nano man can Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 right now i have 10 astrea 10 nass 5 blue leg 5 red leg 2 pepp shrimp 1 serpent star 1 emerald crab and lots of brown algae. could i kepp my lights off on my tank for a few days to kill the algae or is that not good for my clean up crew? ive shortened my photo period to 8 hours but still having probs. Link to comment
offsprg01 Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 hey bro if you clean up crew is that estensive and you still have algae, your problem is not you photo period, it's some where else. test you source water for phosphate/nitrates ect ect. most lfs will do this for free. Link to comment
nano man can Posted April 5, 2004 Author Share Posted April 5, 2004 my params are ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 0 PH 8.2 phosphate 0 calcium 300 my tank is about 1.5 months old ive done water changes once a week id dont know what it is from Link to comment
nano man can Posted April 5, 2004 Author Share Posted April 5, 2004 i use ro/di water for top off and waterchanges too. Link to comment
SilverSpurs Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 I have the same issue.... I just got back from my LFS and they tested my water and all numbers come back perfect... like they have been for a while. I'll sum up his suggestions: 1. Is circulation sufficient? Perhaps an additional powerhead can help. 2. Are you using a poly-filter? Removes the small particles as the algae dies off. (Must be changed religiously to avoid nitrate buildup!!!!) 3. How long are your lights on? 9 hour is sufficient for a FOWLR. 4. How much of a water change are you doing? Large water changes on such a small tank add lots of "food" to the tank for algae. 5. How frequent are your water changes? Extend the time between changes to allow more algae to die off before "feeding" them again. Hope this helps. Link to comment
schaferfred Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 What type of lights are you using? Link to comment
SilverSpurs Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 I am using 50/50 - I have a stock JBJ Nano Cube Link to comment
Quash Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 If its just brown algae, it will eventually "burn out" it took mine almost 2 months for it to go away. Two I believe phosphates in the water may be the key to brown algae aka diatoms. Some type of phosphate remover gets rid of that problem. 3 get you some strombus (conch), when i changed water supply i got a massive outbreak of the stuff, i went and got 3 strombus and maw fuggin, they took it out in like 4 days Ive also heard about some super nassarius doin the job too, but thats just what i heard Link to comment
schaferfred Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 Just curious, I have read that lights lose their spectrum over time, which can cause algae blooms. But I noticed that you just established it in Feb. 2004. I would also possibly try changing your bulb just to see if that does help cutting back the algae growth since all of your water parameters are correct. Link to comment
SilverSpurs Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 Quash - No phosphates, large cleanup crew for the size of tank I have - algae gets worse when I change water. Not sure about the Srombus suggestion, but I'll check it out. Thanks. Link to comment
Quash Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 It takes 6-8 months for that to even begin to happen, maybe 10 months before you see some algae problems, exactly, mine used to get bad whenever i changed water. Its gotta be in the water, even tho mine tested out fine too Link to comment
SilverSpurs Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 Really?? Then..... I should just tell my algae to go away because it's not supposed to happen now......?? I wish it was that easy! If you are saying that it takes that long to not have phosphates... then I'll have to tell my water that it's supposed to be there too!! I have tested my water and I have had my LFS test it and the results are the same. You may not have heard of this before..... but it is happening. Link to comment
SilverSpurs Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 Everyone keeps telling me its the size and frequency of my water changes + long time with the light on. The size needs to be reduced, the frequency needs to be lengthened and the light time needs to be reduced - no food, no life for algae..... I'll let you known how it goes. Link to comment
Quash Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 hmm ill refrase schaferfred said that you should check out your lights because lights go bad. I said it takes 6-8 months for it to happen. point 2 i said that I when i had the problem, whenever I changed the water, the bloom just got worse. I bought some strombus, and I said go away, and i havent seen any diatoms since Link to comment
SilverSpurs Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 sorry - I misunderstood. Accept my apology for bing a snot! Link to comment
nano man can Posted April 6, 2004 Author Share Posted April 6, 2004 im doing at 12 hour photo period recoomened by lfs becaus ethats athe photoperiod on the reef i do water changes once a week and everytime i scrape the algae off and siphon it out it grows back in one or two days. my tank has been running for almost 2 months now and i dont want to get any corals or fish till its under control. i have a CPR fuge and my lighting is a CSL 2x65 full spec and actinic and 2x1 moonlight. and a rio 180 gph an hour on 20 gal thats turning my tank over 9 times and hour should i get one smaller Powerhead about 120 gph for more flow ( makes it 300 gph) Link to comment
nano man can Posted April 6, 2004 Author Share Posted April 6, 2004 were can i get these strombus conches and how big do they get? Link to comment
mag0070 Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 I'm having the same problem, but I think my problem is due to overfeeding my clown and anemone's. To remedy the prob I have ordered a UV sterilizer and plan to run it from my tank to my fuge which I have not installed yet. Let me rephrase that, to remedy the problem I am adding a fuge and a UV sterilzer and I am thinking of getting a lawnmower blenny, I heard those guys tear into algae. Link to comment
Quash Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 in response to nano man, I have more than 180 comin out one ph and 90 comin out my HOB and its perfect flowin. I would add maybe 3 microjet 606's without the rio. or just 2 606's with the rio. or I dunno what happened to all the seasoned guys on these boards. im sure they would help out, check out that information section from the top and look where they have members tanks to see what others have done as far as the conch, online they have em, liveaquaria.com they also have the super nassarius that ive heard about. But I got my conch from the lfs Link to comment
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