damn algae!!!

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greggsvt

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 13, 2004
Messages
25
Location
cleveland Ohio
I'm in the middle of a huge battle with red algae! I've changed alot of my evil ways with overfeeding, using tap water, leaving the lights on too long, doing more frequent water changes. I even added Chemi Clean and all it did was change my red algae into green. Now in my substrate it is going red again and in a hurry too! I have spent alot of time and money trying to cure this problem all to no avail. I know that saltwater aquarium tank keeping isn't cheap, trust me, but this is getting out of control! Is this problem going to take weeks or even months to go away with my better tank maintenance? Is it something I'm still doing wrong, like maybe still overfeeding, or the use of flake foods? Please help my tank looks like crap! My tank is a 75 gallon with tufa rock, 5 green chromis, yellow tang, coral beauty, 3 powerheads for circulation(2 aquaclear 402's and some marineland powerhead I can't remember the model number, 1- 10,000k bulb on for 11 hours a Aqua C remora HOT protein skimmer with maxi jet 1200, and a aquaclear 300 powerfilter! My parameters are nitrate 0, nitrite 0, ph 8.2, ammonia between .25 and 0 it's hard reading the test kit it's about in the middle somewhere of the 2 colors, specific gravity 1.023, and phosphate is between 0-.25 another close call on color readings. I know this is long but if you read through this and have any ideas please give me ideas and thanks.
 
Ammonia could be from the over feeding. 0-0.25 doesnt sound too bad. What kind of substrate do you have. When i get algea blooms i use a turkey baster and try to turn some of the substrate over.
 
my tank has been up and running for over a year now! My substrate is crushed coral. I have been getting the same results from my ammonia test for at least 9 months or so! I don't know if it is the test kits reading wrong or maybe it's reading right from possible over feeding? How much should I feed them? All the food I put in there is gobbled up in minutes, really nothing hits the substrate!
 
Is it red slime algae that you have? This can be brought on from PO4, low water flow and the wrong spectrum lighting(old Bulbs).
Have you checked your tap water for phosphates? i feed my tanks once a day a mix of frozen brine and flake. With a treat once a week of seaweed for the tangs. What type of lighting and how old, Any corals?
You can cut back on the lighting for a while till the algae gets under control.
Test kits can go bad when they get older....... may be time for a new kit or ask the LFS to test it for you.
 
my test kit shows the same for ammonia. i can never get it to read a "for sure" yellow which indicates 0. so i tested my tap water just for a reference. it read the same thing. if i read the test kit under normal daylight it reads yellow. the compact flourescent. bulbs i use in my house show it a little more green which indicates getting close to .25

just some food for thought
steve r
 
No corals. My 10,000k bulb is only a month old. Yeah it is Red Slime. Good idea on the test kit, I've had this kit for over a year now and it might be time to replace. I pretty much have the same feeding routine as you. PO4 test are reading 0-.25 I'm not sure but it is somewhere in that range! I might try to play with the powerheads to get better circulation throughout the tank. I only feed once a day but maybe I'll cut back on what I do give to them. I think this will be a process of elimination that will be on going for a while!
 
Did the algae start up after you got the new light. Some say a phosphate sponge helps remove it. I have never tried one so I can't say for sure. They say flake food is a big contributor.
 
No the algae has been around a long time prior to that. I've tried pretty much every phosphate/algae removing device/additive out there and no real luck. It must be something I'm doing wrong! I'll going to try to feed them less at a time and see how that works. Thanks for all your advice!
 
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