Algae and Water Changes

TBrewerton

TBrewerton

Reefing newb
Hey everyone,

I just want to see if I am on the right train of thought on this one..

My tank had become a little neglected over Christmas as I was extremely busy with work travelling etc. Since that time my tank has gained a big bloom of what I would assume is green hair algae - its green, long sways easily doesn't have a root, can be easily picked of the rock, its slimy...

I have syphoned out quite a bit and now its just the stuff left in the crevices of the rock that I cant get too - this stuff keeps growing out into the main rock again quite quickly.

When testing tank parameters the test come out pretty low if not zero - and when I do water changes within a few days I get another big bloom.

My thoughts are as follows.

1st that the algae is absorbing the nutrients hence the low readings?
2nd when I do water changes it is killing some of the algae causing it to re-release the nutrients and then bloom again..?

Am I right in just keeping up with the water changes and maybe trying to do 10% every couple of days until clear or could there be a faster way to get on top of this I am not aware of.

My tank is quite small just 70L with 2 clowns and a bunch of corals. So there is no skimmer etc.

Look forward to any feedback :-)
 
Hey TB when I had bad hair algae I took each rock out individually and scrubbed it all off with a toothbrush. I did it on a water change day and just kept it submerged in some old tank water. After a week or two the last little pieces died off and it never came back. Been over a year now. You may want to invest in a skimmer imo. I only have a 20 gallon long I think 70 litres is roughly the same. There are many internal and hob skimmer out there. Either way good luck! :thumbsup:
 
I purchased a Red Sea Berlin Airlift 60 skimmer and it works great for my 20G aquarium. My tank is extremely clean and I only have to dump out the skimmed parts of the water about every other week or so.

Link: http://www.petmountain.com/product/...rm={keyword}&gclid=CPaakaHR9rwCFaE7OgodMxUAxA

Also, I had originally purchased the Berlin Airlift 90, but it was far too big for my tank. Stick with the 60 if you're putting it in a 20G tank.

It's well worth the $27 investment.
 
Thanks for the input guys! I had never seen that style of skimmer - will have to look at importing one. The joys of a small country haha.

Some great advice and thoughts,

Cheers
 
Wow just went to order that Skimmer... The link above wouldn't ship to my country so I had a look around and Marine Depot would.. Got through to shipping and they were going to charge $250 to ship!!

Found one on ebay but they wouldn't ship either :-(

Then I just found out our country has a warehouse in USA that you can register an address with and they will repack and send on your behalf at the best rate. So I only pay shipping within USA and then its going to cost about $18 to ship to NZ

Not so bad haha so I have one on the way - will prob take a month or so I would guess to get here.
 
what causes the green hair algae? I have it on my rock at bottom of tank under all other rock. I don't want to take all other rock out to get to the rock at the bottom. More frequent water changes? Less light? a better protein skimmer? what causes it?
 
The algae needs nitrates, phosphates and light.
Generally, it is caused by too much nutrients in the water by feeding too much and/or not enough nutrient export via skimming and water changes.
When you check your parameters they may appear to be in check because the algae is using up the excess nutrients so they are not registering on the kits.

Figuring out exactly what is causing yours takes some process of elimination like feeding less, more routine water changes, better skimming, reducing lighting, etc... Anytime I have fought a nuisance algae I try to eliminate one thing at a time instead of multiple things at once just so I can get a better idea of what happened to cause the bloom to begin with as well as what it was I did to end it.
 
Thank You. My water temp is 80 deg.most all the time. I do 7 to 8 gal water changes once wkly. However my tank is only 12 inches deep, my lighting might be too strong. I dont have a carbon filter system. I removed it a long time ago along with my UV sterilizer because someone here said that as long as I did frequent water change and had a good skimmer thats all I would need.

All I have is my protein skimmer, filter in the sump and alot of live rock , some coral doing well, blenny, electric blue crab, and a large brital star fish. I just added 3 cardinals the other day.I have alot of red slime algae in the back of the tank. It seems to be growing right under a light. Tank is 3 yrs old.

On another thread someone talked about a chemical to stop red slime. They were really happy with it. Ill try to find the thread.
 
I think you mean Chemiclean ? It is for cyno. Wont do anything for any other algae though. Worked amazing on my tank, ALL cyno gone in 24 hours and no damage at all to inverts, corals or fish.
Instructions said to leave skimmer off for 24 to 48 hours, I didn't like doing that and it went crazy for hours after turning it back on, the instructions now say to leave skimmer on at all times.They must have changed something in the formula.
 
Sorry. What is Cyno? I'll try the Chemiclean. So far I have removed the rock w/algae hair and scrubbed it off. Reduced my lighting to 5 hrs a day. It was 7. Im going to my LFS to buy premixed salt water. He has a good reputation & his tanks are beautiful. Its Amazing Aquariums in Orange Ca. . He also suggested Aquamaxx Ultramaxx . Its carbon filter media.that you pour into a bag and keep in the sump.
 
Nimboli12 said:
Sorry. What is Cyno? I'll try the Chemiclean. So far I have removed the rock w/algae hair and scrubbed it off. Reduced my lighting to 5 hrs a day. It was 7. Im going to my LFS to buy premixed salt water. He has a good reputation & his tanks are beautiful. Its Amazing Aquariums in Orange Ca. . He also suggested Aquamaxx Ultramaxx . Its carbon filter media.that you pour into a bag and keep in the sump.
Click to expand...

Cyanobacteria is what cyano is, a very primitive missing link between bacteria and algae.
 
OK. my lights are only on 5 hrs a day vs. 7. Iv"e lowered my temp to 78 deg. Ive removed the rock that had the green hair algae, scrubbed & returned it to the tank.. I scrubbed everything in the tank that had algae hair on it. I found a hole at the bottom of the filter sock while doing a water change so put a new sock in. The hole happened while sitting on a piece of live rock in the sump..

So..... what a difference in the tank! The sand is nice & clean looking. I know to change the sock every few days or weekly? I just need to siphon out a little more red slime from the back of tank. probably today. I should take a pic of the tank & send it. I had an acct on Photobucket but can't find it. Is that the only way to put up oics is by Photobucket?
Anyway....Thanks Saltforbrains (don't know your name) the advice really worked..
 
Nimboli12 said:
OK. my lights are only on 5 hrs a day vs. 7. Iv"e lowered my temp to 78 deg. Ive removed the rock that had the green hair algae, scrubbed & returned it to the tank.. I scrubbed everything in the tank that had algae hair on it. I found a hole at the bottom of the filter sock while doing a water change so put a new sock in. The hole happened while sitting on a piece of live rock in the sump..

So..... what a difference in the tank! The sand is nice & clean looking. I know to change the sock every few days or weekly? I just need to siphon out a little more red slime from the back of tank. probably today. I should take a pic of the tank & send it. I had an acct on Photobucket but can't find it. Is that the only way to put up oics is by Photobucket?
Anyway....Thanks Saltforbrains (don't know your name) the advice really worked..
Click to expand...
I'm glad you have things going your way.
 
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