Algea Problem

[dbernard]

If anyone could help it would be greatly appreciated. I have a 46 gal tank been up and running for about 18 months, recently (past few months) I have had a major algea problem. I test my water weekly, frequent water changes (approx 8 gal evry 2 weeks), I have 4 fish, a few soft corals, approx 40-50lbs live rock, 1 1/2 - 2" of live sand, several snails, hermits and 2 sand sifter stars. All of my water paramaters are fine, I am running some phosphate remover in the sump. I have a wet/dry rated at 125 gal, I have a protien skimmer rated at 100 gal(euro-reef), I only use RO/di water. I have been getting a red mat of algea on my live rock and dome green hair algea on the back of my tank. I clean it off and with in a few days it is back. I only feed once a day, I have good lighting, and haven changed the lighting times in a year or so. All of my soft corals are growing like weeds, and seem very healthy, fish are healthy. I have tried a couple of different water test kits and the results are all the same. Salinity has been the same since I started the tank, all paramaters are fine, its just the ugly look of all the algea. Dont know if I should add more hermits and snails, I have about 12 of each. Any help / advice would greatly apprecaited. Every 2 months I have been doing a 15gal water change. I have good circulation with 2 power heads. Thanks again in advance. Dave

 

[barbra]

Algea is frequently caused by nutrients in the water. If the algea is not eating it can't survive. You mentioned that you are running a wet/dry filter. They are notorious nitrate factories and algea loves nitrates. I would suspect that immediately. Also, in regard to the lighting, I didn't quite catch your meaning there, could you clarify that sentence?

 

[S!mon]

Try cutting your feeding back to three times a week, and also reduce your photo period to 4-5 hours a day. I'd also think about doing 10 gal water change weekly for a month or two. It may also help to list your water parameters.

 

[Brian5000]

Actually, I was about to post a similar question. My tank is as follows:

29 gallon Aquarium
Aquaclear 50 filter (with phosphoguard pouch)
Aquaclear 30 powerhead (x2)
Seaclone 100 protein Skimmer (yes, I know)
130 watt Orbit PC lighting (1 Actinic/1white)
About 25 lbs. live rock

Salinity: 1.021 (usually)
Phosphate: 0.1 (tested at LFS)
Nitrate: 0
KH: 143 PPM
Calcium: 360 (I'm working on that)
Photoperiod: 13 hours
Water changes: 5 gallons about every 1-2 weeks
Aquarium Lifespan: about 3 years

As I said, I have a similar problem. As of about 3 months ago, I started seeing red algea, and I haven't been able to stop it. By now, it's become pretty severe and nothing I do seems to slow it down. Also like dbernard, my corals are growing very well, which I think is part of the problem.

My theory is that, back when my corals were are just fragments, my cheap, flimsey protein skimmer could handle the load. Now that they've all grown up, it's overloaded.

Can anyone comment on this theory? Or suggest something I haven't thought of?

My ultimate solution to this problem is that fact that I'm starting to put together a 75 gallon aquarium, this time with good filtration. At this point, I want to learn as much as I can about my mistakes with this tank so I can hopefully avoid them with the new one.
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[barbra]

Actually, I was about to post a similar question. My tank is as follows:

29 gallon Aquarium
Aquaclear 50 filter (with phosphoguard pouch)
Aquaclear 30 powerhead (x2)
Seaclone 100 protein Skimmer (yes, I know)
130 watt Orbit PC lighting (1 Actinic/1white)
About 25 lbs. live rock

Salinity: 1.021 (usually)
Phosphate: 0.1 (tested at LFS)
Nitrate: 0
KH: 143 PPM
Calcium: 360 (I'm working on that)
Photoperiod: 13 hours
Water changes: 5 gallons about every 1-2 weeks
Aquarium Lifespan: about 3 years

As I said, I have a similar problem. As of about 3 months ago, I started seeing red algea, and I haven't been able to stop it. By now, it's become pretty severe and nothing I do seems to slow it down. Also like dbernard, my corals are growing very well, which I think is part of the problem.

I would do what you can to remove all the phosphate from your system and to determine the source. That could very well be the problem. Corals growing well and algea growing well are not related to one another because the things that make them grow well differ in several regards.

My theory is that, back when my corals were are just fragments, my cheap, flimsey protein skimmer could handle the load. Now that they've all grown up, it's overloaded.

Corals do not generate much of anything that a skimmer would work on, it is primarily fish feeding and detritus that your skimmer removes.

Can anyone comment on this theory? Or suggest something I haven't thought of?

My ultimate solution to this problem is that fact that I'm starting to put together a 75 gallon aquarium, this time with good filtration.

What do you mean by "good filtration"?, other than the life rock the only filtration you should need is mechanical to remove particulate matter, and plent of people don't even use that. Your live rock and sand provides filtration.

 

[barbra]

If you both are speaking of red cyano outbreaks then the answer is to increase your flow and remove your nutrients. Lighting and other factors may be involved, but with cyano flow and nutrients are the first places to look.

 

[fcmatt]

overstocked and too much nutrients is the obvious first guess.
live rock probably has so much junk under it you would gag if
you lifted it up.

solution? start a new tank always keeping that in mind??

hard to make a guess.. but the one above is probably it?

 

[Brian5000]

Getting a new tank isn't so much my "solution" as it's just what happening. The fact that my smaller tank is having some trouble at the same time is just a coincidence. I don't know about dbernard, but know my flow rate is good, so I know it must be nutrients. I haven't really been sure what the source is though.

Also, to the particular phoshate test that the store used, I think 0.1 is essentially 0. Especially since I borrowed reagent grade water from work too, and I got the same response.

It's true, I haven't ever really done much with my sand bed. Recently, I've tried to suck crud out of it during water changes, but I know there's probably a lot more there.

So what do people normally do to take care of their sand bed (My sand is fine grain sand)? I was originally told when I bought it to do nothing, critters would take care of it. I have a feeling he was exagerating though.
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[S!mon]

.1 for PO4 is pretty high, anything above .25ppm retards coral growth. I got rid of my PO4 by dripping kalk.