Need help with algae outbreak

[azfishdude]

New on the board but have a 125g reef tank going for almost 3 yrs now. Started to get red slime algae on the bottom in some areas, but also a brown stringy algae on the bottom and the rocks and its effecting the corals now too. The RO/DI water I was adding had a high TDS for awhile (90) before I noticed it. Changed the DI cartridge, back down to 0TDS, did a 20g water change and have been adding a phosphate remover for the last 2 days with no decrease in the algae. Is there something I'm missing here? Also have green hair algae growing on the back glass and on the rock too. Most of the zoos have closed up, the anemone is all closed up and hiding, and the mushrooms are all shrivled up too. Help!

 

[ryancw01]

Well, now that you have your RO/DI unit back in check I would do a much larger water change than 20 gallons for a 125 gallon if you have the equipment to do that. Otherwise, just keep doing 20 gallons a week with the new and improved water and you should be fine eventually. Having such a high Total Dissolved Solids you were basically putting in tap water into the tank so it might take a while for the tank to recover from that. It does get into the rocks, sand and equipment. There is a lot of bad stuff and phosphates in tap.

 

[convbmw]

I had the same issues. Something that i tried and it worked REALLY WELL. I used amquel and novaqua +, prime and also a buffer. It was AMAZING how it all cleared up. The REAL PAIN is getting red of the algae 1st. I took a paint brush, attached it to a stick and just brushed it all off. Then did a water change, added the above and it cleared up REALLY WELL. Oh, and I use an RO/DI also.

 

[goinbroke]

i'm sure no expert!
in my reading about these threads the GURU's always will recommend figuring out whats causing the algea. if your tank is 3 years old and you didnt have any problems my first guess would be your bulbs. over time the light spectrum breaks down and allows for the groth of nuicence algae.

 

[ocyoo]

I use 3 red legged hermit, 2 cerith, 1 fighting conch, 1 crowie, 2 nassarius for every 10 gallon. My sand is white and the rocks are diatom and algae free, +1 for RO/DI water, helped me alot!

 

[cabin7882]

I'm having the same problem I think because of the water and the only place I can get ro/di is about 45 mins away! so I use walmart gallons and I'm wondering if that's what the problem is in my tank. I have been using the same water for 4 years and just started getting algea really bad. how does everyone get ro/di water besides by making it yourself?

 

[azfishdude]

Ya, I'm going to be doing a water change tomorrow of about 20g after i try to vacuum up the junk on the sand. I've also been using this stuff called Phosphate Control from Blue Life. The owner of the LFS swears by it, so we'll see how it works. I was wondering about the bulbs and if I should change them or not. They are 13 months old (250W 12K Reeflux bulbs). My main goal is to get the tank looking good once again so I can sell it. Don't want to, but life is forcing me. So if there is anyone in the Phoenix,AZ area who is looking for a 125g reef tank with custom stand and canopy, let me know!

 

[oceansidefish]

Originally Posted by azfishdude
http:///forum/post/3025428
Ya, I'm going to be doing a water change tomorrow of about 20g after i try to vacuum up the junk on the sand. I've also been using this stuff called Phosphate Control from Blue Life. The owner of the LFS swears by it, so we'll see how it works. I was wondering about the bulbs and if I should change them or not. They are 13 months old (250W 12K Reeflux bulbs). My main goal is to get the tank looking good once again so I can sell it. Don't want to, but life is forcing me. So if there is anyone in the Phoenix,AZ area who is looking for a 125g reef tank with custom stand and canopy, let me know!
What are all of your readings??? Let's start there, then lets start with saying that yes you should change your lights. Next, what are your phosphate readings. I would be doing a 20g change every 3 days not once a week until your water is back on track. For effective phosphate removal you will need a reactor...A bag in the sump won't do much. Next cut your lighting down and we will need to evaluate your feeding schedule. So give us some more info and we will help you get it back so you won't want to sell!

 

[azfishdude]

Did the water change saturday after blowing some of the junk off the rock to get it suspended in the water. Tried to suck some of the brown stringy junk off the sand to no avail. Put a filter pad in the skimmer to catch some of the junk I blew off the rock too so it wouldnt just go right back into the tank. Added some more of the Phosphate Control also. Next day everything looks just as back as before. Green Hair Algae on the back glass and rock still covered in the brown dust. Able to blow off the brown dust, but the algae is still there. Zoos are dieing, haven't seen the anenome in a week now, shrooms are are all shriveled up too. When I tested the water before the water change, the only thing that was out was the nitrates @ 5ppm. Cheato in the sump doesnt look very good either. Need to wash off the junk that I blew off the rocks from it. Also put the old set of bulbs in that were only 9 months old to see if that would help, but nope. I did get more snails to try and clean things up, but it seems like they all died soon after putting them in (Cerith snails and small black ones). The Nessarius snails I put in are fine though, go figure... I'm at a loss of what is going on.

 

[nolanrob123]

So what ever became of the algae? Were you able to get it under control?