Please Help

[mcurrie1]

I have a 55 gallon tank with algae problems. I have a green powder that accumulates on all my glass. I have done a 10 gallon water change with R/O water (used tap in the past), completed a filter change about 2 weeks ago and cleaned them yesterday. The algae looks like powder once you clean it from the front glass but will return within 2-3 hours. In addition, my snails seem to be lifeless but are not dead. They cling to the glass but do not move. My PH was off a few days ago, but I have addressed that problem and my PH is now 8.2. Ammonia, nitrate and nitrite are no existent. I have been adding calcium, iodine and strontium & molybdenum. Please help! I am new to this and have over 1500 dollars invested. PLEASE HELP!!!.

Matt

Equipment: 110 Gallon Protein skimmer, 2 emperor 330 biowheel filters, Power compacts and around 20 pounds of live rock.

 

[fishfreek]

can you provide more info about your skimmer and how its setup. The power your describinb I get on my glass but it usually does not show up for a few days between algae magnet uses. What it sounds like is you have excessive nutrients for the algae to grow. Is there a reason your adding iodine and other trace elements? The usual rule of thumb is to not dose what you dont test for. Are you testing for calcium, iodine and strontium and molybdenum? If not then I would discontinue dosing until you can get test kits for those and know your water levels before and after dosing.

The fact that you have used tap water in the past could be the culprit given that unless you have good quality tap water its usually the main cuplprit for alage issues. Have you tested your phosphate levels? How often do you feed and wat are you feeding? Some types of snails dont move much during the day but will instead wait till night fall to move around. Do you know the type of snails you have? Mexican Turbo? Nassirus?

 

[seaham358]

Ff is right on sing additives.. No need to use them if your doing regular water changes or have a heavy coral population. Calcium and lakalinity are the only 2 you should be using if your trying to get some coraline algae to grow and have a small coral population.
Test for phosphates and silicates and show us the readings. The tap water would also be my guess tot he problem.
how many hours do you run your lights? How much stuff is the skimmer taking out of the water?

 

[mcurrie1]

The skimmer is an Aquarium Systems (instant oceans). And you are right about the trace elements. I have been adding them because my LFS told me this is what I needed to start. However, I only have mushrooms in my tank. Everything else is fish, crab and shrimp. However, I did get a calcium test the other day and its around 500.