Algae Problems

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tamra&steven

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Apr 3, 2008
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i have an out breakof algae i dont know how to get rid of it or why it is there. its a 24ga tank with a 150w halide on for 8 hours a day i have a 7 watt uv lite i have 0 nitrate 0 phosphate i feed the 2 small fish in there very little i am using phosar hc reef pure to remove phosphae and am using de nitrate to remove nitrate i am also using chem pure carbon i have cleaned the sump and the tank very well i dnt know how to get rid of the algae or why its there
 
What type of algae are we talking about? Can you post a picture of it?

A few more questions... How long has the tank been set up, and what exactly are the "2 small fish"? What type of water are you using to mix your salt with and what's your tank's pH?

Oh... and welcome to Aquarium Advice!
 
If you have 0 phosphates and 0 Nitrates why are you using products to remove them? I'm funny about adding things to my tank to "fix" problems.

I agree with Kurt, what kind of algae are we talking about? Is it green hair algae or something else? If you have algae growing in your tank then chances are you have phosphates and or Nitrates. Those are two things that algae feeds on.

Having a refugium with Macro Algae will help keep excess nutrients out of your display tank.

Post some pics if you can.
 
I agree with them, how old are your test kits, and what kind?
How often do you feed and what kind of food?
Welcome to the site!
 
i have an out breakof algae i dont know how to get rid of it or why it is there. its a 24ga tank with a 150w halide on for 8 hours a day i have a 7 watt uv lite i have 0 nitrate 0 phosphate i feed the 2 small fish in there very little i am using phosar hc reef pure to remove phosphae and am using de nitrate to remove nitrate i am also using chem pure carbon i have cleaned the sump and the tank very well i dnt know how to get rid of the algae or why its there

How often are you feeding and what?
 
The algae is black/red (not bright red) The tank has been set up for about 1 year give or take a month or so. The 2 fish are a clown fsh and a royal dottyback, the fish get feed brime shrimp about every 2 days or so. We use RODI water and the Ph is at 8.3. We use instant ocean test kits and they say they expire in March of 2009, We just bought them a few months ago. We cleaned the tank on March 30 which also included a 5 gallon water change. PLEASE HELH US!!!!!!
 
You may need to change out your light bulbs. I would also do additional PWCs.
 
The algae is black/red (not bright red) The tank has been set up for about 1 year give or take a month or so. The 2 fish are a clown fsh and a royal dottyback, the fish get feed brime shrimp about every 2 days or so. We use RODI water and the Ph is at 8.3. We use instant ocean test kits and they say they expire in March of 2009, We just bought them a few months ago. We cleaned the tank on March 30 which also included a 5 gallon water change. PLEASE HELH US!!!!!!

Is it leafy algea? Grassy tufts? Or is it like a slimy carpet? If it's a slimy carpet, then it's most likely cyanobacteria which is due to excess nutrients like nitrates and phosphates. Since you're using a nitrate and phosphate reducer, were you having problems with these things before? If it's le

You say you cleaned the tank on March 30th. Was this because of the algae issue? What all did this cleaning consist of? How often do you normally change water in the tank, and how much do you change?

Sorry for the endless questions, but we're just trying to narrow down what type of "algae" we're dealing with, and try and figure out where it's getting its fuel!
 
Tank isn't near a window is it?

Also, frozen brine?If so I belive that water is phosphate laden. But you say that's at zero anyway. P.S. - I'd get that fish diet more balance than that and wih vitamin and garlic supplements.

OK, back to the algae. I'd also suggest changing the bulbs.
 
I always make a funny face when I hear that someone "cleaned" their tank.

Kurt asked some good questions there. What kind of cleaning are we talking about?

Also Austinsdad makes a very good point, is the tank near a window that gets a lot of sun?
 
The algea is prob. is most like the slimy carpet. Before we started using the reducers there was only a small amount of nitrate and phosphate so we stared with the reducers to get reed of that.

We clean the tank every 2 weeks. a normal cleaning means we vaccume the sand, vaccume the sump, change or rinse off any filter pads, change 5 gallons of water, and wipe off the glass with our tank magnate. And only once a month we change the carbon.

The tank is not near any window, so it is not getting any naturall sun light. The bulbs in the tank are only about 3 months old.
 
Cyanobacteria is what that sounds like.

Vaccuming the sand is not a great idea. You are stiring up stuff when you do that and that could be part of the issue. Excess nutrients are released when you vaccume your sand, that can and will cause algae blooms and cyanobacteria out breaks.

I would do all the other things you are doing keep doing, I would stop messing with the sand and see if that makes a difference.
 
I will also add the carbon is only good for about 1-2 weeks, depending on your bioload. After that time, it will leach nasties back into your tank. I haven't run carbon in over a year. I love purigen.
 
Ziggy and roka mention good things. I don't think "light" vaccuming is bad, like just the top layer. But deep "disturbing" vacuuming is bad.

You mention that a "small amount" of nitrate and phosphates were in the tank before you used the removers. A small amount of nitrates is to be expected in a small tank, but the phosphates surprise me since you're using RO/DI water. And it doesn't sound like you're overfeeding, which is the other primary source. Have you checked your source RO/DI water for nitrates and phosphates? Just because it's RO/DI doesn't mean it's guaranteed pure. LFSs have been known to let their membranes or DI resins go too long, and that "pure" water might not be so pure.

Water flow is another thing people blame cyano on. Personally, I think it's a water issue first, and if you have bad flow it just makes it worse. But just to cover everything, what kind of flow do you have? Any additional powerheads in the tank to keep the water moving?

I'm not really seeing any "smoking gun", unless your source water is bad. I'd try to track down where the phosphates are coming from and eliminate that, rather than rely on the phosphate remover. Stepping up your water changes to once every week won't hurt either. When you do the water changes, suck up as much of the cyano as you can with your siphon. It'll come back, but if you're diligent for several weeks you should be able to get the upper hand.
 
I agree with Kurt, water flow doesn't have much effect on getting rid of it. I tried that and it just spread it (same with hair algae). I would look for the source. Cyano seems to eat up phosphates (giving a low or no reading at all) on the test kits.
Have you tested your source water?
 
The source of water is good i use the same water on my 60 gallon SPS tank and also we have 3 powerhead to added water flow. Thanks for the help we will try the weekly water changes.
 
Do you have any type of filter or foam in any equipment? I would replace the carbon or remove it. It's great stuff to polish the water or remove meds, but if you don't need to use it I wouldn't.
 
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