Algae bloom after cycle

[wieselsport]

My tank is 50 some days new and the cycle has come and gone and now I have a really good algae bloom.
My question is, should I just let it do its thing or should I start plucking it out.
I just put a powder Blue in last week and he is getting busy but he's got a ways to go.

[Jstdv8]

1.) if the algae bloom is brown its diatoms and you should let it do its thing. it will die off all by itself.
2.) powder blues should only be kept in large well established tanks.

[Wolverine]

I agree with both points. A tank should be well established before adding any tang, especially a PBT (assuming the tank is large enough for a tang).

If the algae is not just the brown diatom algae, then do a quick search for how to deal with whatever type you have (I don't want to type out all the options for all the different types of potential algaes).

[Sk8r]

You need hermits and snails to handle the algae. The powder blue needs a 6' 125 gallon tank; if you are under that, you should trade this fish back to the store for some hermits, plus, if this fish was not quarantined, it's very dangerous to your tank: these fish are all wild-caught and frequently come in with parasites which will multiply in your tank. please read the 'setup' threads in the stickies at the top of this forum and you will save yourself a lot of woe.

[wieselsport]

The Powder Blue is very healthy and I had checked up on it twice over a couple weeks at the local fish store. It has a very fat belly from eating all the algae. I realize that a 6' tank would be ideal but is any of our aquariums just like the ocean? No. We all do the best we can to keep these organisms alive. I have a 4' 90g tank I think the Powder Blue will be fine. I see people write about getting 5 of a certain species of fish before they get one to live, hmm thats not creul at all. I'm not putting it in a 29 G tank.

So back to the algae. It is green and in abundance. It looks like there is about 3-4 different kinds growing. Some with longer spagetti like appearance, some that looks like a fern, some that is a bit more bushy, some that looks like kelp.

I dont have a CUC but I ordered one last week but has yet to ship.

[Sk8r]

Good luck.

[chathomas]

dude I hear ya. I had a powder blue in a 120 48' and he never had a problem and seemed to love life until hurricane Ivan hit and I lost power and did not have a generator at that point. He had lived for 2 years. now I have a generator. get one turbo and some blue leg hermits.

[Mr. Fish]

Lets not make this thread into another tang discussion.

Originally Posted by wieselsport

So back to the algae. It is green and in abundance. It looks like there is about 3-4 different kinds growing. Some with longer spagetti like appearance, some that looks like a fern, some that is a bit more bushy, some that looks like kelp.

Pictures would really help.

[Jstdv8]

Start with the stickies like Sk8r said.
tang or no tang there are fish that we keep that you don't put in a new tank.
I'm not rushing out to buy myself a moorish idol, PBT, Angel or butterfly either

[Frogmanx82]

Regardless of tank size, the powder blue wasn't a smart choice at this point of getting the tank going. Then again, if its the first fish you have less to worry about if it brings ich in. Since they are so susceptible to ich, you should be looking at a QT tank for anything new you buy. Nothing worse than getting a tough fish like a powder blue successfully acclimated and then he picks up a disease from a damsel.

Trochus snails are the best. I really don't know how other people do with turbos, I can't get one to live 6 months and I have all my trochus over a year.

[curry76]

Originally Posted by wieselsport

I realize that a 6' tank would be ideal but is any of our aquariums just like the ocean? No. We all do the best we can to keep these organisms alive.


I have a 4' 90g tank I think the Powder Blue will be fine. I see people write about getting 5 of a certain species of fish before they get one to live, hmm thats not creul at all.


.

...looks like you have quite a lot of "knowledge" about husbandry and the needs of fishes already, yet your asking advice for a simple problem like algae?

[wieselsport]

I have had a tank in the past. Its been a few years and it was a completly different set up than I have now. So I do and I dont know what I'm doing.
It seems as though everyone is getting a little hostile. The stress of Christmas must be biting at some. I'd like to enjoy this hobby and reef central lets keep it civil.

Back to some algae
I took some shots of the tank with my phone

[Mr. Fish]

Originally Posted by wieselsport

I have had a tank in the past. Its been a few years and it was a completly different set up than I have now. So I do and I dont know what I'm doing.
It seems as though everyone is getting a little hostile. The stress of Christmas must be biting at some. I'd like to enjoy this hobby and reef central lets keep it civil.

Back to some algae
I took some shots of the tank with my phone

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...1222-00016.jpg

Those pictures are pretty small, but it looks like you have green hair algae. Google green hair algae and see if that is what you have.

[Wolverine]

I agree with mr. fish; based on those pics, it looks like hair algae.

Originally Posted by wieselsport

It seems as though everyone is getting a little hostile. The stress of Christmas must be biting at some. I'd like to enjoy this hobby and reef central lets keep it civil.

Honestly, I didn't see any hostility in this thread, unless people are being overly sensitive.

Evaluating and finding a way to deal with any problem in a tank often requires looking at the whole picture, which includes fish added, since of the tank, etc.

As noted above, even leaving aside the issue of tank size for the tang, there is the problem of adding one to a tank so new, that likely won't have established the full complement of macro-algae to keep the fish healthy. On top of that, adding another source of waste to a tank that already has an algae issue is likely to make things worse.

[Wolverine]

Originally Posted by Frogmanx82

I really don't know how other people do with turbos, I can't get one to live 6 months and I have all my trochus over a year.

Turbos often come from colder water, and we often keep our tanks at too high a temp to keep them alive long term. I've keep them for a long time in tanks in the 76-77 degree range. If you get up around 80, they often don't last too long, as you've experienced.

[geaux xman]

looks like you have a nightmare(GHA) on your hands.

good luck fighting that...

[ScarFish]

I had the same issues sometime back with GHA. Bought some turbos and kept the temp around 78 degrees and they not only mowed down the hair algea, but are still thriving. Just my 02 cents.

[GT3]

Just wait for them to disappear, get some CUC too!

[Frogmanx82]

Originally Posted by Wolverine

Turbos often come from colder water, and we often keep our tanks at too high a temp to keep them alive long term. I've keep them for a long time in tanks in the 76-77 degree range. If you get up around 80, they often don't last too long, as you've experienced.

I thought that was just an issue with margarita snails, but it makes sense with the turbos and my tank did have some elevated temperatures over the summer, hitting 84 until I removed a portion of the glass top. I keep my house at 77 in the summer, don't have a chiller, so 80 is the best I can do which is probably not good for the turbos.

On the other hand, I didn't lose any trochus, nassarius or astrea snails over the summer, so they are much more tolerant of higher temps. I suppose people should only recommend turbos to people who can keep the tank temp under 79, but I have never seen that come out in any posts to newbies. I think that results in a lot of dead turbo snails.

[mgoblue]

+1 on that being GHA from what I can see.

If you mention adding a PBT as your first fish in a tank that has only been up for 7 weeks, you are going to get some critical responses. I didn't see them as hostile, personally. The first post that I saw that had a snarky tone was your reply that basically said that you knew what you were doing with regards to the PBT and you weren't going to listen to what anyone said about it.

Obviously, you were feeling picked on about the PBT and you reacted defensively. I do appreciate your request to 'keep it civil' - I think most everyone here does that. So let's call it even and go from there.

Back to your original post, GHA is a nutrient issue. It loves phosphates and nitrates. Do you use RO/DI or tap water? Tap water has a lot of phosphates, RO/DI will eliminate one source of these. Do you have a GFO reactor? These can help remove phosphates. Do you have a fuge? Cheato or other macro algae can be propagated in the fuge and then pruned to remove nutrients from the system.

A CUC will help, but in my experience the longer GHA will need some manual removal, or at least that is a way to get ahead of it. It can be stubborn. One tip I picked up from Sk8r is to use an old toothbrush and wind it up in the bristles. This seemed to work pretty well for me. I also used an extended handle scraper ($12 at Petco) to remove it from the glass and then I netted it up from the water column.

I do wish you the best on your tank. I would really reconsider the PBT if I were you. Not just from a tank size standpoint - yours is borderline, at best, but also from the standpoint that it is a large, semi-aggressive fish that will either bully or intimidate any newcomers.

Anyway, enough said about that. And since you mentioned it earlier......Merry Christmas!

[wieselsport]

I'm using RODI water, I dont have a fuge but I'll be getting that set up today with some chaeto, and culp. My CUC should arrive today as well.

I've seen where almost everyone has a GFO reactor going. Is that all I need to do? Buy a reactor and some Ferric Oxide?

So it looks like a I need to:

get a CUC- physical debridement, no nutrient export

manual removal- physical debridement, nutrient export(nitrates and phosphates)

refugium- nutrient export when macro algae is trimmed

GFO reactor- phosphate export

water changes- Phosphate and nitrate export

I think this should get me started. How much and how frequents should I change the water?

The only thing that seems a bit puzzling to me is where did all the nutrients come from in the first place. I havent had any fish in the system until lately.
I suppose all the die off from the live rock?

[mgoblue]

I prefer 10% w/c each week. Some do larger changes less frequently.

GFO reactor was very easy to set up. You just want to run the output to a waste receptacle until the water is running clear and set the valve so that just the top layer of media is 'bubbling'. It looks similar to the way the top of water looks when it first starts to boil. Change your media out every six weeks.

On the macro in the fuge, I would recommend chaeto only and not do caulerpa because it can spread to your DT if it breaks off. Chaeto doesn't 'root' like caulerpa does, so it won't invade your DT. Caulerpa can also go sexual and then all die at once which can crash your tank (you can run the lights 24/7 which is supposed to prevent that). Do your research on the macros before adding them to your system.

[wieselsport]

I did some looking and it looks like I have hair algae(derbasia) and bryopsis.

I added about 50 snails/hermits today and got chaeto in the fuge, ill keep the light on 24/7

i did a 10 g w/c

Of course I had my hand in there pulling away.