how to control green algae

[lastduke]

I won the battle of brown algae by purchasing the RO/DI water instead of water from LFS, now 30G tank under 70W MH 14000K lighting with 10 hours scheduling. The coraline algae grows really slowly, obviously, the green algae grows much faster than coraline alage.

How can i change my tank color from green to purple? Do I need to dose "Purple UP"? I dose some Kent part A and B to keep CA and ALK balanced although I don't have any hard coral, all I have are zoa and soft. CA is always higher than 420PPM.
Please give me some idea how to eliminate the green algae and boom up purple aglae?

[Sk8r]

Refugium will diminish green algae. There's a way also to increase coralline: up the magnesium, the third part of the cal/alk/mg triad. If mg is low, cal and alk will fall no matter your dosing. If you maintain mg at about 1300 to 1400, you will see coralline grow, with a little patience and good water. I take it Purple Up involves mg, but you can just add it, and you need the mg to stabilize your cal and alk anyway, sooner or later.

[The Floodinator]

If you're talking green coralline vs. purple coralline I can tell you this, after losing all my hard corals during a hunting trip I cut the lighting back to just 4X65 watt pc's and the purple went crazy while the green all but disappeared.

[Aquarist007]

cut down on the food source --phosphates and nitrates--and you will get rid of the algae:

some suggestions for doing this:
feed less at one time and rinse all frozen food with r/o water

set up a refugium as sk8r suggested

once a week take a turkey baster and lightly baste the rock and substrate--this gets organics etc back into the water column where they can be filtered out

consider running a micron filter sock

increase the flow in low flow areas and make sure the flow in the tank is between 20-40 times tank volume in gph

turn down the flow through the sump area or match it to the gph of the skimmer--this insures that unfiltered water is not returned to the tank.

consider running carbon and phosban in phosban reactors--this is not expensive and I can post a picture if you want to see how it is setup

[lastduke]

I do have a 20G refugium for 30G display tank, how to make sure the refugium is absorbing the phosphates and nitrates, I don't have the test kit for phosphates, the nitrate was always around 5 before I doubled the cheato yesterday.

capn, can you show me what turkey baster you used for cleanning? I am not sure how big space phosban reacotors will take, my sump is sort of small after I put the skimmer there.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by lastduke
I do have a 20G refugium for 30G display tank, how to make sure the refugium is absorbing the phosphates and nitrates, I don't have the test kit for phosphates, the nitrate was always around 5 before I doubled the cheato yesterday.

capn, can you show me what turkey baster you used for cleanning? I am not sure how big space phosban reacotors will take, my sump is sort of small after I put the skimmer there.

the turkey baster---the same kind as you buy in the grocery store to baste the turkey--$1.49-plastic with a rubber squeeze ball

phosban reactors--these are in a 30 gal sump:

[lastduke]

Thanks for the picture, I still have a question about the refugium. the sump I am using has around 10G chamber full of Chaeto, I think the chaeto keeps my nitrate as low as 5ppm rather than 20ppm before I setup my refugium.
The chaeto absorbs nitrate and phophate from water. If there is green algae grows in my display tank, does it mean I still need more chaeto?
I just curious why we still need a phosban reator after we have a refugium.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by lastduke
Thanks for the picture, I still have a question about the refugium. the sump I am using has around 10G chamber full of Chaeto, I think the chaeto keeps my nitrate as low as 5ppm rather than 20ppm before I setup my refugium.
The chaeto absorbs nitrate and phophate from water. If there is green algae grows in my display tank, does it mean I still need more chaeto?
I just curious why we still need a phosban reator after we have a refugium.

if you have algae then you have phosphates---cheato can only remove so much---and it needs to be harvested regularily to do so

IMO you would be pleased with the results of a phosban reactor--only about 40 dollars with the media.

that said I did post some other suggestions above---algae control is not a matter of using one technique rather a number of maintenance procedures--combined they help get rid of algae

[lastduke]

capn, only $40 for phosban reactor and media? where to order them? It seems that I do need one or two.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by lastduke
capn, only $40 for phosban reactor and media? where to order them? It seems that I do need one or two.

try mops.com--up here it is mops.ca but he has a US outlet

[lastduke]

nope, it isn't a aquarium stuff store.....thanks for the reply

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by lastduke
nope, it isn't a aquarium stuff store.....thanks for the reply

go to www.mops.ca and there is a link on the home page for the US site