Please Help...

[eschnapp]

Hi, im kind of new in this, and obviously i am doing something wrong, if any of you can help i would really apricitate it... here's the deal... i got a 90GAL reef "to be" aquarium, so far is been running about 5 months, i like to take things a little easy, so all i got there is about 100LBS live fiji rock i got 4 months ago, yellow tang, coral beauty and one rock with some mushroom polyps... i run a sump with a berlin skimmer, canister and a 15W( i think ) U.V... for light i got a helios system with 4X55W marine blue ( 22K ) bulbs... that are running 10 hrs a day... since day one geen algean never stopped growing, and i think my coraline is giving room to this algea on the live rock ... my tests dont come up with anything... no nitrates, nitrites no phosphates and good level calcium (450 - 500 ). recently i even went a nother step to completly eliminate possible phosphate and silica by getting and R.O system... now this is runnig for about 2 weeks and im still not seing any results... i tried playing with light timing also but no good.... any ideas? thanks!

 

[Dubge]

I am fighting the same thing right now. Are you over feeding? What do you have for a clean up crew? I know I need more in my tank, 75G RR
How old is the tank? I assume you let it cycle first.
How much and how often are you doing water changes? Also new tanks will go through many algea stages in the first 6 months

Ray

 

[eschnapp]

right now i got only 3 crabs.. i didnt think ill need that many with only 2 fish... the tank itself is about 2 years old, all the substrate and filters are also from 2 years ago, i restarted the tank after moving, which is when the problem started... im worried that 4 22K blubs are not a good choice....

 

[Meloco14]

You may not be doing anything wrong, it may just be a matter of circumstance. It can take a long time for algae blooms to end, and it seems like you've done all you can as far as limiting phosphates and silica. What type of algae is it? I'm assuming green hair algae. You mention having a couple crabs because you only have a couple fish, I assume you are counting the crabs as detritivores and scavengers then. But they can also be very useful at keeping algae down. However, a good selection of snails is most effective. You dont mention having any snails, and in any case you either need some or more than you have now. And not just one variety, different species are better at different things. They can definitely help limit algae growth. Also, you dont mention whether coralline is growing or not. If it is not growing you may need to check your other trace element levels. Calcium and light are not the only things they need to grow. Alkalinity is also a factor. Once coralline is growing it should (in theory) outcompete microalgae. You might want to try some macroalgae, which will also outcompete microalgae, though macroalgae can in time become a nusiance and overrun the tank. If this continues to be a problem you may want to consider a refugium with macroalgae...anyway good luck and keep us posted on your progress

 

[eschnapp]

i am not sure if its hair algea at all, the substrate get the regular brown diatoms, but the live rock is slowly turning green where no coraline is... i also think the coraline is diminishing....

 

[eschnapp]

i would say about a year

 

[psiico]

This might sound dumb, but are you sure it isn't green coralline? I was worried about green on my rocks too but considering it doesn't rub off and snails eating there don't disturb it I'm assuming it's coralline.