till after i put in the new lights, and remove the algae? at this point, i am committed to getting it back to how i had it. i just need some guidance getting it there.
 

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Welcome back to the forums, BTW!
10 g water change would be a nice start. 15 might be better. That's a little more than 25% WC. Go find a local fish store and see if they sell salt water and RO/DI water for the time being, but consider investing in an RO/DI filter for your house if you're going to continue your tank long term. That way you can save some $$ and make your own salt water.
You will probably have to do a couple weekly water changes to make sure the algae stays down to a manageable level. Don't be frustrated when the algae comes back.... nothing good every happens quickly in here, I'm sure you know already. ;-)
Go ahead and clean the tank now, while you're waiting for the lights. As I already warned...you're going to have to do a few WC's anyway, so might as well get started now, right?
Many of the corals you listed in your tank do well with a little excess nitrate....Xenia especially. Might be why your Xenia - and your algae - are taking off. From the looks of the tank and your description it sounds like you have a combination of cyanobacteria and hair algae -- very common scourges in our tanks. Most tap water has phosphates in it, some even has nitrate in it. Moving to RODI freshwater and RODI-mixed saltwater will help.
As your bulbs age, the lights wavelength will shift into the red spectrum. Might not be visible to you, but believe me many algae species will absorb it. Algae (heck, many photosynthetic plants...) LOVE red-shifted light. Change those bad boys. They should last you about 12 months or so.
I'm as worried as Meowzer about the ammonia. How old is the test kit? You may be getting a false reading. Get a new test kit if possible and recheck. If you have ammonia in there, then...well, something is decomposing. An Ammonia-out chemical additive will plug the leak, but you will have to rely on your water changes and observation in your tank to determine and remove the ammonia source.
And again, welcome back! If it's not too personal, is your mother doing well at this point?
 

gmford1979

Member
alright, so i had a busy weekend. i went saturday and bought 4 new light bulbs and bout 15 gallons of Ro water. went home and made saltwater. so i got up sunday, and unhooked my filter and powerheads, and cleaned the crap out of the tank. did a 15 gallon water change. i got all of the cyano out and most of the hair aglae. i coulnd't get some off a few of the rocks. do you think i should take those rocks out and clean them better or will the water changes and light changes help me out and kill it? this thing looks brand new. when i go to lunch today, i'm going to take a picture of it and post it.
i appriceate all teh help. so i am going to do a 10 gallon water change every 3 days i think for about 2 weeks, do y'all think thats going to be enough or too much??
my mother is doing great by the way, thanks for asking.
 

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
If you have the ability to remove the rock and scrub it, then you definitely should. Anything to get the algae down to manageable levels will only help your cause. Why don't you do that with the next water change if you have the afternoon to kill? Save the water change water you pull out during your next WC. Put half the water in two tubs. Pull your rock out, and with a new clean nylon brush, scrub the rock in the first tub, then rinse it in the "clean" water tub, then return it to your tank. If all you have is cyano and hair algae, you'll be amazed at how clean it looks. If you have red turf algae (was the bane of my 110g tank....) then it's not quite as effective. Better than a poke in the eye, tho.
In my personal opinion I think you'll be better off doing 15 gallons weekly for 4 weeks. Here's why:
First, I wholeheartedly applaud your desire to bring the tank back to fighting trim. Doing so many water changes, though, is going to wear you out and wear down your resolve. It's a daunting task to tote all that water around every few days. By spreading it out a little, it lessens the "chore" quality of it. It becomes part of your weekend routine this way. For me, it's a late night Saturday thing. Dinner's done, dishes are in the washer, wife is watching her tivo.....time to clean the tank. It's just habit.
Second, I worry a little that so much constant drain-refill-drain fluctuation might stress some of your coral. I see you have some beautiful pieces that come up close to the top of the tank, so they're going to be exposed to air during the WC. Doing WC more than once a week for a couple weeks running may stress them out more than you really want.
Again, that's just my personal advice,for what it's worth. Your mileage may vary.
I look forward to seeing a pic of the new tank!! I'm sure the new lighting looks a little crisper, too. I'm sorry to say that I don't think the new lights will help "kill" the algae -- the point of the new lights is to stop the overgrowth that the red-shifted bulbs were encouraging. So in that respect, yes, they will help...but they won't go so far as to KILL existing algae.
Good to hear about your mom. Always very stressful when a loved one goes under the knife, for any reason. I can barely begin to imagine what that must have been like.... heck, I was worried when my wife had her APPENDIX out.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
Surprised teh frogspawn did so well without water changes and dosing. You'd think the calcium would be too low at this point to grow it.
 

gmford1979

Member
i know, i was really surprised about the frogspawn. but it looks amazing. i meant to take a picture or two yesterday, but forgot. when i get home, i will post some pics.
and i'm with you Nova, i think if i do water changes every 2 or 3 days, i'm gonna get tired of it. so i will do them once a week, just bigger than i had planned.
i think when i get home from work, i'm gonna do like y'all said and take the rocks out and put them in a tub with old water and clean them good. no point in all that work this weekend, and then let it come back b/c of 2 or 3 rocks.
 
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