major amounts of algae

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angelofdeath132

Guest
i have major amounts of brown and green algae in my 55. just bought 10 astrea snails yesterday, will they be able to clean it up? or will i need more snails?
 

superman

Member
Get a lawnmower blenny they get everything. Mine is amazing. crabs work better on rocks than snails. And finally try an algae magnet for glass, mine works wonders.
 
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angelofdeath132

Guest
i only have 10lbs. of LR right now, i'm more worried about getting all that unsightly green and brown algae off the glass
 
angel of death how many hours do you keep your light on? Because when I started which was not so long ago I use to keep it for 12 hours and the algae was all over the place, now i just keep the light on for about 7 hours and since then I have had no algae problems.
 

flobskey

Member
Is you tank next to any windows, cause if it is, that can cause alot of algea. Even if the light is filtered with blinds, it still will grow algea.
 

vickilee

Member
I was having some algae problems too and changed the light I was running to a 50/50 actinic bulb. I also got a few tubo snails.
Seems better now! Good luck.
 
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angelofdeath132

Guest
tank isn't next to any windows, and it's a FO aquarium.
 

jim672

Member
angel,
Cleaning the glass will make your tank looks better, temporarily, but I think you should try to isolate the cause of your algea.
Eleven hours of light for a FOWLR is alot. Cut back on lighting. How old are your bulbs? If you've been burning them for 6 months or so, it's time to buy new ones. (NO bulbs' light spectrum degrades over time and will promote algea growth.)
How much do you feed? A little once a day, or even every other day is really fine. Have you tested for phosphates in your tank? In your top-off water? Phosphates and silicates (in tap water) feed algea. If you have phosphates in the tank, do you have a crushed coral substrate? Do you vacuum/clean it regularly? Do you use a phosphate sponge in your filter? If it's in the water you use for top-offs.....use RO/DI water instead of tap.( or buy distilled water from Walmart, grogery store, etc.)
Jim
 
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