Help!! Algae outbreak

[Smarkalan83]

Hoping someone can help tell me what they think this algae is from and how to get rid of it...
The algae is like a greenish color and is kinda stringy and it is leaving a thin layer over my live rock I am thinking it is some sort of hair algae but I don't know what would cause it and I can't seem to get rid of it ...
All my levels are good 0 nitrates 0 nitrites 0 phosphates no ammonia and I have been changing water every 5 days I change 5 gal it is a 55g tank .... Can it maybe be my bulbs in my light are needing to be changed .... I replaced less than a year ago .... Any input would be great

 

[54seaweed]

if its green hair could be from over feeding
the algae is feeding off the phosphates causing a false reading
the best way to resolve is to do bigger water changes more frequently till you see it clearing up
in the 55 I'd do 10 gal daily for a week to drop all them phos in the system

 

[Smarkalan83]

So even though the test reads 0 you think that is the issue .... I usually only feed every other day to every 3 days and only once .... Here is a pic maybe you can confirm thanks a lot ....let me k ow if you can see what I am talking about

 

[54seaweed]

phos wont read cause algae is consuming it faster than you can get a reading
do a few big water changes
should bring down phos and you'll see it decreasing

when I started my tank looked like a golf coarse I had so much algae lol

 

[Smarkalan83]

Alright I will try that thanks again

 

[oyf709]

If u have 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate, then I would try to find out your "light on" time and type of lighting.

If you using LED, you can ignore the 2nd questions, if you are using T5/T8 or MH. Then maybe the spectrum is towards green and yellow which favour to algae. You will jneed to change your light bulb.

It can also because your light is on way too long(over 9 hours a day), you hsould have the light on about 6 to 7 hours a day at peak, and atinic on for about total of 4 hours, which total light on should not more than 10 hours.

If this is a true FOWLR tank, then you can just keep light out for 2 weeks and all the algae should be gone. but from pic ooks like you have coral then you have to do it slowly.

 

[Smarkalan83]

Ya I have mix of different corals in the tank .... I currently have 2 lights 1-led which has 54-1w bulbs and the 2nd is 2-54w t5 lights .... The lights come on at 1130am and go off 730 pm not other light not near windows it is in finished basement .... I changed the t5 bulbs less than year ago but with my timer I have all lights come on and go off the same time unfortunately I don't have option for turning them on different times unless I physically flip to the actinics only .... Is there any way to tell of my bulbs are bad??

 

[oyf709]

i don't think there is anyway you can test it, you just have to change it every 8-12 months if it is T5 or 6-8 months if it is MH

 

[Smarkalan83]

I hav been changing the water not as often as some guys on here have said but I have been doing 10g every 3 days and the hair algae is not reducing at all.... I went to local fish store they checked all my levels and said everything was fine ph was little low 8.1-8.2 but they said only other thing was my kh was low they said it should be around 15 and mine was like 3-4 .... Cam this cause hair algae and also how does that equate to alkalinity I don't have a kh test only alkalinity.... Every site I see says alkalinity would not cause algae nor would kh is this tre or was he just trying to sell me a buffer which I did buy anyway ???

 

[oyf709]

it can means your calcium level is not stable. Are you using the RO/DI water? cuz sometimes water change helps algae growth as a lot of nutrient will replace by the new water that put in.

Having a stable KH is always important for the health of your fish and coral. Here is something I can suggest that you can give a try.
1) use a new toothbrash try to remove as much hair algae as possible.
2) limited the feeding down to no more than once a day or even stop feeding for may few days
3) Limit the lighting period down to about 3 to 4 hours at peak and no more than 6 hours.
4) try to keep your KH stable and calcium level stable.
5)You can try this but only when you think you are ready, you can buy a sea hare and try to have it to clean up your hair algae, and once it has done the job, you will have to pass it on to someone else or return it for store credit as it will starve to death without hair algae. You don't wnat it died in your tank as it release toxin

 

[Smarkalan83]

So if I was to use the toothbrush would I have to take out each piece of live rock as I do it or can I just turn all powerheads off and then siphon it out .... I only feed once every other day an right now lights are on for about 9 hours a day I don't want to keep lights off too much because wouldn't that hurt my corals??

 

[oyf709]

yes you will need to brush it off and siphon is out, as of the light, think about this way, even out there in nature you will have cloudy days up to maybe few days, and coral won't die because of that, I don't think it will be a huge issue

 

[nikki_kaiser]

Hoping someone can help tell me what they think this algae is from and how to get rid of it...
The algae is like a greenish color and is kinda stringy and it is leaving a thin layer over my live rock I am thinking it is some sort of hair algae but I don't know what would cause it and I can't seem to get rid of it ...
All my levels are good 0 nitrates 0 nitrites 0 phosphates no ammonia and I have been changing water every 5 days I change 5 gal it is a 55g tank .... Can it maybe be my bulbs in my light are needing to be changed .... I replaced less than a year ago .... Any input would be great

For a quick fix...I would also run some GFO after you clean the tank. It's NOT a solution though.

For hair algae to grow, it requires light, nitrate, phosphate and carbon dioxide. Here is a helpful link:

www.saltwateraquariumlighting.com/green-hair-algae/

 

[Aquaman024]

You can always increase the flow to that area. I had a similar problem and that is how I corrected it.