Pest algae

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

I have algae of almost every kind in my tank, and I’ve tried to get rid of it, but it always comes right back within a week or less. What is good algae, and can having too much algae actually hurt anything in your tank?

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

Here’s a picture of how bad it’s getting.

[ReefGoat]

I'm also having the algae blues right now. It sucks........First step is to positively ID each one. Be familiar with their causes and correct the errors. In my particular case I serviced my RODI unit ENTIRELY WRONG and ruined my membrane and the efficiency of my DI resin. Then for a month and a couple of weeks I was doing weekly water changes and filling my 5 gallon ATO twice a week with tainted source water. I'm assuming my city's water must be really high in silicates because I had a massive diatom outbreak. Instead of running it's course and going away like normal. Every time my ATO went off it was fueling it. Every time I did a water change it fueled it. But the positive ID that it wasn't Dino's or Cyano came from buying a microscope and studying my water under said microscope. So figure out what algae you're dealing with first. ID each one and then study the causes of each one and correct your mistakes. 

But judging just from your picture you clearly have some red cyano. That's from an abundance of nutrients if i'm not mistaken. Manual removal, water changes and correction of the original cause should work for that one. 

[ReefGoat]

I want to add that your abundance of nutrients could be many things. Bad maintenance habits, bad source water, over feeding, bad nutrient export ( including but not limited to changing out filter floss enough or just plain old cleaning enough).

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

2 minutes ago, ReefGoat said:

I'm also having the algae blues right now. It sucks........First step is to positively ID each one. Be familiar with their causes and correct the errors. In my particular case I serviced my RODI unit ENTIRELY WRONG and ruined my membrane and the efficiency of my DI resin. Then for a month and a couple of weeks I was doing weekly water changes and filling my 5 gallon ATO twice a week with tainted source water. I'm assuming my city's water must be really high in silicates because I had a massive diatom outbreak. Instead of running it's course and going away like normal. Every time my ATO went off it was fueling it. Every time I did a water change it fueled it. But the positive ID that it wasn't Dino's or Cyano came from buying a microscope and studying my water under said microscope. So figure out what algae you're dealing with first. ID each one and then study the causes of each one and correct your mistakes. 

But judging just from your picture you clearly have some red cyano. That's from an abundance of nutrients if i'm not mistaken. Manual removal, water changes and correction of the original cause should work for that one. 

I have red cyano like you said, but I also have a few bubble algae that I’m trying my hardest to remove. I have some green hair algae also up in the corner by my heater and another green one that I can’t Id right now.

I have a bubble tip Anemone, and I’m wondering if these types of algae could hurt him at all?

[ReefGoat]

I'm pretty sure that most of the ones you've name will manifest because of an abundance of nutrients. How often you feed your fish? 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

I feed once a day

Sometimes tho, some of my fish miss a few of the flakes and Mysis, and it sits on the bottom.

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

I just thought that my goby and hermit crabs would get it.

[ReefGoat]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-02/hcj/feature/index.php

 

 

all about bubble algae 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

Thanks, I’ll look at that, but one more question, could it upset my bubble tip?

[ReefGoat]

The next thing to ask yourself is are you feeding too much when you do feed once a day. How is your flow also? Is it enough to kick up the detritus that settles everywhere and the uneaten food? Those are things to consider. Also a sand bed needs to be maintained. I don't know how old yours is and it looks pretty deep. So maybe someone with a bit more experience could chime in on whether it's advisable to disturb that sand bed to clean it. So don't do that just yet LOL. 

2 minutes ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

Thanks, I’ll look at that, but one more question, could it upset my bubble tip?

The algae?

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

No, my bubble tip anemone 

My tank is only a year and a half old

My water flow is not super high, so maybe I should kick it up a bit.

[ReefGoat]

Just now, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

No, my bubble tip anemone 

My tank is only a year and a half old

That's a pretty old sand bed, especially if you've never up kept it and just kind of left it be. By upkeep I mean vacuuming during weekly maintenance. I have no experience with a sand bed that depth being disturbed after that long to start a good cleaning regime on it. I'm going to pass on giving advice on that. I'd leave it alone for now

[Oldsalt01]

Bubble algae is pia. If you pop it, it just spreads worse. I learned the hard way! It got so bad that i ended up swapping the rock out for new cured rock from my LFS. My Emerald crab wouldn’t touch it. The new rock brought in Aptasia, which I’m slowly killing with Aptasia X. If it’s not one thing, it’s something else! Danio’s were so much simpler, lol.

[ReefGoat]

To be 100% honest you tank looks like it could make a big turnaround just from better weekly upkeep. Steady weekly water changes, you being the best member of your CUC and just all around better upkeep habits. Also could probably benefit from feeding a little less while your correcting problems.

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

This algae is just very annoying😂

I’ll try that, thank you for all the help

[ReefGoat]

2 minutes ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

This algae is just very annoying😂

I’ll try that, thank you for all the help

One last question before you roll out. Did you just recently add those two white pieces of rock? They don't look 1.5 years old.

[Oldsalt01]

U might want to think about “rip cleaning” the sand bed. It’s kinda labor intensive. Pull the rock and put it in a bucket eith about 1/2 the tank water, stir the sand real well, siphon off the water and replace it all with fresh SW, put the rock back. Don’t worry. You’ll NEVER get it back exactly the same way, but i agree with @Reefgoat. You are the best CUC your tank has.

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

3 hours ago, ReefGoat said:

One last question before you roll out. Did you just recently add those two white pieces of rock? They don't look 1.5 years old.

Yes, I added them maybe 2 or 3 months ago, the others are a lot older.

[deetu]

A really good sand stirrer and waste food eater is the nassarius snail.  They are really cool and fun to watch.  They disappear under the sand and will come out when they smell food.

Then a combination of algae eating snails... cerith and nerite will clean the glass and nooks and crannies.

https://www.reefcleaners.org/aquarium-store/tank-cleaners

Scraping your glass with razor then following with Magna float while doing your water change will help too.

 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

I’ll have to get some of them

[mcarroll]

@EthanPhillyCheesesteakDid I miss where you posted nitrate and phosphate test results, or if not can you post a current set of results?  

 

Also, do you have a thread where your already have your tank setup and history?  If so, can you link me?   If not, can you tell us about your tank's setup and history?   A full tank shot that includes whatever you're using for flow will be helpful.

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

33 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

@EthanPhillyCheesesteakDid I miss where you posted nitrate and phosphate test results, or if not can you post a current set of results?  

 

Also, do you have a thread where your already have your tank setup and history?  If so, can you link me?   If not, can you tell us about your tank's setup and history?   A full tank shot that includes whatever you're using for flow will be helpful.

I don’t have anything to test my phosphate right now, I ran out, I need to get more, but my nitrates are at 2ppm, a little high, but not horribly.

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

[mcarroll]

If you plan on having corals, then you'll want one more of those pumps for the opposite wall.  Use appliance timers or a contorller to run then alternating every 3 hours or so, not at the same time....gives you a nice tidal effect and keeps the pumps from working against each other all the time.

 

If you are NOT planning to have any corals, then you should take the lighting down a few notches to cut back on algae growth.

 

Are you using the whole kit that came with the BioWheel?   In a live-rock tank, that filter is really kinda out of place....not that it will hurt anything, but it's really not helping aside from the flow it adds to the tank.  

 

I'd consider re-purposing it, selling it or trading it since it really is excellent for a plain old fish tank.  But if you have to keep it, I'd remove the bio-wheel and the filter cartridge and just use it for flow.

 

1 hour ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

my nitrates are at 2ppm, a little high

2ppm is low...maybe even zero, depending on the accuracy/precision of your test kit.  Don't do anything to take it any lower....in fact higher might help things once we have a full idea of what the tank is up to.

 

Let us know when you have a PO4 reading.  🙂