Algae still an issue

[ReefiN MonsteR]

I am still having problems with hair algae all over my rocks. The first time I filled the tank, I did so with faucet water...(big no no, I know now) and have done about 4 water changes now using RO water. However, I still have alot of hair algae and am now getting what appears to be diatom algae on the sandbed and on some rocks.....with little bubbles on it?! My clean up crew consits of 20 or so red and blue leg crabs, astrea snails, turbos, and two sea hairs (monster big) i also have so other little snails...( not sure what they are called) All my parameters are perfect (at 0 or barely detectable) I am just wondering if this will eventually go away or should I do something myself to intervene? The tank has been up and running for over 2 months now, closer to 3 months.

[ReefiN MonsteR]

O yea sorry.......its a 150 gallon tank with 150 lbs. of live rock. I have a 60 gallon sump w/refium. I have some chaeto in the sump.....but i havent added a light to the sump yet. I just added this new sump/fuge last week.

[dc_909]

Increase flow, cut lights and be patient

[ReefiN MonsteR]

Can I please get any other input? Thanks BTW, I am currently limiting my lights to a few hours a day.....i keep the actinics running for 10 hours though. and my flow is pretty heavy right now....dont know that i need much more if any?!

[jsr]

You say all your perms are fine, but are you testing for Phosphate? If not, I would suggest you start testing. With hair algae growing, I am sure you have some phosphate in your tank. You can but a phosphate reactor for about $40, if needed.

[RobNJ]

Sure sounds like a phosphate+nitrate issue. Have you tested with a good kit. Salifert is the preferred brand.

[sruiz]

Lawnmore blenny works magic. Once i did hyposilinity, when I my rock was trying to recover it went through a stage where it was BAD, completely covered in the algea. I got a blenny and 2 days later it was all gone. Whithin weeks later it was turning purple again.

[bertoni]

That might just still be new tank issues. Is anything being fed yet?

Pulling out the easy-to-get algae would help remove nutrients from the system.

[barber1575]

Sounds like you need to turn the lights off for a couple days and not look at the tank. Three days later return and you will see a big improvement. I had problem when I first started. I added tap water for like 3 months not knowing why I was coverd in algae,,,it was like a swamp lol. Started buying water from LFS, bought clean up crew and three days later was algae free.

[uscharalph]

All or allmost all new tank go thru this. Manually remove all you can and cut down on feedings.

[ScottL4619]

I had this problem for almost 3 months on my tank. It started around the 3 or 4 month mark and continued for 3 months. I think I made it worse by continually moving rocks around and disturbing the substrate. In the end, I just got about 8 or 9 various types of snails (don't over do it, you don't need as many as most people think), keep up with water changes and water chemistry, and the problem will eventually go away. This is assuming that you have adequate flow and no phosphate in the water that you use for changes.

[Mavrk]

This is common in a new tank (yes 4 months is still considered new).

I highly recommend a phosban reactor. This may not solve your problem immediately (or it might), but it will definately help in the long run. Phosphates can leach out of your rocks and substrate, so even a test showing 0 phosphate can have it present (plus it is being used by the current algae). It can take a while for all the phosphates to actually be removed.

For immediate help, the second thing I will recommend is doing 3 days all lights off (try to block ambient light as well), then actinic only on the 4th day. Then back to normal. You may have to do this a few times, but wait a month in between the "treatments." Nothing will be harmed by this, but watch your ammonia if you have a lot of algae die off. There is a thread on the board that explains how corals may even benefit from doing this every couple of months.