algae

MonkeeFish · #1 03/27/2006, 01:57 AM

Hey guys, well it's one of those posts again. i've been battling aglaes for a couple of months now and it's really ticking me off. I even got a skimmer. I have a 30 gallon with the Gx-1 skimmer on it. Im thinking of doing 10 gallon change a week is that sufficient. Im getting cyano in the tank so must be bad water quality...

SteveOhh · #2 03/27/2006, 02:17 AM

Find the reason for your cyano (usually high phosphates) & correct that first. I used Chem-Clean to get rid of my cyano, but only after I fixed my high phosphates problem (using water other then RO water).........HTH

Steve

drake66 · #3 03/27/2006, 02:30 AM

carbon helps to reduce nutrients that feed the algae, also chaeto can help absorb excess nutrients.

yoyoyoo123 · #4 03/27/2006, 02:53 AM

don't over feed your tank!

pledosophy · #5 03/27/2006, 05:06 AM

How old are your light bulbs?

Sometimes aging lights can shift in color spectrum to promote the growth of nuissance algaes.

Turning off the lights and letting the tank be lit only by ambient room light for 48 continous hours will kill the cyano bacteria.

You can also increase the flow in the tank depending on what you keep in there, and beef up the clean up crew.

polyp monkey · #6 03/27/2006, 03:59 PM

I had an algae problem, but it went away when I began testing my calcium and alkalinity weekly so I could keep my alkalinity high, I bought a used protein skimmer, which was far better than my old skimmer, I removed some arches and rock which was causing dead spots in the tank. Also I got a Lawnmower bleeny.

MonkeeFish · #7 03/27/2006, 11:46 PM

yoyoyoo123:::I rarely feed my tank, they find food on their own and feed off the pods....

pledosophy::::Bulbs are pretty new, only been in for a month. Would my corals be ok with the lights off for 2 days?

polyp monkey:::Since it's such a small tank, i want to keep thing as simple as possible and not get techical with stuff like calicum etc etc

drake66::::I will try carbon also i have a baseball size of chaeto but it doesnt seem to really be helping....

dacoolguychris · #8 03/28/2006, 02:57 AM

what does your cleanup crew look like.. i have a 24gal and i just added two turbos 5 astreas and a couple nassarius and cerith snails.. in a week all the lr that was 1/2 covered is now clear of hair algae... also the little bit of cyano is gone

yeay snails.. much better than crabs (always knocking over stuff)
-Chris

MonkeeFish · #9 03/29/2006, 12:09 AM

i have one large nassarius....i think the hermits took care of the rest of them...