Hair algae on rock / brown slime algae in the sand?!?

[lolgranny]

Tank stats are in check, i check weekly and everything looks good.

I have a 75g tank, about 70lbs of live rock if not more. 5" of sand. Plenty of flow. Have a 20g long for a sump with a bubble magus NAC-6, and a fuge(i dont have cheeto for it yet, nor a light) Tanks been up for roughly 6 months now. I have 2-400w bulbs on lumenarc reflectors / pfo ballasts

I have 3 colonies of acane's which are all looking amazing. Full of color and the 40+ heads i have are HUGE and happy.

My acro had AWEF, so i only saved about 3 branches of a mini colony which the color is coming back and has alright PE, nothing GOOD

My monit is doing amazing

I feed the fish ( 4clowns / 1 coral beauty / sleeper headed goby / kole tang / snowflake blenny) once a day. They all eat and a clear of disease...ect, look happy from what i can tell. Had them all aver 2 months

I do RO / DI water top off, use Ro / DI water when i do 2x's a week of about 15% water changes.

ONE rock has massive amounts of hair algae, only 1, i scrub it / blow it off every other day and its starting to diminish. My blenny sleeps in the rock so i dont want to take it out.

I started feeding my tank (for the corals) once every other night to give them more color / growth. Once i started doing that i got a chalky film in the corner of my tank where it seemed to have little flow. I re adjusted my powerhead and there are 0 dead spots now, but i have got this brown slime algae on a couple of my blue star polyps / sand bead and on 1 rock.

I think my issue is i have the 400w halides on there and need to downgrade ASAP, the lights were free from my brother(whos acct im using on here) He told me thats the issue, because the algae is just getting tooooo much light so im in the process of looking for a used 250w dual ballast, but for the meantime what else can i do other then lower the amount of time my lights are on?

They are currently on for 6hrs(one on at 11am-5pm the other on at 2-8pm)

Sorry for the LOOOOONNNGGG STORY^^^^^

Thanks
-Andy

[RVANANO]

400's sound like super overkill for a 75!!! I think 150's would be fine and 250's would be pushing it.

Side thought. Did you add any new dry rock before this happend? I get that everytime I add dryrock for about a week.

[B-Willz]

How old are the bulbs? Also you may not get accurate readings because the algae can hold the nitrates and phosphates giving false readings. Try some cheato to help control the No3 and po4.

[koby325]

i would guess that the brown algae sounds like you tank is cycling. How long have you had the tank set up? and the water changes sound to frequent i only do 5-10% every 10 days or so depending on how my levels are. i know people that only do changes ever month and never have problems.

[mike_cmu04]

I am guessing you are overfeeding between the fish and corals. Also changing the lights will not get rid of the algae it will grow under 250's also.

[lolgranny]

Originally Posted by RVANANO

400's sound like super overkill for a 75!!! I think 150's would be fine and 250's would be pushing it.

Side thought. Did you add any new dry rock before this happend? I get that everytime I add dryrock for about a week.

Haha, ya the 400's HAVE to be it. Thats what my bro has been telling me too. Its weird tho because i would think i would be burning the corals and they look crazy good.

I didnt add any rock at all since day 1.

[lolgranny]

Originally Posted by B-Willz

How old are the bulbs? Also you may not get accurate readings because the algae can hold the nitrates and phosphates giving false readings. Try some cheato to help control the No3 and po4.

Bulbs are about 4months old now.

Im getting cheato ASAP, i was thinking the same thing as for controlling N & P's

[lolgranny]

Originally Posted by koby325

i would guess that the brown algae sounds like you tank is cycling. How long have you had the tank set up? and the water changes sound to frequent i only do 5-10% every 10 days or so depending on how my levels are. i know people that only do changes ever month and never have problems.

Tanks been up over 6months and the rock was cured prior to being put into the tank.

As for the water changes i usually do a 5%-7% water change on my other tank weekly and have 0 issues... so i dont know why i would with this one :/

[lolgranny]

Originally Posted by mike_cmu04

I am guessing you are overfeeding between the fish and corals. Also changing the lights will not get rid of the algae it will grow under 250's also.

I supose its possible, i stopped feeding the coral as of Saturday and the fish are getting a tinnnny amount, ill drop back on that even more.

[RVANANO]

Lots of good advice here. I would have also guessed tank cycle until I read it's been up for 6 months.

[lolgranny]

Originally Posted by RVANANO

Lots of good advice here. I would have also guessed tank cycle until I read it's been up for 6 months.

Haha ya buddy, everyone on here is great. Lots of people who all love the same thing and watch out for other guys. Heck im on here about 15hrs a day just reading things lol. Have to love working for yourself

[RVANANO]

I am used to car forums where everyone is a jerk. It is an entirely different world especially with the local chapters. Never experienced any other hobby where others are so willing to help no matter what that entails.

[bbprinting]

A great way to get rid of the Hair Algae is to buy a Sea Hare and then when he has cleaned your whole tank sell him to someone else, there is always someone with a Hair algae problem.

[PaxRoma]

have you considered getting GFO? Randy has good articles on these product here
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-11/rhf/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php#17