Please help with Major algae problem

[thamobster]

hey my tank has been established for a few months now..ive never had an algae problem til now though..il go to bed and itll all be clear and when i wake up at 7am its still clear but when i get home from work around 5 the front and sides of the tank are covered in a good amount of green algae..i have about 20 turbo snails and 3 margarita snails and they still dont even come close to cleaning it all..im also using algone for about 3 weeks and its still got a lot of algae..what do u believe is causing this..all my levels are perfect and ive even raised the salinity..if i let it go for more then a day of cleaning i notice 2 of my anemones move to the back of the tank..im guessing they arent approving of the water conditions..please help

 

[ogdog30]

ive heard that a lettuce nudibranches eat algae off glass, they will find any way to kill themselves so cover up the intakes and powerheads. anyways the may or may not live long, they are partialy photosynthetic.
So good luck.

 

[cholland]

So if your levels are good, then we need to look at some other causes...
do you test for phosphates?
do you run a skimmer?
how often and how much do you feed the fish?
are your lights new or over 6-8 months old?
how long do you keep your lights on?
finally, what kind of filter are you running?
sorry for the questions, you are not on trial. But any combination of these things can cause more algae growth.

 

[ogdog30]

Originally posted by cholland
sorry for the questions, you are not on trial.
LOL!!!!!!! :hilarious

 

[ogdog30]

anyway, phosphates and lighting is an important factor, 1 more question, what kind of cleanup crew do you have?
The prosecution rests.

 

[thamobster]

hey..heres ur answers to some of the questions..
no i dont test for phosphates
i run a red sea protein skimmer
i feed the fish twice a day a pinch full...enough that they eat it all in about 2-3 minutes
my lights are new..its the aqualight lunar 36inch..
i run the actinic and 10000k from 7:30am until 10:30 pm then lunars from 10:30-7:30am..i actually only run the actinic and 10000k together because i dont have a seperate timer to just run the actinics in the morning before the 10000k and at night
i actually run two filters...a cascade 1200 canister filter and an emperor 500 hang on filter..i was told that the cascade wasnt great by a very respectable lfs and that the cheapo emperor was all i actually needed so im running both

 

[sammiefish]

what you describe sounds pretty good...
However, I think you are running the lights too long... I would say 12 hours / day max... maybe even 10 hours a day...
As far as the filters... make sure you clean them frequently... the end product of a filter is usually nitrate... algae loves nitrates. Some will argue NO filtration other than rock and skimmer...
one more comment though... you may just be going through a normal cycle... dont forget... algae is GOOD for your tank... its just not nice to look at...
good luck

 

[thamobster]

ok cool..thanks for all ur input..yeah i recently did change the filter and i actually noticed after that it started to become more of a problem with the algae..im guessing i washed away some of the important biologicals..ever since its been there but i figured that it couldnt still be from that...but thanks for the help and if u can find anymore info that may be helpful u can let me know..thanks

 

[malounsbury]

Sounds like the lights are on too much like Sammie said.
Also, not sure if you saw this other question, do you have any cleanup crew/algae eating fish?

 

[rbaby]

If you have a fuge, try to get some chaeto...algae does not thrive on light alone...phosphates is a big part of it. I recommend a product called Phosban.

 

[thamobster]

yeah i have a pretty good clean up crew..i have about 35 snails..6 blue leg hermits...an emerald crab..a few huge snails {i think margarahita but not sure} and a sand sifting starfish