green algae

[cmalandro]

i have an 14 gallon biocube that just finished cycling about 3 weeks ago. i have two fish in it as well as coral. I've done a water change and i keep getting a buildup of green algae. why is this happening and how do i stop it?

 

[Dan_P]

i have an 14 gallon biocube that just finished cycling about 3 weeks ago. i have two fish in it as well as coral. I've done a water change and i keep getting a buildup of green algae. why is this happening and how do i stop it?

Several ideas come to mind.

You might consider measuring the levels of the algae nutrients phosphate and nitrate.

Your aquarium may not have an established and robust population of dentrification bacteria, so nitrates could be accumulating.

You did not mention having snails in your aquarium to keep down nusiance algae or crabs to eat left over fish food which eventually become a source for phosphate and nitrate.

 

[cmalandro]

I I'm fact do have two snails and a hermit crab in the tank forgot to mention that

 

[Chris Vo]

Hi! As a newbie myself, I have learned that a small diatom and/or green algae bloom is normal in a newly cycled tank. I started my 50 gallon tank at the end of December and had a small diatom bloom in January. The wonderful reefers here told me that it would run its course--and it did. All normal now. In addition to my cleanup crew, I also have a diamond watchman goby who sifts through my sand and a bi-colored blenny that grazes on leftover algae. I think you're on the right track--keep up the maintenance with weekly 10-20% water changes and be sure to use ro/di water and you'll be golden in a few weeks.

 

[cmalandro]

Thanks for the tips buddy appreciate it

 

[Sharkbait420]

What kind of fish? Do you have a fuge? The best way to get rid of nuisance algae is to grow more desirable algae to out compete it for nutrients. It can also be new tank syndrome. You can add bottle bacteria. Me and my roommates from college got algae when we started our tank. We added stress zyme and it disappearsed.

Bring a water sample to petco and have them test your water.

 

[cmalandro]

I got a percula clown and a green chromis. I do not have a fuge and I do dose with bacteria I dose with a solution called special blend

 

[homegrowncichlid]

In general, if you add a flake of food into the tank, the fish eat it, (or not) they keep only a tiny bit for growth and metabolism and the rest goes into the water as waste. Over a month, you may have fed half the flakes in your container, but where does it all end up? the fish didn't get that much bigger, so the rest ends up in the water, which then moves up the food chain as fertilizer for algae, which feeds snail/crab herbivores. Over all, once you finish the food container, you're going to get that much mass in algae, so what people do is get something to eat it and recycle the mass up the trophic food chain into snails, crabs, worms, tangs, small fish, which gets eaten by bigger fish, dolphins, sharks, orcas, Japanese whalers, etc.


Or you can do a water change to remove the nutrients or physically remove the algae from the system.