Newbie help please. :D

[Cambycis]

I have had my tank now since November of 2010. I am having what looks to be a green algae problem. My tank is extremely murky and looks green. I can see the green algae growing on the glass but its hard to see how bad it is on my live rock. I had the water tested and my nitrates are a little high. So I am going to do my normal water change but was told to that i could also use algaefix. I would rather fix the problem then just cover it up with a chemical but am also concerned on whether or not the chemical is going to hurt the cycle. Would getting a skimmer help the problem. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Gti_Leo]

it never hurts to have more fiultering, specially in saltwater.

Xtalreef

this is a good link abotu the different types of algae and if they are good or bad. you can try cleaning the algae off the glass and doing normal waterchanges to get your water perameters as close to 0 in ammonia nitrite and nitrate as possible.

some snails never hurt anyone either

 

[FreshGrupper]

hi Ron here do you have an under gravel filter and if you do is it hooked with air bubbles in the stack if so i say you should go with one stack (tube) and put it low only need maybe 4 or 5 inches off the filter and use a power head in the tube it will turn your tank over alot faster and help keep it clean point the power head towards the top of the water so the water will roll at serface and put lots of oxygen in and release many toxins into the air also make sure you have NO sunlight rays on tank at all put the stack in middle close to back slope gravel from back to front so power hear will take from farther out hope this helps sorry i type all one sentence

 

[trackfast]

Are you using RODI water? How often are you feeding?

 

[mr_X]

what do you consider "regular" water changes? if your "my tanks" tab is updated, you have very little live rock for the size of the tank. live rock is part of your filter. the more you have, the healthier your tank will be (within reason).
you should also be cleaning that cannister filter out regularly. they can quickly become nitrate producers.

the problem you are having is excess nutrients. the more nutrient rich your water is, the more algae growth you will see.

 

[Cambycis]

Thanks all for all the information. I have a canister filter now, with two coral life fans. My water changes are every four weeks and i'm purchasing my water already premixed that is RODI. I'm only feeding once a day. I am currently working on getting more live rock rock but the selection here isn't all that great. I was also told by the LFS that this is a normal part of my cycle and that it is not necessarily a bad thing. They told me to do my water change which would help bring down the nitrates and to keep cleaning the glass and it will go away. What else can i do to get rid of it. Now that i have done the water change it is clearer but still merky. I can now also see the green hair algae on the live rock. Thanks again.

 

[mr_X]

i would do weekly water changes. green algae is not part of any cycle. again, excessive algae growth is a sign of excessive nutrients, which is a bad thing.
you can run some carbon in your cannister to clear the water up.

if you are feeding that tank daily and doing monthly water changes, you are headed for trouble. that food doesn't disappear. even though the fish eat it and it appears gone, it stays in the tank until you take it out. your water changes are doing the nutrient removal, and stepping them up to weekly instead of monthly will go a long way in the algae battle.