Tank Algea outbreak! Please Help!

[johnyens]

Hello Everyone,

 

I have had my 58G up and running since April. Things have been fine until the past week when started having an outbreak of Algea. Now its getting really bad and starting to cover up zoos and other corals.

 

I run water tests:

 

Ammonia: 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 0

Phosphate: 0

 

I am not sure what else to test for. I clean all socks weekly. I am missing a small jawfish but I dont think that would cause this kind of outbreak? I am pretty much out of ideas. I have a skimmer and I do weekly water changes of about 6 gallons.

 

Any ideas would be really appreciated as I am not sure what the next step it.

 

Here are some pics. If you want to see it clean you can check out my tank thread.

 

Thanks for any help!

 

[Dasani]

Looks like cyano but it's green. Maybe dose with algae fix from API ,and try to suck it out with a syphon hose when you do your water change.

[johnyens]

Looks like cyano but it's green. Maybe dose with algae fix from API ,and try to suck it out with a syphon hose when you do your water change.

 

 

Ok I will have a look into Algea Fix. Could a small perl headed jawfish dying cause all this?

 

Should I go looking for the body?

 

Its been about 2 weeks since I last saw it.

 

Should I do a large water change?

 

Thanks!

[reefer4ever]

the reason ur tests are 0 is because the cyanobacteria is eating and using up all the nitrates. siphen it out and do some water changes. thats all u can do with cyano. patiance.

[johnyens]

the reason ur tests are 0 is because the cyanobacteria is eating and using up all the nitrates. siphen it out and do some water changes. thats all u can do with cyano. patiance.

 

Thanks!

 

I will try and syphen some out and do a 12G water change this week.

 

Still would love to know why this happened...

 

Hope everything in the tank is ok.

[Deleted User 6]

try lights out for 3 days.

[reefer4ever]

Thanks!

 

I will try and syphen some out and do a 12G water change this week.

 

Still would love to know why this happened...

 

Hope everything in the tank is ok.

 

it maybe from a fish death(i dont think so but its a possibility) or if your bulbs are old. how old are ur lights?

[johnyens]

The lights I have are AquaticLife fixture with the bulbs that came with the light.

 

They are as old as the tank so 4 months give or take.

 

I would worry about leaving the lights off for 3 days with all the corals?

 

 

 

it maybe from a fish death(i dont think so but its a possibility) or if your bulbs are old. how old are ur lights?

[reefer4ever]

well its certainly not ur lights. if i had as many corals as u did i wouldnt want to risk killing the corals. i have cyano and mine wont go away. i tried lights out but some of my zoas died so i cut off the dead part. i also lost a small frag of gsp but i have many more its up to yuo if u wanna risk it. the possibilities:

 

1. cyano and dead corals

2. cyano and live corals(cyano is hard to kill cuz its a bacteria rather than algae)

3. no cyano and dead corals

4. no cyano and live corals

[Lawnman]

What kind of water you using? Suck that crap out of the tank then do a large water change. Cut your lights back to 1 hour a day for 3 days. Trust me you are not going to loose some zoas or soft corals in 3 days from no lights. Now SPS yes.Run some phosguard or phosband.I am betting you have phosphates and the cyano is giving you 0.

[Walking_Target]

Easy, easy solution. do 5g waterchanges every day with RO/DI saltwater mix.

 

Done 2x2g waterchages thusly with my Biocube14 and i'm alreadly noticing my bubble algae outbreak has stopped in its tracks.

[johnyens]

Easy, easy solution. do 5g waterchanges every day with RO/DI saltwater mix.

 

Done 2x2g waterchages thusly with my Biocube14 and i'm alreadly noticing my bubble algae outbreak has stopped in its tracks.

 

Using ro/Di water. I will do a water change asap! Thanks guys!

[reefer4ever]

replacing 5g in a 15g tank would be like you u doing a 20g water change every day. i dont know if u understand but cyano is a bacteria not an algae. its no ordinary every day algae. it can create its own food out of the water it lives in so u have to get rid of every bit of it and do enormous water changes. u would probably have to do 50% water changes every 2 days and continue to siphen out the smallest speck of this bacteria or it will live forever in your tank as it does mine. i havent attended to this but my problem isnt as bad as it used to be.

[Walking_Target]

Reefer, I do understand. I worked in a fish store for 2 years as the Planted Aquarium expert as well as being the ONLY person who did saltwater.

 

Cyano is a ##### to get rid of, but if you shock your animals with sudden 0 disolved nutrients, it's gonna be a bad day. I'm doing 2g daily waterchanges, 5g dailies are (percentile wise) a bit less for the OP, but more easily manageable than trying to match percentages. The idea is to do frequent waterchanges to gradually bring your dissolved nutrients down to a level where the cyano cannot get much out of the water column, that will starve it.

 

If it still isn't going away (and it will go away, gradually) you can also do a 3-day blackout after a week or two of dailies followed by a larger waterchange, to remove as much of the dissolved organics as the cyano produced as it died out in the absence of light.

 

That's nothing like planted, mind you, where once you have your cyano knocked back you can dose nitrate to favor the plants in a 16:1 ratio of nitrate to uncomplexed phosphate

[Asureef]

replacing 5g in a 15g tank would be like you u doing a 20g water change every day. i dont know if u understand but cyano is a bacteria not an algae. its no ordinary every day algae. it can create its own food out of the water it lives in so u have to get rid of every bit of it and do enormous water changes. u would probably have to do 50% water changes every 2 days and continue to siphen out the smallest speck of this bacteria or it will live forever in your tank as it does mine. i havent attended to this but my problem isnt as bad as it used to be.

 

But, isn't it a 58g?

 

Anyways, I've been battling cyano myself. My recommendation would be just siphon out whatever you can during water change and use something like a turkey baster to disturb new forming cyano mass everyday. Eventually, you'll start seeing less and less of it. Of course, you'll have to keep nutrients level at a minimum.

[reefer4ever]

ok.

 

a couple more questions for u if u dont mind.

 

is cyano also in freshwater environments or only saltwater?

 

does cyano also eat phosphates?

[johnyens]

ok.

 

a couple more questions for u if u dont mind.

 

is cyano also in freshwater environments or only saltwater?

 

does cyano also eat phosphates?

 

Ok I think I will do some 6g water changes this week and try to suck as much out as I can. I would really like to know what caused this. Nothing had changed in my tank lately. I will keep everyone posted on progress.

[Walking_Target]

is cyano also in freshwater environments or only saltwater?

 

does cyano also eat phosphates?

 

Not to threadjack... but gotta answer these...

 

Cyano can grow in just about any place were there's enough nutrients in the water along with favorable conditions (lower oxygen levels, lower flow). That goes for both fresh and saltwater. One of the best ways to battle cyano is to increase overall flow and surface aggitation to increase the O2 levels; that's assuming that your nutrient levels are already low.

 

As or Cyano feeding on phosphates, absolutely, right along with true algaes. Elevated phosphate levels are usually directly responsable for algae outbreaks, phosphate is one of the main building blocks in plants and other photosynthetic organisms.

 

In a freshwater planted tank, its dead easy to take steps to erradicate cyano: Do a couple large water changes and dose potassium nitrate, once you have a certain purportion of NO3 to PO4 (generally 16:1 to 20:1 dependant on a few factors) the balance of disolved nutrient swings in favor of plants and not cyano.

 

That's not possible in a saltwater tank, especially a reef tank, as it would be stupid to artificially increase the level of nitrates via chemical means. For starters, reef animals have evolved to take advantage of any energy they can get, just look at corals, many feed by both photosynthesis and by capturing prey items. adding any amount of potassium or nitrate will work in favor of algae and similar organisms as they can take advantage of both those forms of energy and the complexed phosphates.

[reefer4ever]

thanks for the info

[Deleted User 6]

fyi, corals in the wild go without light for days during a big storm.

[chumcrazy]

fyi, corals in the wild go without light for days during a big storm.

 

 

+1^ but lights out on a reef tank is a band aid not a solution same with adding chemicals. Water changes less nutrients and more flow. Stick with it and you will knock it out.

[johnyens]

+1^ but lights out on a reef tank is a band aid not a solution same with adding chemicals. Water changes less nutrients and more flow. Stick with it and you will knock it out.

 

 

Awesome! Thanks to everyone for the advise!

 

I did my first water change today and had lights on for 2 hours. Will do another tomorrow and keep on it for a week. I will post pictures soon.

[johnyens]

Awesome! Thanks to everyone for the advise!

 

I did my first water change today and had lights on for 2 hours. Will do another tomorrow and keep on it for a week. I will post pictures soon.

 

 

Long time since my last post.

 

I did a week (7 days) of daily 6G water changes. Lights out for 3 days then on for a bit then another 3 day outage. Water tests all look great. Still I have this problem. It looks better but not by much. And If I don’t vacuum the sand and blow off the rocks ever week it totally wants to take over the tank again and does over the days between water changes. I am really at a loss of what could be the problem. All my fish seem fine, corals even seem happy but still i have this bacteria or algae or whatever everywhere. I would really like any input I can get, at this point I am willing to try anything! I am thinking about going tomorrow and just buying replacement light bulbs for my AquaticLife T5 fixture. I am using the stock bulbs and at this point that’s really the only thing I have left to change. I also had a glass top on it and thought maybe for some reason that might be causing this so I have taken half of the glass top off but it doesn’t seem to make a difference.

 

I have started doing 12G water changes every week in hopes that would help with my issue but it doesn’t seem to matter. I’m using RODI water with a TDS reading of 0. Salt is H2O ($$).

 

Anyone have any other suggestions? I have been wracking my brain trying to think of anything else that may have changed cause this was not always a problem. Thank you to everyone for reading/helping!

 

Stocking 65G REEF:

 

2 Clownfish

1 Mandarin

1 Yellow Watchman Goby

1 Pistol Shrimp

1 Tail Spot Blenny

1 Royal Gramma

1 Mystery Wrasse

1 Barlett's Anthia

1 Cleaner Shrimp

2 Pom Pom Crabs

1 Emerald Crab

1 Maxima Clam

 

Zoas

RBTA

Torch

Rics

Candy Cane

Shrooms

Palys

Favia

Maze

Galaxia

Acans

Green Monti

Orange Plate

[paneubert]

Feeding too much? That is about all I can think since you have tried messing with the lights and all that jazz. If the water and salt are not introducing crap into the tank, it has to be coming from somewhere.......

[johnyens]

Feeding too much? That is about all I can think since you have tried messing with the lights and all that jazz. If the water and salt are not introducing crap into the tank, it has to be coming from somewhere.......

 

Yea I thought maybe I was feeding too much so now I feed every other day alternating mysis, formula one and two together, pellets, blood worms and brine shrimp.

 

I dont feed that much and everything seems to be eaten rather quickly when I do.

 

I agree it has to be coming from somewhere! I just cant for the life of me figure out where!!!