Nepthea Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 Hey all. My tank is still pretty new, up for 4-6 weeks. All the water parameters test out ok, but I'm getting a bright green, filmy (not slimy) algea growing on the glass. I scrape it off at night, and by the time I come home the next day, I can barely see in the tank again. Some specs: 29G AGA 165W PC Tetra Tec 150 HOB w/ heater Prizm Power Sweep 204 40+ lbs Southdown, seeded with LS from friends tank 40 lbs Fiji LR RO/DI and Distilled water only Dosing: B-Ionic 5 ml each part per day Coral Vital 1/4 tsp. per day Critters: 2 peppermint shrimp 1 emerald crab (?) red and blue legs serpent star banded coral shrimp (?) astreala snails 2 nassarius snails percula Corals: GSP Zoos Mushrooms Torch Feather Duster Whew!! Think I got em all!! Anyway, any ideas?? Thanks! Link to comment
palaegic Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 Hi Nepthea, if you don't have a phosphate test kit, pick one up. If I had to guess, phosphates are the likely culprit. May want to make sure your nitrates are not sneaking up as well. Water changes, reduce your feeding schedule, and if phosphates are an issue, there are a host of adsorbant products. Link to comment
Nepthea Posted June 6, 2003 Author Share Posted June 6, 2003 Thanks Palaegic. I have tested phosphates and nitrates. They are both fine. I'm only feeding a tiny pinch of flakes once a day, as I only have 1 small percula. I just did a 15% water change less than a week ago, as I moved up from a 20G long. Any other ideas? Link to comment
palaegic Posted June 7, 2003 Share Posted June 7, 2003 Ok, how about your lighting? You could reduce your photo period, or focus a bit more on leaving your actinics running while shutting off your higher spectrum bulbs at 6 hours as opposed to 10. You may also want to cut back on your dosing schedule. Yet another tactic is to pick up some macroalgae and place that in your tank - the goal being that the macro will compete for the nutrients being used by the microalgae. All the while, I recommend frequent small water changes. If your LR starts to become covered as well, you may want to consider some of nutrient adsorbing compounds out there. Is the Prizm pulling anything out? Link to comment
Nepthea Posted June 7, 2003 Author Share Posted June 7, 2003 My photoperiod is 10 hours. I'll try to reduce it to 6. I have some macro, mostly little bits here and there growing on my rock now. One is pretty cool looking. It looks like those half mushroom thingys that sometimes grow at the bottom of trees. I have a few other florescent green spike things. Dont know what either of these are, hopefully they are good guys! Anyway.....the rocks are not getting covered at all, just the glass. It wipes right off with my hand, no scraping needed. There is a cloud in the water as I'm wiping it off. The Prizm is not really pulling anything out. I've tried to open it as far as possible, but then it dumps bubbles in. Link to comment
Nepthea Posted June 10, 2003 Author Share Posted June 10, 2003 Ok, I've reduce the photoperiod, but a newly added leather looks pathetic! He is slumped over. The green algea is still there to boot!! Any other suggestions?? Link to comment
TiGs Posted June 12, 2003 Share Posted June 12, 2003 Sounds like you tank is very new and with a Perc in there your tank probably has to catch up to the bioload and stablelize out. Link to comment
Masoch Posted June 12, 2003 Share Posted June 12, 2003 Hi, This stuff can remove an awful lot of gunk from an aquarium. The stuff is expensive, but it'll probably help things out. Other things ... a HOB refugium with macro -- it's somewhere for the nasties to grow where they can be harvested from. A critter that'll eat it, like an urchin ... but these guys aren't nano friendly. Also ... just a wild guess on my part, but you don't have much keeping your sandbed clean. Cerith snails or a fighting conch will do wonders about that. And, finally ... on the top of your water, is there an oily film? If so, it means your skimmer isn't pulling out all of the disolved organic compounds it could be -- the Prizm's inlet is pretty far down, and most DOCs float. Here's a DIY surface skimmer for you to look at, and Prizm makes a prefab one as well. The surface skimmer, when adjusted properly, sits just below the surface of the water. The surface scunge gets sucked in and cascades down to the inlet. Instant sparkling water. I'm still in the throes of battling my own green scourge ... and all of the above have been keeping it in check. Good luck! Link to comment
Nepthea Posted June 13, 2003 Author Share Posted June 13, 2003 Update.......... Last night I added 19 nassarius snails! I bumped my photoperiod back up to 10 hours. I also fished out my banded coral shrimp. He kept eating my red and blue legs, plus he chewed an arm off one of my sand-sifting starfish. EVIL BASTARD!!!!! Link to comment
Masoch Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 Hi, True nassarius are carrion eaters (dead, meaty stuff); they won't touch algae. If they have black shells, they're more omnivorous but probably won't do a thing for your algae problem. Take a look here . Dr. Ron might be a bit whacky, but he is a Ph.D of creepy crawlies. Link to comment
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