Tons of algae!

beatlesfan

beatlesfan

Member
Hi

My tank is covered in algae and has been for the past month or so. I have tried more snails but they just die and do very little anyway.Any suggestions on what I should do? Here are my params. tank has been set up since february.
Amm. 0
Nitrite 0
nitrate 30 (think this might be it)
pH 8.2
phosphate 0
calcium 480
salinity 1.026
 
ibew

ibew

Active Member
heres some things it could be
lamps need changed
not enough flow in tank more flow less blooms
overfeeding
lighting cycle is to long (maybe have sunlight hitting the tank somehow)
using a new additive causing blooms
not using rodi or filters need changed (use a tds meter to find out water quality)
hope this helps or gets you started on some trouble shooting my guess is if your readings are accurate and your turning the tank over 20x is you have alot of excess nutrients in the tank which your algae is feeding off of possible from overfeeding and overdosing
 
beatlesfan

beatlesfan

Member
Originally Posted by Ibew
lamps need changed LED solaris have 500,000hrs of life.
not enough flow in tank more flow less blooms I dont have alot of flow but i am getting alot more this week.overfeeding maybe but I doubt it.
lighting cycle is to long (maybe have sunlight hitting the tank somehow) No sun hitting it. I have solaris LED total lighting system running on a 11 hour day cycle.using a new additive causing blooms I do not use additives
not using rodi or filters need changed (use a tds meter to find out water quality)My Ro/Di filter is brand new.
^

Originally Posted by Hefner413
what type are you dealing with? hair, green, diatoms, red slime?
All except red slime
 
maxalmon

maxalmon

Active Member
The fact that your keep putting snails in and they die would lead me to think you have a phosphate/nutrient problem, as algae thrive on both of these.
.
How ofter and what are you feeding?
.
Whats in your tank?
.
What test kits did you use for the readings you posted?
.
Are you using RO water? silicates could cause part of the problem
.
I would cut the lights back to 8hrs for a while, increase the flow of the tank, trying to siphon out as much of hte algae as possible, do a heafty water change & run some carbon.
 
scubaguy

scubaguy

Member
Also what are you using to mesaure you rsalt level. I used a hydrometer and it was off by .005 so when my SG level was at 1.024 it was really at 1.029 which killed my crabs. Just thought I would put my $.02 in.
 
nycbob

nycbob

Active Member
turbo snails from the the pacific or mexico do a great job of eaing algae. did u acclimate ur inverts?
 
beatlesfan

beatlesfan

Member
Maxalmon- I feed every other day and use home made food sparingly. I did fill up my tank with Tap but I have been doing top-offs/ water changes with RO/DI since then (7 months). I use liquid (test tube) API test kits. I only have 2 clowns and a lawnmower blenny (although I havn't seen him for a couple days
)
Scuba Guy- Yes I use a hydrometer and am planning on ordering a refractometer from swf next order. However I have had corals in there for about 2 weeks and they are thriving and growing so I don't think it is salinity.
Also here is my equipment:
Solaris LED
150 Wet/Dry
HOB fuge
HOb canister running carbon.
 
beatlesfan

beatlesfan

Member
Originally Posted by nycbob
turbo snails from the the pacific or mexico do a great job of eaing algae. did u acclimate ur inverts?
I have tried those. lasted about 3 days.
Also, can anyone get me a link to the place on here that sells refractometers. Can't seem to find it. (I mean on Swf.com of course).
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
I'd suggest getting new test kits. There is no way, you have readings of 0 for nitrate and phosphate, if you have algae. A food source must be present for algae to grow.
 
beatlesfan

beatlesfan

Member
Originally Posted by GRabbitt
This might sound stupid, but is there any natural sunlight falling on your tank?
no that is not stupid at all, it is a common cause but I don't think I have it.
EDIT: I just took a look, does it have to be direct light? Like the sun shining in the window?
 
ibew

ibew

Active Member
Originally Posted by Beatlesfan
no that is not stupid at all, it is a common cause but I don't think I have it.
EDIT: I just took a look, does it have to be direct light? Like the sun shining in the window?
yes that is what I was refering to before also when you feed do you shut the pump for the hang on the back fuge off if not that might be another problem
 
hurt

hurt

Active Member
Originally Posted by Beatlesfan
look at my post again.
Nitrate 30 (I think this is the problem)
phosphate 0

My bad, apparently I was looking at your NO2 reading, not NO3. Anyhow, that is definitely part of the problem if you have a reading of 30 for NO3. Excess nutrients in water.
First you can try to do large water changes to decrease your NO3 reading. This most likely will not solve your problem, but will make it more manageable.
The following options are long term solutions.
-Get a larger/better skimmer.
-Install an algae scrubber.
-Install a RDSB.
I personally would not worry a bit about NSL. Nutrients are the problem, not sunlight. The best looking tank I have ever seen incorporates NSL
Google: Pieter van Suijlekom reefkeeping
 
beatlesfan

beatlesfan

Member
Originally Posted by Hurt
My bad, apparently I was looking at your NO2 reading, not NO3. Anyhow, that is definitely part of the problem if you have a reading of 30 for NO3. Excess nutrients in water.
First you can try to do large water changes to decrease your NO3 reading. This most likely will not solve your problem, but will make it more manageable.
The following options are long term solutions.
-Get a larger/better skimmer.
-Install an algae scrubber.
-Install a RDSB.
I personally would not worry a bit about NSL. Nutrients are the problem, not sunlight. The best looking tank I have ever seen incorporates NSL
Google: Pieter van Suijlekom reefkeeping
A couple a problems and questions:
Because of the way it is set-up It is extremely difficult to do more than 5g water changes at a time.
The skimmer is built in and i am not ready to spend hundreds on a new one
do you mean algae scrubber as in magnet that I can scrub algae off glass?
RDSB what does that stand for and what is it.
 
beatlesfan

beatlesfan

Member
Originally Posted by Ibew
yes that is what I was refering to before also when you feed do you shut the pump for the hang on the back fuge off if not that might be another problem
No but I don't see how that could be a problem.
 
beatlesfan

beatlesfan

Member
BTW WVU ROCKS! I don't think there getting into the championship cuz of their weak schedule and Louisville losing already.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top