LampDr. Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 This is my VIA AQUA 418W. Lights- 150W 20K MH run lights about 6-7hrs a day. Filter- Aquaclear 300 running with sponge alone. TANK has been running for about 1YR. I do about a 5gallon weekly water change... I have a shrimp, and 1 snail... I had more snails but they died. Im guessing I need a cleanup crew. When I do my weekly water changes I scrape the whole tank with a blade. Clean sponge on filter. The tank looks good for a few days but then the ALGAE starts appearing. I am feeding pellets once a day in the morning. My water is premixed from fish store, I also top off with RO water. Please reccomend, cleanup crew, and better filtration .... What do I need to do to get rid of Algae and all the stuff growing on the rocks... thanks Link to comment
Josh125 Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 Couple of items reduce the photoperiod until you can get a handle on it check the RO for phosphates just to make certain it's "clean" setup a fuge get a more diverse cleanup crew Link to comment
CelticFaerie Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 If you don't mind grasses you caqn get some calurpa and plant ot over to in the corner of the tank. It will help slow the growth of the micro algae by reducing its nutrient source. also astera snails will eat on the slime on the glass. A blue leg or two will pick up any of the pellets that your fish miss. I would be careful with the red stuff on the rocks you can mauually groom it but then little pieces will break off and plant elsewere making a total nightmare. Link to comment
Smokin-Reefer Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 get a small diameter tubing and attach it to a short section of rigid tubing of the same diameter. Start a syphon and suck out all that algae on the rocks, it looks SIMILAR to cyano, Anywho, between the hose, and the container/bucket. Get one of those coffee filters that you rinse out, not the crappy paper ones. As you syphon out the algae, it gets stuck in the strainer, water goes through. Do this for a few minutes, then dump the water back in, and repeat until algae is gone. thats what I had to do. Link to comment
mik Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 take out the sponge in the ac 300 and mod it into a fuge. Check the diy section for details on making a good hob fuge. Also get more snails get like 10 narssisrice(sp) snails 6 blue leg hermies and 5 cerith snails too. Those snails with the fuge will get your alga under control Link to comment
yoshiod9 Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 take out the sponge from your ac filter....add more flow to your tank(cyano doesn't grow well if you have enough flow), buy some turbo snails, do the syphon thing that was suggested, feed less often(i only feed my fish when i remember....and that's like once every other week or so...otherwise they're on their own!), check the phosphate level in your tank(if it's high go buy some rowaphos and it'll take care of your problem....or do a bunch of wc's...your choice).... and invest in a magnetic scraper and make cleaning the glass part of your daily chores Link to comment
nalbar Posted November 21, 2004 Share Posted November 21, 2004 too be honest i dont think it's is all that bad. a decent cleanup crew can handle that very quickly. better to have TOO MANY crabs/snails than too few. but i do have a few comments (i always do!); take the sponge out right now. replace it with floss and change the floss FREQUENTLY. IMO you dont have anywhere near enough rock. live rock is our conversion media on reef tanks. if you have fish you have to have enough rock to convert the ammonia they produce. or else you should have a protein skimmer. i dont know what that amount of rock per fish is, but you look light. if the bacteria population is 'light' (because of not enough rock) that ammonia/by products just sits in you water BEGGING to be consumed by something else. something will fill that niche. i have no evidence for this at all, its just that a LOT of the 'help me with my algae' pics seem to be light on rock. i see an anecdotal connection. dont worry about the algae that grows on the glass, we all get that. its just that some wipe it off every day and some dont. i dont. nalbar Link to comment
Kogut Posted November 21, 2004 Share Posted November 21, 2004 I'd check for phosphates. That's a lot of algae for 1 snail, too. I'd get a bigger and more diverse clean up crew. What are you water parameters when you get it from the store? I'd check and make sure nothing's wrong w/ their water... :- Link to comment
LampDr. Posted November 21, 2004 Author Share Posted November 21, 2004 Ok I scraped all the algae of the glass. Did a 5 gallon water change. added 15 red leg crabs, and 15 snails... I also bought a star... Link to comment
Tigahboy Posted November 21, 2004 Share Posted November 21, 2004 A good skimmer (like Aqua C Remora) will help a lot w/ the algae. I agree w/ testing for phosphates and rowaphos if needed as well. Chemipure + polyfilter is good filter media too for extra clarity in water. Link to comment
reefsrule Posted November 21, 2004 Share Posted November 21, 2004 clean the algae of the gorgonian. The algae will cause rapid tissue decline. Increase water movement Link to comment
holyherbiness Posted November 21, 2004 Share Posted November 21, 2004 Polyfilter expires in a nutrient rich tank in like a week. quite a costly investment. clean up crew, more water movement to kill off some of the film algaes (but be ready for hair algae) just curious, was the tank always like that during it's one year life? Link to comment
Green Shat Posted November 21, 2004 Share Posted November 21, 2004 Algae periods like this are really annoying, i feel your pain. My tank looked similar to yours for about three weeks until i found out that i was not only overfeeding phytoplankton, but the plankton was contaminated. Im not so sure that decreasing your photo period will do anything for your problem, IMO lighting has relatively little to do with algae in the reef tank, so dont mess with your photo period. A refugium is a good plan for the future, but there are things you can do to fix your problem a lot faster. First off, make sure your sand bed is up to par. Up your surface agitation and/or get a sand sifter to get more oxygen to your bed if you havent already given this attention. My best advise, from experience, is to get a single, medium sized fighting conch for you bed. A brittle star will work too, but remember, the star isnt confined to work in your sand bed, while a conch is. I think it is bad advice that you go crazy on cleanup crews. If you get nassarius snails they will decimate the life in such a small tank and you'll be worse off for it. When they bury deep in your bed theyre chewing on microfauna as well as detritus. This goes for sandsifting stars too. All junk. Don't get hermits either. The type of brown algae I see your glass and rocks covered in has no interest to a crab, trust me. For your glass and rocks, I suggest one/two margarita snails or abalones (spelling?). Every cleanup animal is a double edged sword, and margaritas do crap a lot, but at least thats evidence of hard work. If you havent already purchased a turkey baster for you tank, do so now. It's the best thing for your tank next to water and salt. Everyday use it to blow the detritus out of your live rock holes and other wastes out of sedement. This will ensure that your #1 method of filtration is enabled. You said that you have a filter to catch debris? Fill it will one part sponge, one part floss. The floss will catch that brown crap after you scrub it off your glass, which you need to keep doing. Side note, the brown slime I see on the front and sides of your glass is NOT something that should be happening in a balanced system, despite what some may tell you. In certain areas on the back of your tank, this is permitable, but normal glass growth is reserved for green diatoms, calciferous algae, and innocuos hair films. Every tank goes through a cycle during setup where that type of algae will stay for several weeks, but beyond that, its bags should be packed for good. Turn your filter into a fuge once this problem is under control, the best use for it now is to catch and remove the visible gunk that the algae removal and basting will churn about. Wash the media off EVERY DAY, and keep using the baster to move waste out of fixed areas. VERY IMPORTANT. At the same time, don't hesitate to add some fast growing caulerpa to your main display in the mean time, for it will help absord nutrients. Just make sure you dont let it grow beyond your reach so that when it comes time to take it out its spread behind rocks. It won't be the end of the world, but it will be annoying in the future to be pruning hidden patches in your main display. You can also use a phosphate remover. I keep a "Seachem Purigen" synthetic waste remover beside the current in my fuge. You could put it in your filter. It will help, just make sure to take it out and clean it in due time to prevent the impurities from leaching back into the water. You say you are changing 5 gallons everyweek? I'm surprised your having problems in the first place, that's good upkeep. I've read that shifts in buffering capacity/ Ph can lead to algae problems as a result of stress put on natural filtration. Maybe add some kent superbuffer dkh to your new salt water. You say your origin of water is from a fish store - just make sure its really good stuff. Investigate if you havent already. Cut down on feeding too, even if you think that you havent been overfeeding. For some reason the food your putting in isnt being handled by your sytem properly, and It could be for a bunch of common reasons. Either way decrease your feed until youve established equilibrium again. You shouldnt worry about a skimmer with the amount of water changes you do. It might fix your temporary algae problem faster, but its nothing you need to rely on beyond that. Lastly, perfect your calcium levels. You should be dripping kalkwasser and adding liquid calcium to keep a fairly steady reading. Always keep this reading above 400ppm. In my experience 450ppm is even better, and 500 ppm is the best. Calcium is always imortant, but especially for the rebuilding process of your algae stricken tank. When your rocks are coated with some pretty stubborn algae, doing anything short of removing the rock from the water and scrubbing it down with steel wool will do nothing to remove the most persistant of layers. However, your good and colorful calcium algae is in constant competition with your bad algae. Increasing the calcium levels will give the good algae the boost it needs to overcome the ugly stuff. You will soon see pink and purple growing directly over the bad algae, and in at least a month your rocks will be pretty and functional again. My tank is basically the same size as yours, and judging from your pictures, it also went through a period that suffered identical growth. Now my tank is a paragon of reef health and algae control, and I used these inexpensive steps provided to get me there. Link to comment
Green Shat Posted November 21, 2004 Share Posted November 21, 2004 ####. I didnt notice your updated work. Well, my opinion still stands. I hope you have a receipt for that stuff my friend...that star is not safe Link to comment
LampDr. Posted November 21, 2004 Author Share Posted November 21, 2004 should I get rid of the star, why is it not safe Link to comment
MillerLite Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 Depends on what kind of star it is. Many stars are not reef safe. Have you identified this star yet? If so, what kind is it. If not, then post a pic for ID. One thing I didnt see discussed yet is the basic water quality of the water that you buy premixed from LFS. I would suggest mixing your own for a while and see if this helps. Lots of that premixed LFS water turns out to be garbage. One LFS which shall remain nameless due to my inability to gain verification sold premixed water that turned out to be tap water with IO. Their tap water sucked and I had an algae problem until i began mixing my own. Just a suggestion though. Get a good water to top off as well and check for phosphates. Have you always had an algae problem since tank's creation a year ago? I think the key is too much phosphate in your water...lots of good advice here as to how to cut back. Good luck! Link to comment
Kogut Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 I suggested that a couple months ago... -__- That could be the source of your problems... A skimmer would be an incredible help to you, though. Grab some astrea snails to clean algae and some cerith snails to clean up after them. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.