Algea and lots of it...

[jwsmartin]

I have a 24 gallon nano pod. I changed out 5 gallons of water about 3 days ago. In about 2 days, I had a huge buildup of algae on the sand and glass. I scrape the glass off everyday, but the sand is a different story.

Should I be concerned? What should I do to prevent this?

Cleaner crew
- 3 turbos
- 1 small snail (not sure what called)
- 6 crabs
- 1 cleaner shrimp

Fish
- 2 nemos
- 2 damsels

Anemone
- Pink Bubble Tip

Coral
- 5 separate zoanthids
- 1 acanthratrea

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I guess I'll hit the normal questions that will help us help you with algae issues...

1. Have you tested your nitrates and phosphates? If so , what are those numbers?
2. Are you using RO/DI water or tap?
3. What type of algae are we talking about? Hair? (Long green strands.) Cyanobacteria? (Slimy red, green, or blue sheets full of bubbles) Diatoms? (Rusty brown colored dust?)
4. How old is the tank?
5. How often, and how much are you feeding?
6. What type of lighting do you have, and how long do you have it on?

Depending on the type of algae, yes... you may need to be concerned. Diatoms are a normal part of setting up a new tank. But the other types of algae feed off of excessive nutrients in your tank such as nitrates and phosphates, or excessive lighting. Prevention of algae is a matter of eliminating the fuel that's feeding it.

Two clowns and two damsels is a lot of fish for a 24g tank. What type of filtration do you have?

 

[melosu58]

Should I be concerned? What should I do to prevent this?

Follow this plan

FantasyReef Databases-Viewing item "10 Step Plan for Nuisance Algae Control"

 

[mandown123]

i found the lighting was the single most important thing that helped me lick my algae. Also i added a phosphate sucking pad to my filter in place of the normal pad. I live in NY so the water is notoriously phosphate ridden. I've since started using RO water from the lfs but even that source water tests pos for trace phosphate.

The phosphate sucker helped a lot too and that was 4 bucks at bigalsonline.com