What can i get that will eat this

mabee

Member
Hi,
I have had my reef now for a little over a year and I have had this algae growth that I doesn't get eaten by my emerald crabs, scarlet hermit crabs and the various snails i got. is there anything specific that I can get that will graze this down because I hate it. My tank is a 55 g so how many would be nice to know too.
Martin

 

renogaw

Active Member
i also suggest a mexican turbo, or maybe a sea hare.
i'd also say put in a few more emeralds, and stop feeding your tank as much as you probably do. they should be taking care of those aweful bubble algaes as well...
 

mabee

Member
Ok thanks guys, I do feed a little more than what is probably needed (father syndrom I guess) so I'll cut it down for sure. I have TEK 5 lights but the bulbs are a little over a year can that have something to do with it at all? I'm replcing them tomorrow but I was told at the local fish store that old lighting could do it too.
 

jimreemts

Member
I have been dealing with the same problem in my tank. I finally paid someone to come in and do a full diagnostic on my tanks parameters. I was told a few things will help this.
1. Place your live rock on the glass and add the sand around it. He said the live rock on the sand will cause a compression of the sand resulting in a sand bed that cannot breathe properly.
2. Do a water test on the water you are adding. I thought I was being smart and using the water from the RO system at the grocery store. He said that water could have a phosphate problem then every time I top off I am adding food for the algae.
3. Do more frequent water changes, I was doing one every three weeks of 30%, and he said to go to 10% once a week.
4. Change your filters more often, I was changing once a month in my canister filter, He suggested twice a month.
5. Start running carbon again, which I stopped running
6. Check you water PH, KH, Magnesium, Alk, and calc and let us know what they are.
7. Run your lights for six hours a day max
He also suggested I might have a low oxygen level since a main food for algae is CO2. He told me this; Imagine your tank is a glass of water, now add oxygen, phosphate, magnesium, calcium and salt you that glass of water. There is only room for so much.
I would be curious to know what your Calc and ph are doing, I have been having a tuff time raising mine and I am not sure why. He told me to test my Magnesium, which I was not doing, and I found it is low only at 1050, the test says a normal range is 1500. He says low magnesium will not allow my ph and calc to increase.
Hope this helps because I am not an expert by any means but I have the same problem, maybe we can figure it out together.

One other thing, have you noticed you coroline receading or not growing like it used to?
 

renogaw

Active Member
Originally Posted by Mabee
Ok thanks guys, I do feed a little more than what is probably needed (father syndrom I guess) so I'll cut it down for sure. I have TEK 5 lights but the bulbs are a little over a year can that have something to do with it at all? I'm replcing them tomorrow but I was told at the local fish store that old lighting could do it too.

lighting has SOME input on algae growth, but get rid of the fertilizers (nitrates and phosphates) and it will die off.
 

halamaya

Member
When I first started my tank I bought a peice of LR I really liked but covered in that algae. My phospahtes almost 0 trates 0, and I change 5gals from a 55 gal every week, I make a point to suck at the algae with a hose everytime i clean. I em now sucking up clumps at a time, and not sorry to see it all dieing.
 

m0nk

Active Member
Many people here have touched on it already, but you need to ID the source of the "food" for the algea. Over feeding and bad/over lighting can cause nuisance algea and/or cyano, but hair algea is likely caused by phosphates. Test your freshly mixed saltwater before it goes into the tank for phosphates. There's a chance that your salt has trace amounts in it. If you test and ID phosphates, switch to a different salt mix. Instant Ocean has been noted as having phosphates even though they advertise that it doesn't, and there are likely several others.
Also, tapwater has a tendency to have phosphates as well, so if you use dechlorinated tap water as your water source, switch to RO/DI water, or if you use RO/DI water already, your filters might need changed.
Anyway, if you ID that source, replace your bulbs, and cut back feeding, all 3 items should help you get rid of it without having to get a fish to eat it.
 

mabee

Member
Thanks all soo much for all your intput I really appreciate it.

This is what I've done so far:
Lowered my lighting to 6 hours (5 hours of daylight)
doing more water changes
Feeding less
I got 2 emeralds and a fox face, not only because i want them to eat my algae but i really liked the look of the fox face and i needed some yellow in the tank.
I recently moved which means i took down the entire tank when i did I tried to remove as much algae as i could I put the rocks directly on the glass and switched to LS which looks a lot better than my CC in my opinion.
I'll be testing phosphates and nitrates more during the week and check water I'm adding
again thanks all!
hopefully it will soon be gone
QUESTION: If i want to buy RO/DI water and don't own a unit right now what store would you recommend to go get water? I'm in WA if that helps any locals
other than that what unit would be a good investment for the future? I do live in an apartment if that makes a difference

Martin
 
I like lettues nunbis and java blennys are the BEST. You also need to keep your nitrares and phosphates down plus, a numbi can not live in water full of nitrate and stuff.
 

krazekajin

Active Member
When I heard that you had CC and now you have LS. You did the right thing. CC is notorious for harboring Nitrates. Also, check all of your filters. If you have a canister filter, that traps waste and produces Nitrates. I would also clean out your powerheads. many times they are filled with waste. I rinse them in saltwater from a waterchange. That way I am not killing the bacteria.
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
1. Water Changes
2. check top off water for nitrate phosphate (go to your lfs to buy water)
3. pull as much as you can out by hand.
4. Your new emeralds should be able to eat the bubble algae.
5. Foxface should be able to eat that algae.
6. Run carbon and replace regularly.
7. Have fun.
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Oh, and by the way, if you don't already have a protein skimmer, ... GET ONE!
Skimmers remove excess nitrates and phosphates from the water column, this is essential when getting a hold on algal growth.
 

tinmanny

Member
you are getting a false reading on the phosphates because the algae is using it up to grow in your tank. NO phosphates No algae it needs food "Phosphates" to grow. I had a horrible time with this and when I finaly got it under controll it all came down to exactly what I was told by a SF guru in my area. And I have a realy clean tank now and it is beautiful.
#1 Stop feeding so much feed only what will not hit the bottom in 2 minuts it is beter to feed less more often be shure it gets eaton by the fish let the scavengers scaveng.
#2 Start mixing a lot of salt water to your tank perameters
#3 remove each rock and scrub the algae off in a tub of pre mixed tank water rinse in another bucket of new tank water.
#4 scrub and vacume the tank as best you can trying not to leave any large amounts of algae in the tank
#5 Now add more new mixed salt water to the tank and put the rocks back in
#6 do water changes of 10% 2 times a week and scrub off any algae you see starting all the time
#7 you can run some phossorb on the return for temporary help to gain the upper hand
#8 test every day and watch the numbers change from day to day because the crap is in the rocks it takes time to kill it all
#9 and watch what you feed and the quantity never let food sit in the tank feed 1-4 times a day but never let it hit the bottom of the tank if it does give less
if you do this you will see results in about 2 possibly 3 weeks and you will be happy
Good luck
Manny
 

tinmanny

Member
bee shure you have a good cleanup crew
This happened in my 90g with a 30sump and a g4 skimmer and lots of water movement.
I liked to feed my babies and in doing so I was killing them
 

skipperdz

Active Member
get a refugium, sucks up your nitrates and phosphates, kills your algae hair in about a month, and it doesnt come back. add the emeralds and turbos to speed it up
 
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