Algae Problem

[appsgang43]

I switched my 12 gal to a 30 gal, at first the water quality was good. I have a Penguin 200 Bio Wheel for a filter. My water parems are all in good shape. 0 for everything, except alk 9 dkh, PH 8.4, Calcium 420. I added new live sand then some of my sand from my previous tank. I added some live rock from my old tank and new dry rock. Some of my corals are not looking happy, some look ok. My temp is 80. I added a skimmer yesterday hoping to help clear it up. The algae is like a brown film all over my sand and on my glass, I clean it off and it is back the next day. I can easily blow it off my rocks with my turkey baster. Can anyone give me any ideas or do you need more information?

[r20crazy]

if you only have the penguin filter for flow, you need to up it ALOT. I'd say you need at least a koralia 1 pump on there, maybe 2. the algae is either diatoms (cycling tank syndrome) or the early stages of cyano (due to lack of water movement).

 

for example, in my 37g tank I have over 1330gph flow. in my 10g tank I have 450gph flow

 

your penguin filter is 200gph flow.

[appsgang43]

if you only have the penguin filter for flow, you need to up it ALOT. I'd say you need at least a koralia 1 pump on there, maybe 2. the algae is either diatoms (cycling tank syndrome) or the early stages of cyano (due to lack of water movement).

 

for example, in my 37g tank I have over 1330gph flow. in my 10g tank I have 450gph flow

 

your penguin filter is 200gph flow.

I forgot to mention that I have two Koralias on either side of my tank for water movement.

[FiRsT-aNd-LaSt]

Sounds like diatoms to me, your tank being new is going to have blooms like that.

[r20crazy]

well since your flow seems ok then, its a mini-cycle due to the new sand and new dry rock you added. just let it run its course, like stated above.

[appsgang43]

well since your flow seems ok then, its a mini-cycle due to the new sand and new dry rock you added. just let it run its course, like stated above.

I added everything when the tank was set up about 2 months ago, a mini cycle would start this late?

[appsgang43]

if you only have the penguin filter for flow, you need to up it ALOT. I'd say you need at least a koralia 1 pump on there, maybe 2. the algae is either diatoms (cycling tank syndrome) or the early stages of cyano (due to lack of water movement).

 

for example, in my 37g tank I have over 1330gph flow. in my 10g tank I have 450gph flow

 

your penguin filter is 200gph flow.

Ok so I have 2 Koralia 2 with 600 gph each, plus my penguin 200, for a total of 1400 gph. I still have an algae problem. It is brown and all over my rocks and sand. My frog spawn in retracted and looking terrible. My green star polyps won't come out any more. My water parems are all 0, except Calcium 420, 8 dkh and 8.6 for ph. What else can I do. I did 4 gallon water change yesterday, today no change.

[jcmg]

i think to much flow for your corals lps dont like it. the algae problem dunno are dosing tap water or RO water ?

[appsgang43]

i think to much flow for your corals lps dont like it. the algae problem dunno are dosing tap water or RO water ?

Ok I think I know what my problem is. I cleaned my bio wheel on my penguin even though it said not to. I probably got rid of all the good bacteria, and it put it into a cycle mode. Does anyone agree?

[appsgang43]

 

Ok here are some pictures of my algae problem. I clear it off everynight and it is still gone in the morning, but is back by the next night. I hope the pictures are clear, let me know if you need more info.

[Mr. Fosi]

Looks somewhat dino-like.

[Nano sapiens]

Ok I think I know what my problem is. I cleaned my bio wheel on my penguin even though it said not to. I probably got rid of all the good bacteria, and it put it into a cycle mode. Does anyone agree?

 

Ya, destroying all that beneficial bacteria is a no-no. Your bacteria have to start all over to repopulate your Bio-Wheel. When using this type of filter your system becomes dependent on the large number of bacteria growing on the wheel, so if anything happens to the bacteria in the filter the tank often can't function properly with the sudden decrease in the bacteria population.

 

If you have sufficient, healthy LR and LS (and good flow) the Bio-Wheel isn't necessary. If you were to omit this device your tank's bacteria populations will naturally multiply and take over for the Bio-Wheel after a period of time. Your tank will be less prone to a single point of failure.

[appsgang43]

Looks somewhat dino-like.

Ok, so how do I treat it any idea?

[appsgang43]

Looks somewhat dino-like.

How could I get dino, my phosphates, ammon, nitrate and nitrite are all 0. Where would it have come from. My ph was rather high for a couple of days, I am so confused

[johnmaloney]

i am going with calothrix on this one, a cyano species that is really close to what has been labeled "dinos" in the hobby. it is a close one, could go either way, but I thought it would be fin to disagree with Fosi. (PLus it is shorter).

[appsgang43]

i am going with calothrix on this one, a cyano species that is really close to what has been labeled "dinos" in the hobby. it is a close one, could go either way, but I thought it would be fin to disagree with Fosi. (PLus it is shorter).

so then what is calothrix, some help please, I am really at my wits end trying to fix this.

[fiddly_foo]

I had something like that in my tank and everyone was saying ditoms but i kind of new it was some stain of cyno's and then i rembered in the beging of summer with the temp change i got some cyno and now that fall is here the temp is changing i got this brown stuff growing like every 12 hours all over my sand so i was confused for 3 days to i rememberd this and just put cyno red slime remover in and took out my chemi elite 2 days later all fixed 25% water change put a new chemi in and its all good know something to think about worked for me great...

[appsgang43]

I had something like that in my tank and everyone was saying ditoms but i kind of new it was some stain of cyno's and then i rembered in the beging of summer with the temp change i got some cyno and now that fall is here the temp is changing i got this brown stuff growing like every 12 hours all over my sand so i was confused for 3 days to i rememberd this and just put cyno red slime remover in and took out my chemi elite 2 days later all fixed 25% water change put a new chemi in and its all good know something to think about worked for me great...

Mine isn't red though it is brown. I do have some red slime remover. Would it hurt to try it?

[fiddly_foo]

yea my algae was brown to but cyno is cyno red purple green brown... i figured what would the worse thing that happen so i did it and it worked great for me i had no RED all BROWN and i used red slime remover cause thats for cyno and it worked great for me just remember to take out carbon for 2-3 days and then do 25% water after and then put filter back in.... this will ahppend again for me when the temp goes back up in may when ever big temp changes for me i get this so let me know if it works later

[appsgang43]

yea my algae was brown to but cyno is cyno red purple green brown... i figured what would the worse thing that happen so i did it and it worked great for me i had no RED all BROWN and i used red slime remover cause thats for cyno and it worked great for me just remember to take out carbon for 2-3 days and then do 25% water after and then put filter back in.... this will ahppend again for me when the temp goes back up in may when ever big temp changes for me i get this so let me know if it works later

why is it important to tank the filter out?

[fiddly_foo]

the carbon out read the instructions....

[appsgang43]

the carbon out read the instructions....

ok, I did only take the carbon out that is what I meant. How many times did you have to treat, I know it says every 48 hours if needed.

[Mr. Fosi]

John's the algae expert, so I'd go with his ID if I were you.

 

Algae have very efficient ways of assimilating dissolved nutrients. These assimilation pathways are generally able to operate at concentrations orders of magnitude below those of your test kits. Therefore, just because you get non-detects on your test kits doesn't mean that there is none of the reagent in the water.

[SoonerBrad]

I might have missed it, what are you using as test kits? Also, pull the wheel off the filter, I ran mine for a while and it turned into a nitrate producer...just a thought. Run standard poly filter floss and change it each day for a while. Blow the rocks off, let the filter suck the nasty stuff out of the water for a while and then change the floss.

 

Just because readings are coming up 0, might be because algae is using up excess nutrients in the water.

[appsgang43]

i am going with calothrix on this one, a cyano species that is really close to what has been labeled "dinos" in the hobby. it is a close one, could go either way, but I thought it would be fin to disagree with Fosi. (PLus it is shorter).

So can anyone help me with this? I have shortened my lighting to only 4 hours a day. I have been changing 1 gallon of water a day, siphoning off what I could of the algae and then blowing the rest off with a turkey baster. My PH is running 8.4 and my Alk is 9 and my Calcium is 420. All others read 0, I use API tests on everything. Starting feeding my fish only once a day. What else can I do to fix this?