Algae or bacteria bloom?

[cjldad]

My tank has been cycled for a couple months.. However, last week I came home after a couple days of being away to find the tank cloudy.. Looks like I have some green algae on some driftwood.. Can't really say the water is green, milky looking with maybe a hint of green... Water tests show 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 3 nitrate.. When I first noticed it, the water tested 0 accross the board.. Thinking maybe if it was algae, it had sucked up all the nitrate.. But it has slowly came back up over a week to 3ppm....

Is this the first stage of green algae? I can only assume so from the slight green algae that has shown up on the driftwood.. Any way to adjust my tank instead of getting a drop in UV unit?

 

[mfdrookie516]

a blackout would be the easiest way

 

[cjldad]

Yeah, was just reading that.. But I'm not 100% sure it is green algae, blue-green algae or a bacteria bloom.. I guess the green algae forming on the driftwood is a good indication of algae.. Also, it seems to look better in the morning than in the evening.. I guess it is sucking up my lights during the day... Still thinking blackout? They got fed tonight, so they will be happy till the weekend I guess.. How long of a blackout should I do? Will this be an issue that turns up over and over?

 

[mfdrookie516]

it depends. i doubt its a bacteria bloom if the tank has been up and running for a while and you havent had any ammonia issues. Watch how much you feed, overfeeding and excess lights are a good recipe for algae. I would do a blackout for 3-4 days followed by a 50% pwc and see if that helps. If it doesnt help at all, you may be dealing with something else

 

[cjldad]

I went ahead and covered the tank last night.. I don't overfeed.. I feed once every 2 to 3 days and they eat it all up within minutes..

A good friend has a UV sterilizer from his Marine setup that he took down years ago when he moved.. He said he had no problem letting me run that..

Thoughts? Just clean the heck out of it I guess?

What would be the best way to make certain all the marine salt is out of it???

 

[BigJim]

Vinegar will dissolve the salt.

 

[cjldad]

Just use white vinigar at 100% then rinse?

 

[mfdrookie516]

and rinse, and rinse, and rinse, and so on... you get the idea

 

[cjldad]

Yeah, I told him not to worry.. I went ahead and just ordered a Coralife Turbo Twist.. Should be in Monday.. Even if the blackout works, I'll still have it plumbed in running super low flow to kill whatever it wants..

 

[cjldad]

Well, took everything off the tank tonight.. Had been covered since Tuesday night.. Still looked the same.. Did a 30% water change just in case something was funky.. Oh well.. UV will be here tomorrow.. Will try to get that plumbed in and see how that goes..

 

[mfdrookie516]

thats weird... it must not be algae then. maybe it is a bacteria bloom?

 

[cjldad]

Yeah, I guess so.. Made so much more sense to be algae because I had changed some lighting around to make the tank brighter.. But whatever.. It is in the water column, so UV should knock it out, right?

 

[mfdrookie516]

i have no clue... but i guess we shall see

 

[cjldad]

Who knows.. I was thinking blue-green because I had cleaned so well and my nitrates had dropped to basicly nill... But then again, didn't think BG would suspend in the water column...