yet another new tank looking for solutions

I would increase flow & maybe run a phosban reactor. We have all been there. That is about the time the algae comes out. Maybe even feed a little less then usual

 

Posted By KDaullary on 12/11/2007 7:03 PM
 Ok here it goes, the problem, What i beleive to be hair algae. sub question what do ditoms and or ditritus look like? does that get "hairy" as well? and what color brown?  So I have a 90 gallon with about 90 - 100 pounds of live sand, 50 lbs of live rock, a megaflow overflow filter/sump. A sea clone skimmer wich is for sale because i cant get it to bubble properly and i dont like it. and a aqua rio 2100 pump I also have one power head at the oppisit end of the tank from the overflow/return. I set up a 9 watt uv sterilizer about 2 weeks ago. last water test on sunday was no nitrates trace nitrite and ammonia ph 8.4 and .25 phosphate. My lamp is an outer orbit 48 inch 10000k and 6000k actinic with lunar lights.  I run close to 12 hour light cycles. Last water change was 2 weeks ago at about 25 percent water change. at this time i removed and scrubbed all live rock in fresh salt water scrubbed all algae from walls and refilled with treated tap water.  I am currently  adding algae magic from weiss products to help control the growth of my algae, I have 2 perc clowns a sebea 2 black axel chromis a lawn mower blenny 1 blue cleaner wrasse and a four line wrasse. I have 3 turbo snails and about 15 red leg hermits. I cant seem to stop growing algae at what i beleive to be a good pace. I think im doing everything right but i guess not since im having problems. Is this due to not enough pump? its 650 gph at zero head, but im going probly 4 foot up so maybe half that? do i not have enough snails/hermits? im not running my sea clone because like i said i cant stand it or get it working. I dont really have any phosphates so I dont think i need to add phosban or anything. I do have a bag of activated carbon in the sump it is listed as phosphate free. I use instent ocean salt and salinity is at 1.023 water temp is 79 F. I bought everything new and it has been set up for about 2 months.
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Welcome to GIRS.  Diatoms look like brown algae.  Usually it occurs when a tank is finishing it's initial cycle, green algae usually comes next.  it sounds like your using tap water and that's probably the cause of your problem.  I would recommend doing water changes with ro/di water.  I would also recommend stayiing away from quick fixes (algae magic).  You should also reduce the lighting duration while this is occuring.

 

The megaflow filter has the big BioWheel right?

With the trace nitrites and ammonia it sounds like the tank is still cycling.

Can you upload a photo of the algae?

You said it was brown?

 

KDaullary, welcome to GIRS! /site/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif Both xroads and Atram gave you solid advice. I would also encourage you to use 0 TDS RO/DI water as your water source and start changing water. Believe it or not, your phosphate level is high at .25, most of us aim for 0.

 

First of all nice to see another new face to the GIRS forum!  Please feel free to post in the Welcome forum at the top and introduce yourself and your setup.
Now on regards to your tank.
Do you currently have corals in your tank?  What kind of light do you have?  Is that a power compact fixture or a Metal halide?   If you're running metal halides a 12 hour light cycle is major overkill and is feeding your algae problems right now.  I'd cut back to at least 8 hours.
The seaclone skimmer you have is pretty much junk especially on a tank as large as the one you have.  There are some mods you can do to improve it but I'd definately be looking to upgrade that.
DOes your megaflow sump have bioballs in it?  If it does that will probably be feeding your algae problems as well they tend to hold on to nitrates and cause problems.
What kind of test kits did you use to test your tank with?  This may not make sense but most of the time you will get a 0 reading for phosphates even though you have them in your tank.  The reason being is that the algae is feeding off of it and it will give you a false "0" reading.  So if you're getting a .25 reading I would guess that it's actually pretty high.
Treated tap water isn't the "best" way to do things either.  RO/DI water is definately the best way to go when you're trying to get your algae outbreak under control. 
If you ever see the name Marc Weiss on anything don't BUY IT!  His "algae magic" is probably algae food.  Everything I've ever read about his products is not good.
You could probably use a little more flow in your tank.  As most people say you can never have too much! /site/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/_default/emoticons/biggrin.gif
You could probably bring your salinity up a little bit it's not really too bad.  Most people tend to keep there reefs around 1.025.
I'm not trying to critisize the way you're doing things.  We've all been there trust me!  Just trying to help you out.  Where are you located at?  There are lots of good reefers on here that would be more than willing to help you get your tank back on the right track!
Hope that helps you out a little bit.   The best thing you've done so far is finding GIRS! /site/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/_default/emoticons/biggrin.gif  We'll help you get it squared away!
If you have any more questions feel free to ask away!
Matt

 

welcome to GIRS
yeah you are making the same mistake alot of people make, me included.
its pretty easy to fix, just like everyone here has already said, you will need to
start using good water, you will need a ro/di unit, ask the guys/gals on here where they got theirs at.
it doesnt take much bad water to get your tank looking like a giant chia pet, green hair algae.
diatom algae looks kinda like your tank has mud smeared on it, dirty brown looking.
if you are using one of these

if you already have fish and corals and all that in your tank take the blue balls out of it slowly/ take 1/3 out a week becasue they could be your main bacteria holding media.
if you remove them all at once your tank could get another ammonia spike.
 and clean the sponge thats in it at least once a week.
 
bio balls work great for a fish only tank, if your planning a reef with live rock, which you are, the rock is your filter/media, it holds the benificial bacteria that removes ammonia/nitrite.
i like these sumps they are clean looking and look nice, you cant get a real big skimmer in there, just depends what model you have.
do you know what model it is?.
the reason i ask is because you are going to need a skimmer, im sure you know its importance in owning a reef aquarium, and to try and have everyone point you in a direction of a good/ cheap skimmer we need to know what you have for sump size.
as directed in the post from another member, using algae removing chemicals is the wrong approach, if you can get rid of whats causing the problem you wont need it.
algae sucks, i know i just went thru it, but just look at it as a small problem to conquer, its easy to get rid of.
lets hear everything about your tank.
where are you from?

 

I have doubts if BioBalls could cause a nitrate problem in such a short time. On my first tank, I ran that same type of wet/dry with bioballs and I never had a problem with nitrates.

I'm also going to guess that it's either bad water (you definitely need to switch to RO/DI if you're not already using it) or you may be overfeeding a bit.

The other thing to remember is that most new tanks go through phases like this whether it's diatoms, hair algea, cyanobacteria, etc. Try not to get to frustrated, it happens to all of us (my tank has a Cyano problem right now).

And most of all, Welcome to GIRS!

-JB

 

Posted By KDaullary on 12/13/2007 5:26 PM
 I disagree with removing the media balls. I have seen many a nice reef aquarium using these. friday i am going to do about a 15% water change, scrub rock and replace with io water. I've seen some reef setups with bioballs as well but I've seen alot nicer ones that don't have them! /site/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/_default/emoticons/wink.gif
Main things I'd work on is:
1.  More flow
2.  Water Changes and top off water with RO/DI water
3.  Reduce lighting time
4.  A GOOD SKIMMER!!!  Get the best one you can afford!  Ask around on here for some advice on what to get.
5.  More snails etc...
Not necessarily in that order but you get the idea.
Good luck and we're here to help you! /site/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/_default/emoticons/cool.gif

 

no live rock in the sumps and big protein skimmers

 

Your liverock and your protein skimmer and good flow to keep the detritus from settling on the bottom of the tank are your main filtration.

 

And a nice refugium can also help a lot with nutrient export.

I have a 40 Breeder setup as a refugium with extra live rock, a deep sand bed and a big clump of cheatomorpha algea.

Chaeto is wonderful stuff if you can get it growing good.

I never see any readings for Nitrate or Phophate.

-JB