stupid question

[mech0522]

my 90 has been up 4 3 to 4 months and went through all my cycles now i have hair alge on the rocks my skimmer is aqua c and my sump has cheto and doin good and now 4 the dumb question will this die off the rock as time passes or i should do what ????

[aquajamieb]

do you have a clean up crew in it? some hermits and snail should take care of that problem.

[mech0522]

yea i got a small one but im just wandering if its mostly due to nutrients in the the rock

[kaptken]

hi mech,
you didnt mention type and depth of sand bed, plenum? berlin, or DSB? they can all have an effect on a new tank cycle. if all is well and sufficiently skimmed with a fuge it should clean up in a bit more time. algea is oportunistic and always present and will grow when conditions are right. patience, water changes, proper light and skimming with a good clean up crew should turn it around in time. how are your phosphates? do you use RODI water ? or just dechlorinated tap water?(USUALLY HIGH IN PHOSPHATES) lots of places to look for the nutients getting into the tank to grow hair algea. just some things to consider, along with water movement in the tank. unfortunately my hair algea problem in a 75 reef tank was replaced by a more persistant nuisance fine creeping macro algea that out competed the hair but does not grow in my 24/7 lighted fuge. i'm still trying to get rid of it. the hair is gone but the creeper remains.
what can we do??

[MadTownMax]

excess nutrients cause algae - plain and simple - cut down on feedings, a lot (as a general estimate, 1/4 of what you usually feed, if not less)- and it will slowly go away.

What fish and corals do you have in your tank, and how often to you feed them?

Many people feed only their fish, and then sparingly - once or twice a day, every second or third day - of course some fish have more aggressive feeding habits (such as anthilias) and must be fed 2-3 times daily - then you must be very careful to only feed very, very small portions.


If you're not already- run the light on your fuge 24/7 and have fairly good turnover (10X or more to make it roll on the surface) to maximze the cheato's growth.

On the bright side of things, if the algae is growing it is taking up nutrients that would otherwise be fouling your tank water -


Personally, I've left for a week, with no one watching my tank(s) and have come back to find everything thriving - this made me realize that I was probably over-feeding by a lot - now I feed every 2-3 days, and sparingly (about 1/4 of what I use to feed) fish and corals will live off of the other micro organisms in the tank and will do fine :thumbsup:

As a temporary fix, you can run some form of phosphate remover - but start slowly as it sounds like you have a significant amount of phosphates, and the shock of lowering your phosphates dramatically can stress out your corals. If this seems to help you will notice the algae dieing off - make sure you remove this algae before it decomposes and adds yet more nutrients back into your water.

Hope that Helps

-Nick

[mech0522]

2/3 inch sand bed and have the light on the fuge 24/7 my live rock is new by that i mean 3/4 month cure time in my tank

[billpa]

Listen to what Nick said. Perfect advice.

billpa