Seaweed from Hell

[tke783]

My stupid girlfriend deiced to through in a bunch of seeds she bought from Wallmart in my tank. Now there is seaweed all over the tank and I don't now how to get rid of it. I really don't want to put any chemicals in the tank because of the live rock I have in there. Does anyone know of a fish or snail I can buy to eat the stuff. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have a 75 gallon salt water tank, 20 pounds of Live rock, one shrimp, and three clown fish.

 

[birdy]

First welcome to the boards,
I am not sure what type of seeds you can buy at walmart that would grow seaweed in a saltwater tank.
Is it possible that you have a hair algae outbreak?
If you can give us some specifics about your water quality it would help. Give us readings on Ph, Alk, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and Phosphate.
do you use RO/DI water or tap water?

 

[tke783]

I have only had the tank for about six months so I'm still new at this. I will get the water tested tomorrow to see what the levels are at. I would say that the weed does look like Hair algea (?) if had to guess. How would I get rid of the stuff?

 

[birdy]

Do you use tap water or some sort of filtered or distilled water in your tank?
Algae is fed from excess nutrients in the water. This can come from your source of water, or from overfeeding. If you are able to get rid of the nutrients then the algae will go away.
I would recommend you having your own test kit to test your water as needed. Until you know what is in your water you won't know how to fix the problem. Be sure they test for Ph, Alk, Nitrate, Nitrite, and Phosphates.
If you do not have corals then you should reduce the amount of time your lights are on and be sure there is no sunlight getting to your tank. If it is hair algae pull out as much as possible everyday and do small water changes with RO/DI water or distilled water.
You also need some type of clean up crew to eat the algae.

 

[coralwolf]

You let your girlfriend through SEEDS in your tank????

 

[small fish22]

Give us a pic of it. And what types of seeds

 

[tke783]

I did not let her put the seeds in the tank, she did it while I was out of town. Here is how my water tested, Ph 8.0, Alk normal, Ammonia 0, NO2 0, NO3 10ppm, and Phosphate 1.0. I normaly use Tap water. I feed the fish usually every other day. I was also told by one of friends that it is Hair Algea when he looked at the tank yesterday. I have the lights on a timer, how many hours a day should the tank get light? Your help is greatly appreciated Birdy. Thanks again

 

[sebae0]

your phosphate is to high and thats why your getting hair algae, the main source is probably your tap water.
i suggest you get phosphate remover and try to bring that level down.

 

[birdy]

Here are my suggestions,
1.0 on phosphates is very high, you need to use some sort of water source that has 0 phosphates this is usually RO/DI or distilled water, you can get this at a LFS or sometimes Wal Mart, but I would still test this water to be sure it is pure. The best way to go is to buy your own RO/DI unit this way you know the filters are not old and the water is pure.
I have had good sucess getting rid of phosphates with Kents phosphate sponge, What type of filter are you running on your tank? Be sure if you use the phosphate sponge you change it out every 48hrs until you have no phosphates.
Be very sure not to overfeed your fish every other day is fine, also a lot of flake foods have phosphates in them.
If you do not have any corals I would keep your lights off as much as possible this will keep the algae from growing while you take care of the phosphate problem. Also what type of lights are you running and how long has it been since you have changed the bulbs this can be a big factor in hair algae growth.
Try to do 10% water changes every week with good water and pull out as much of the algae by hand as you can.
Also get some snails to eat the algae, turbos do a pretty good job.
Good luck, I had about 85% hair algae coverage and did most of these things and now I do not have hardly any.

 

[tke783]

I will start doing water changes with RO/DI water. I went to a LFS and bought a phosphate remover bag. For light I have a 48 inch 40 watt 50% Natural Daylight 50% Actinc 03 blue. I usually have it on 12 hours a day and I have had the bulb for about three months. I have pulled out some of the algea and have turned the lights off. So far no new stuff has appeared. Does anyone know of a good RO/DI unit that is portable and under $60.00. Most of the ones that I have found our over 120.00. Thanks again for everyones advice. This board has been a great help.