What can i do???

ruaround

ruaround

Active Member
hello...over the past several weeks a very ugly brown rust looking algea has started to cover the substrate and live rock...i havent kept up on the husbandry very over the past few months other than topping off the tank (using the same water and salt mixture i always have)...other than steppin up the water changes and weekly/daily cleanings is there anything i can do to get rid of this foul invader???
am=0
nitrite=0
Ph=8.2
nitrate=OFF THE FREAKIN CHARTS!!!
55 gallon
2 1/2 yrs established
fiji live rock
undulate "pineapple" trigger
2 blue damsels
1 yellow tang
crushed rock/shell and live sand substrate
 
krux

krux

Member
You might try contacting your local water delivery service and buying a few 5 gallon containers of ro/di water. It is only about 7 dollars a bottle in most places. Try doing your water changes with that for a while and see if that helps.
You might also want to step up the size of your clean up crew.
 
ruaround

ruaround

Active Member
what kind of cleaning crew can you have witha trigger in the tank???snails and crabs would be lunch...
 
jim672

jim672

Member
I, unfortunately, have a lot of experience with algea problems. Eric is right on....frequent water changes will to a big help. Have you checked your phosphates? In addition to the nitrate issue you may have high phosphate level and need a good phosphate sponge.
Good luck!!
 
twoods71

twoods71

Active Member
How old is your setup?
If it is a newer setup then it is probably diatoms that you have.
Diatoms need silicates to grow and without a source of silicates they will eventually die off.
Here is a link that may help with your algae problems.
<a href="https://www.saltwaterfish.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=12&t=009964" target="_blank">Click on me</a>
 
ruaround

ruaround

Active Member
the tank is 2 1/2 years established...the problem occured when i let up on the husbbandry and topped the tank istead of doing a complete change...
 
amphiprion

amphiprion

Member
You can thank the crushed coral and seashell substrate for "nitrates - off the chart". This type of substrate is maintenance intensive and if you don't keep up - your nitrates will become a problem, also contributing to an algae problem.
 
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