Help! Algae Control

hismattjesty · #1 04/26/2005, 05:24 PM

Well, everything in my LPS dominated tank was going great until I added a piece of live rock last week. It is covered in a purple/aqua mottled mushroom colony, and 3 pieces of kenya tree. 2 days later, glass and LR are all covered with green algae, and green hair algae. I added 5 hermits and 6 snails, ran Bio-Chem Zorb for 48 hours to deplete nutrients, and still the algae is ahead of me. Only fish in the tank is a Flame Hawk. I have considered more hermits, and possibly a Lawnmower Blenny, but am unsure about what to do. Are there additives that will destroy the algae? Any suggestions are greatly welcome, and thank you all in advance again.

TippyToeX · #2 04/26/2005, 06:53 PM

Don't use additives, algae can be defeated without them. It's all about nutrient control (not from a box). By that you want to do larger more frequent water changes with good source water. I live in LV too, and we can some seriously sickening water. RO/DI is a must.

Next, be sure your skimmer is kicking out skimmate as it should be. It's always good to skim aggressively when battling bad algae outbreaks.

Get your pH up to 8.4-8.5 and keep it there 24/7. Most micro algae hate high stable pH.

Be brave and do manual removal as often as you can. Also do it with suction going (best when it's time for a water change) so that the loose bits of algae don't float off and attached elsewhere.

Be sure you have no detectable phosphates. What are the results of your water tests?

A huge help would be adding a refugium.

hismattjesty · #3 04/26/2005, 10:05 PM

TippyToeX,

I do a 20% water change on a weekly basis. Skimmer runs full blast 100% of the time, and is kicking out skimmate as normal. Current params are as follows:

Ph: 8.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: <5ppm
Nitrite: 0
DkH: 12
Calcium: 460
No Phosphate test kit.

I don't understand how adding that 1 rock would have thrown everything I had running perfect so far out of whack.

TippyToeX · #4 04/26/2005, 10:15 PM

Could have just been the straw that broke the camels back. That or it didn't play in at all and is a coincidence.

What test kits are you using? Do you use RO or RO/DI water? What kind of skimmer?

Really it is about nutrient control to win the battle. An expensive toy that helps keep ORP up and is a deterrent to micro algae would be running ozone.

musicman · #5 04/26/2005, 10:21 PM

What worked great for me were pacific turbo snails, the bigger round ones. Two of them knocked down all the hair algae in my fiance's 10 gallon tank nearl overnight. By the following afternoon, all hair algae was gone. There was a lot of algae, too! In most places it was over 1/2" thick and covered EVERYTHING! She had 15 blue legs in there for about a month and they didn't do jack for the algae, then those two snails do the job in less than 18 hours! AMAZING!

Blastomussaman · #6 04/26/2005, 10:27 PM

Get kit and check phosphate, main contributor to hair algae. You have a small bioload (fish anyway), so unless you're feeding your corals a ton of food, you shouldn't have too much of a nutrient problem.

My guess is that the LR probably came with some die-offs and is contributing.

How big is your tank btw? If small, the die-offs can easily start an algae cycle. Be prepared to do some scrubbing and pruning. Trust me, more snails, fish won't do the job. It's all dirty work from here on.

hismattjesty · #7 04/27/2005, 12:09 AM

The piece of LR I put in with the Mushrooms and Kenya Tree on it was over 5 years old, and well cured, so it isn't die off. I run a Sea Clone 125 skimmer, and I have a 29gal. eclipse. I spot feed 2 times a week, so there is no excess food. I guess it's all dirty work now like you said.

Blastomussaman · #8 04/27/2005, 01:21 AM

Old rock in new tank can mean new die offs. Also, are all your corals ok? Death of any coral or clam can mean heavy nutrient source.

You have a small tank and with 20% weekly wc that is more than enough IMO in controlling nutrients. Something must be wrong with your top off or source water. Check for phosphate/silicate in source water, and like Amy said, RO/DI is the way to go.

hismattjesty · #9 04/27/2005, 04:52 AM

Blastomussaman,

Off to get a test kit tomorrow. I use RO water for top off, but not DI. That is why this is very puzzling to me. All corals are doing just fine, no clams in the tank, and all snails and hermits accounted for as well. I guess well have to see what the test kit says.

What are the ideal numbers for phosphate and silicate that I should have in the tank, as I have never tested for them before?

Blastomussaman · #10 04/27/2005, 11:52 AM

Well, if you have a well performing ro system, you shouldn't have any detectable phosphate or silicate. Do you regularly change out the membranes?

If you don't have a nasty diatom outbreak, silicate is probably not a problem.

It could be that your tank is just breaking in, starting to mature. If so, just keep up the wc with manual extraction and eventually they will suddenly disappear.

What comes next, cyano, if you haven't had it already.