Newb Algae question

jskibisky

jskibisky

New Member
Hi all! My name's Jennifer. I'm fairly new the the SW hobby and I have been reading around the forum here for some time and find that theres a wealth of knowledgable members and I decided to register finally instead of just snooping.
I have a 35 gal hex that's been up and running since April 08. A few months back, I started to have a brown and green algae growing towards the top portion of the tank on my Cat Paw coral skeleton. It comes of very easily but returns just days after.
I was wondering if anyone can direct me on the right phosphate remover to pick up. I'm not very familliar with any brand, and they seem somewhat pricey, so if anyone has any advice on what to get, I would greatly appreciate the help!
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
if it comes off very easily, maybe the flow is poor in that area of the tank. maybe you could try that before phosphate remover.
 
jskibisky

jskibisky

New Member
Thanks for the quick responses!
I have a penguin 200 bio wheel, a marineland canister 350, and a powerhead. The water flow from the bio wheel flows right above where the issue is, but how can I improve the flow up there? Maybe a small powerhead up top?
 
notsonoob

notsonoob

Member
HEX aquariums are horrible about flow if not set up correctly. You can easily establish a dead zone.
Best to ensure that you have plenty of flow pushing from the bottom up.
 
jskibisky

jskibisky

New Member
what would be a good way to set that up so that i have ample flow from bottom up? moving the powerhead maybe?
 
todj2002

todj2002

Member
what are your P and N? if either is high then water change to help lower. also an algae scrubber seems to be the way to lower P and N. i have recently added one to my setup (3 weeks ago tomorrow) and i am already convinced. there is a thread with LOTS of info about scrubber here.
 
mie

mie

Active Member
You dont want to use phosphate removers because all you are doing is masking the problem, what you need to do is find the reason for your issue and correct it. Good luck.
TODJ2002 your avatar is super funny, good luck with it.
 
todj2002

todj2002

Member
Originally Posted by mie
http:///forum/post/2851193
You dont want to use phosphate removers because all you are doing is masking the problem, what you need to do is find the reason for your issue and correct it. Good luck.
TODJ2002 your avatar is super funny, good luck with it.
tks.
i have had an algae problem since i started this hobby two years ago. i am a slacker about water changes. i recently did a bunch of periodic water changes and installed the scrubber and my tank has never looked so good. rocks are clean. everyone looks happy! P is at .25 and N is at 15 which i know is still high but better than my previous tests. i am hoping that scrubber will bring down both numbers as time goes by. as i said it has only been installed for three weeks but has good algae growth and im conviced that this will work. i have done alot of reading about them and i am stoked to continue tests and see what happens.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
i've seen plenty of opinion for and against algae scrubbers. on another forum, they shot the idea to pieces. the thread starter(the same one who came here and started this forum's algae scrubber thread, could not answer the advanced questions they had, as far as i read through the thread( i got bored after page 8 or 9).
the summary was- a refugium will do the same job, if not better.
starving the algae for nutrients is the trick. that and/or depleting the nutrients in the tank by waterchanges.
that said, this might be a simple flow issue, or lack thereof.
i'm sorry i can't post the thread here.
 
jskibisky

jskibisky

New Member
I need to get a new phos. test kit and check that.
I didn't realize mine was done.
My nitrates are normally at 0ppm but they were at .20ppm two weekends ago and after 2 water changes, they are currently .10ppm. I'll do another small change this weekend and hopefully rid the tank of the nitrates. I hadn't done anything unusual and haven't had a reading over zero in the past. What could have cause the nitrate jump? Any ideas?
Once I get to check the Phos. and get the Nitrate back in order, with better flow, is it possible to see the algae diminish on its own or should i continue to clean it manually and see if it returns again?
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
if it has nothing to eat, it will die off. i'd still hasten it's departure with manual removal though.
 
jskibisky

jskibisky

New Member
Well, I've done several water changes over the past month and treated the nitrates and got my tank levels back in order. I ended up taking the coral piece out and cleaning it and once I put it back in the tank, the algae seems to have nothing to feed off of and has not grown back, usually it would start to show after several days but it's been weeks and things seem fine again.
Thanks so much all for the help and advice!
 
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