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What is it and how do i get rid of thie Alge

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Tman62, Apr 27, 2012.

  1. Tman62

    Tman62

    35
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    +0 / 0 / -0
  2. blackx-runner Administrator Website Team Leadership Team

    Cedar Rapids, IA
    Ratings:
    +738 / 5 / -0
    I'm going to bet you have high nitrates and phosphates that are fueling the algae growth. Lighting may also be a factor. Whats your lighting set-up and how old are the bulbs?
    Siphon out as much as you can, do fairly large and frequent water changes, go lights out for a few days, cut way back on feedings, run GFO or another phosphate remover. Its probably going to be a battle, but it can be beat. If you haven't looked at them an algae scrubber might be something to consider for a long term solution to nutrient control.
     
  3. nrenn Well-Known ReefKeeper

    311
    Waverly, Iowa
    Ratings:
    +29 / 0 / -0
    Looks like Green Hair Algae. Algae is usually linked to problems in water quality. Use RO water, feed less, check your parameters, run carbon/GFO. These will all address the root cause. I have used turbo snails as a quick solution to eat it up and prevent it from killing corals in a few days, but long term you need to have your water quality in line.

    In general, you should have all the details (parameters, equipment, and chemicals you are using) when posting. Its hard to tell if your experienced with a genuinely tricky problem, or just new to the hobby and possibly using tap water or something like that. Saves on a lot of time with people asking those questions
     
  4. Actuary Well-Known ReefKeeper

    705
    Adel, IA
    Ratings:
    +145 / 1 / -0
    ^ +1 I was going to ask about your source water situation. How long has this been going on? Was the tank running fine and this is suddenly happening out of the middle of nowhere or is this a new tank? If you could check a couple important parameters it would help identify the cause - do you test NO3, PO4? Do you have a TDS meter for your source water?

    On a side note I'm not sure that's just GHA - hard to tell from the pictures but it looks like there's a slime algae (cyanobacteria) mixed in there. But regardless, it's going to be the same approach.

    Try to keep things from smothering your corals in the meantime and hang in there!
     
  5. mthomp

    mthomp Inactive User

    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    even if you are using RO water make sure to check the TDS of it. If it has high TDS it is then no better then tap water.
     
  6. phishcrazee Experienced Reefkeeper

    Riverside
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    Looks like cyano with maybe some hair algae :/ Do you have a sump? Let us know what your nitrates are at (phosphates would be nice to know too), that would be helpful to know. There are many ways to improve the water quality, as stated above.......increase your flow, add a sump with macro algae to out-compete the bad algae for nutrients, many, many threads all over the internet /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif
     
  7. Maureen Experienced Reefkeeper

    Urbandale, IA
    Ratings:
    +329 / 0 / -0
    I would check out some sites and forums on line for pictures to identify what you have. Does it look feathered or fern like on the ends?If it does, I hate to say the dreaded word,  but it could be bryopsis.  The slime could be caused by decomposition of the algae. It can start to decompose all the while still growing and not really dying out. First things first, identify what you have because that will make a difference in what you do to get rid of it.
     
  8. Tman62

    Tman62

    35
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    +0 / 0 / -0
    Sorry about not posting the params. the water checked out perfect. 0 nitrates and phosphates were good. LED lights on for 11 hours (will cut that to 8 hours) i did have some red Cyanobacteria a few weeks ago and treated it with Chemiclean, that took care of the Cyanobacteria but maybe this has something to do with that. i am going to scrub the rocks and do a 20% water change and treat with the Chemiclean again.


     
  9. blackx-runner Administrator Website Team Leadership Team

    Cedar Rapids, IA
    Ratings:
    +738 / 5 / -0
    Are you using RO/DI water? I would scrub the rock, do the water change, then go completely lights out for a few days. Try to limit ambient sun light and everything. Also are you running any type of phosphate removing media? GFO, phosban, anything like that? It may be a good idea to look into something like that.
     
  10. Bud Loves Bacon Website Team Board of Directors Leadership Team GIRS Member Vendor

    West Des Moines, IA
    Ratings:
    +1,821 / 14 / -0
    To me, those bubbles are a dead giveaway that it's dinos. If you had cyano and nuked it and now these, what you did was dump the nutrients from the cyano back into the water and these took over. It's a PITA but take an airline hose and suck them out. That will buy you a few days before they come back. Then the standard suggestions apply like GFO and carbon (high quality, of course) and cutting back feedings, etc, and also keeping your pH up. I read a reefkeeping article that said you want to keep it at 8.4 and overnight is especially important.

    As far as cutting your lights back, I have a differing opinion that is not common. Cease your feeding, but keep your lights on. Or feed only right before lights out every other day, and only enough for the fish to mow down quickly. This will cause the symbiotic zooxanthellae on the corals to soak up the nutrients and feed them to the corals. This is what I did but I was also running a scrubber. Surface skimming is especially important so make sure that's on par.

    Blacking out the tank will kill off the algae, but the blackout has to be 100% and for several days. This is 1) stressful on your fish/corals 2) not natural 3) causes all the nutrients in the algae to get released into the water column, where it must then be filtered out. So for that method you would need skimmer, filter socks/pads, GFO, Carbon, water changes, and the patience to not turn your lights on for days.

    But either way, sucking that crud out is step #1. If you want to do it as part of a WC, then that's good. Use a small siphon hose and if you have a valve on it, crank it down so that you're getting just enough flow so that you can suck right onto the rocks and pull the gooey stuff off. It will take time so slow flow is the key unless you want to do a massive WC. I used airline tubing and went thought the whole tank and only pulled out a few gallons, you can easily cinch the airline tubing while you're searching for areas you missed. Also you can buy various diameters of flex vinyl hose at any HWS if that helps.

    Good luck
     

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