Algae problem

[Anthony.Luciano710]

ok so i have an extremely bad algae problem and i really don't know how to stop it or whats causing it so i set up a 125 gallon tank my goal is to make it a reef tank and so far i have 150 pounds of live rock and 2 fish. it is completely cycled and i also have 2 zoanthid colonies in it that are doing great but recently when i had to start running my lights the algae has beed building up ridiculously and i dont know what im doing wrong. i had 1 175 watt metal halide and 1 216 watt t-5 fixture with 2 1000k bulbs and 2 actinic bulbs all 4 are 54 watts. i have a refugium full of cheato mactroalgae and copepods. there are snails and hermit crabs helping clean the mess and my protein skimmer just keeps getting full of algae. i noticed it was really bad when i went away for 2 days and when i came back i couldn't even see through the glass so i wiped it all off and all the rocks are green and all the sand is green. so i went upstairs and shut off all the lighs so and 2 hours later i went back down and it was already starting to grow back and i had to wipe it again. so then i changed about 20 gallons of water but nothing is helping. tomorrow i want to get an algae blenny but i know thats not gonna solve the problem it will just help it a little. i was thinking of getting a uv sterilizer but im not sure if its just going to totally get rid of it. also my water is still very cloudy and i have not been able to see all the way through from the side since day 1. my ammonia and nitrite are undetectable but my nitrate went up a little but i just changed the water and fixed that and the only filtration i use is my live rock and protein skimmer and the refugium with cheato macroalgae

 

[reefjunkie09]

Hey are you using RO/DI water??? How's your phos? Are your bulbs over a year old?


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

yes i am using ro/di water my bulbs are brand new/ and my phosphate is showing 0. do you think a uv sterilizer will work?

 

[Bitewing]

Don't run your lighs for more than 8 hours per day and make sure its not in sunlight

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

well they were running or 12 hours for my zoanthids so i lowered them to 10 hours but will 8 hours be enough because i am going to get a lot more coral on friday.

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

Increase flow inside the tank using powerheads (kroralia's/vortech's etc..).
You haven't mentioned how many hours your DT lights are on for. If longer than 8 hours, cut back to 6-7 hours.
Glad your using a RODI unit. But you haven't mentioned what the TDS reading is on the unit. If you do not have one, I suggest purchasing one asap. This will determine when to change out old filters in the unit. Just because you have a RODI unit does not mean the unit is working properly. Thus the reason for a TDS meter.
Feed only what your fish can consume in 5 minutes.
If feeding frozen food, rise with RODI water 1st then strain it with a net. Alot of frozen food has/have a gelatinous coating on it that is high in PO4. So rinse.
I've used a UV sterilizer and it does help.
Carbon helps your tank but purchase a high grade carbon media and change when it is exhausted out (changing prevents leaching organics back into the tank).
Use of a phosban reactor with Ferric Oxide will help.
Try the easy steps 1st before purchasing more equip.

 

[Donewiththisplace]

+1 on cutting the lights back to 7 hours...its more then enough. Especially if the tanks is in a well lit room as far as natural light goes. Set a timer so the lights come on in the afternoon, 2 ish, that way the lights will be on into the early evening...this also increases the time you have to view your tank.

Monitor your feeding and insure that your not overfeeding. And maybe up the CUC to eat up some of the waste. The Blenny will help..but the problem is probably bigger than he could handle.

And of course keep up on the water changes. I would perform one every 7-10 days.

Another thing to think about is maybe holding off on adding any more coral until the algae problem is under control.


Keep us posted on what happens.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

yea i made the lights a total of an 8 hour cycle. the 2 54 watt actinics go on at 11 and shut off at 7pm the 2 54 watt white 10000k lights and the 175 watt 14000k metal halide go on from 12 to 6pm also i added some phosphate remover because i checked the level again and it was at .25 ppm so i added the phosphate remover and hopefully i will see a difference maybe tomorrow. i also got a sea hare (bali monster) and a gold headed sleeper goby.