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  #1  
Old 06/13/2002, 08:26 AM
nwappleby nwappleby is offline
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Location: Houston, TX
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Angry ALGAE on live rock and back of tank (HELP!)

SIMPLE QUESTION:

I have a oceanic 46G bow, and have some live rock with a group of tonga braches. I am getting alot of algae(green) on some of the rocks and the back glass. WHAT CAN I DO? I like the look of a clean live rock, I dont really like the green look of my tank right now......... also I have 2 actinic (36" 30 watts) and on daylight (36" 30 watts), that run from 12:00pm to 10PM. I have a couple of snails (3) but i dont think they are doing the job.

thanks in advance for your help.....

-Neil
  #2  
Old 06/13/2002, 09:45 AM
Raswank Raswank is offline
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algae

How old is the tank, it could be an algae cycle,don't worry about the back i leave algae on the back because if your going to have snails they are going to need some algae to survive. What are your nitrates at, how much are you feeding. When i first set up my tank it went through an algae stage brown, green, red, don't worry about. I hope this helped a little
  #3  
Old 06/13/2002, 10:14 AM
nwappleby nwappleby is offline
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the tank was started... at the begining of the year jan 1 2002.

all levels are fine, I test every now and then.

I feed every other day, 2 cubes brine shrimp.



thanks
  #4  
Old 06/13/2002, 10:34 AM
micagreenmachine micagreenmachine is offline
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Sounds about right... It's the natural cycle of a new tank.

Just try to keep it in check. Pull out/syphon out what you can (don't yank it and let it float around....) as it grows too thick. I would add some more snails, maybe a dozen or so. Eventually as your tank stabilizes, it will slowly disappear. My current tank went thru a REALLY fast algae bloom when I set it up. It only really lasted about 3 weeks.

BUT, here's some of the standard questions.....
Do you have a DSB or any type of nutrient export to reduce/eliminate nitrates? Are you using tap water for top-off/water changes? If so, does it contain phosphates? Are you using a protein skimmer? What are your water params? (amonia/nitrites/nitrates/pH/etc...) Are you using any additives? If so, which ones?

Post more stats on your tank so we can help you curb any potential issues,
~Todd
  #5  
Old 06/13/2002, 10:51 AM
nwappleby nwappleby is offline
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Location: Houston, TX
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1. NO
2. using ROD water from LFS
3. backpack protein skimmer
4. dont know my stats off the top of my head, test many times and they were in limits.

5. everyday add kentmarine tech-b and tech-a.
everyweek add tech-m, essential elements, iodine, coralvite,molyblenium.

I also change around 10-12 gallons everymonth in the water change.

thanks again....

so more snails is the answer? if so what kind?

-Neil
  #6  
Old 06/13/2002, 11:06 AM
ThingsReef ThingsReef is offline
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Sure sounds like nitrates or phospates or maybe your feeding it with to much additive. I agree that there is a natural cycle of algae involved but 6 months is too long. Alot of places have algae packages of snails, crabs, etc and I'm sure that would help but maybe try a different test kit for nitrates. I fought nitrates for a while before my DSB/REEF conversion when I was feeding my tangs alot of food to cure their HLLE and my nitrates dropped but my test kit still read 100-120ppm while they were actually around 30-40. They are now around 0 on a Hagen and .2 on a Salifert low level test kit. Do you have a heavy fish load? I also let algae grow on the back and right side of my tank. Not much there but I figure the snails need something.
  #7  
Old 06/13/2002, 11:19 AM
Mr James Mr James is offline
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Nwappleby: I went through the exact same problems with my tank, but the algae still has not totally disappeared. I have been dosing ESV B-Ionic in my tank as well as running a semi-decent skimmer, or at least a better skimmer than what I had before. I also have a refugium set up under the tank. From what I gather, when the coraline algae starts to form on the live rock, the algae has no place to grow. That in combination with the refugium eating up all of the nutrients the algae lives off of.

Snails won't solve your problem, (most) everyone will agree with that. They will only help it. You need to attack the problem at it's origin, which is the excess nutrients. I see from your website that your tank is a FOWLR as opposed to a reef tank. A good skimmer, and good filtration are first couple of things that are need the most.
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  #8  
Old 06/13/2002, 11:45 AM
micagreenmachine micagreenmachine is offline
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Cut back on the iodine for a while too. This helped me out once before.... Once everything is back under control, you can slowly bring the iodine back up. You don't need much anyway, just enough for your softies. Some say that water changes will give you enough because the salt mixes typically have some trace iodine.

I'm not familiar with what's in tech-m, essential elements or coralvite. Does anyone out there know if any of those have ingredients that might contribute to algae growth? (like iron or iodine...)

Food for thought,
~t
  #9  
Old 06/13/2002, 02:15 PM
DaveCush DaveCush is offline
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Hi all,

I don't want to raise any alarms, but have you made sure that you don't have Bryopsis. When I put up my display tank earlier this year I started to have, what I thought was, green hair algae growing and it didn't go away. After some research I discovered that I had Bryopsis. This is some pretty resilient stuff and I have found nothing that uses it as a food source.

Do a quick search and make sure that you do not have this. If you do my recommendation is to not pull it off the rock, but pull the rock out of the tank before it begins to take over.
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  #10  
Old 06/13/2002, 03:23 PM
nwappleby nwappleby is offline
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Location: Houston, TX
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The only thing I have seen really besides the algae growth is:

bubble algae
calupera (spelling may be off)????
feather dusters
 

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