Battling algae...need help!

[tony53176]

Hey guys,

its been a little while since I've posted on here. My tank has been up for about 2 months now and I am now battling hair algae, green slime algae and cyano. The cyano isn't too bad right now as I've been taking out what I can with a turkey baster.

my water seems to be fine ammonia is 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 0, phosphates around 0.012. My skimmer is pulling out good stuff and everyone seems happy. I'm not sure where my problems are coming from.

I didn't know if its possible that my bulbs may be too weak or what, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated thanks.

[tommy tomato]

your tank is still very young. youre probably still getting nutrients from your live rock and sand. your nitrates and phosphates are 0 because the algae is using it up. change as much water as you can... at least 20% weekly. be sure not over feed your fish... and vacuum as much of the algae out as you can.. there is a cool contraption on ebay called alga-vac look into that. give it time as your tank matures the algae will go away.

go dolphins!

[sir_dudeguy]

I wouldn't be too concerned... Pretty normal for where your tank is age-wise. It will eventually get over that phase..

One thing though... Try doing some water tests at night.... Like 4 hours or so after lights go out. I've heard where cyano/red/green slime actually gets slightly better during the night, and once lights come back on they get worse throughout the day... My thinking is they may release some of those nutrients at night and then absorb it back up during the day...

So if you test late at night, you may actually get some nitrates and phosphates. And if that's the case, i'd think that would be the best times for water changes.... Just a thought! Correct me if I'm wrong people!!!

[brandon429]

go to the nanos forum look on page 2 for a thread called Pico reef pest algae challenge

It w fix ya

it's true a lot of youralgae is caused by having a new tank but you still don't have to settle for that

[Sk8r]

YOu're using ro/di?n
Probably phosphate leaching from rock. This goes on for a while. A gfo reactor can help you. Keep your tank away from sunlight coming from windows, and don't panic. Most tanks go through a grunge phase. Test for alkalinity. Never mind the phosphate test, too often: if you have algae, you have phosphate. I have good water parameters listed in my sig line, for convenience.

[tony53176]

I apologize I should have mentioned that I have chaeto in the display behind a big rock, could this be causing a problem?

for cuc I have only about 15 maybe 20 dwarf cerith snails, 6 nerite snails, 3 florida cerith snails and about a dozen or so crabs

for other livestock I have 2 ocelarris clown fish TB, a flame hawk fish, a purple dotty back and a coral banded shrimp.

just thought I'd add that information in case it helps.

[tony53176]

Originally Posted by Sk8r

YOu're using ro/di?n
Probably phosphate leaching from rock. This goes on for a while. A gfo reactor can help you. Keep your tank away from sunlight coming from windows, and don't panic. Most tanks go through a grunge phase. Test for alkalinity. Never mind the phosphate test, too often: if you have algae, you have phosphate. I have good water parameters listed in my sig line, for convenience.

I am using ro/di, and you're probably right about the rock leaching phosphates I really didn't give that a thought. A gfo reactor is on my list of things to get but I am running (for now) seachems phosguard in my canister filter along with chemipure elite. I do test for alkalinity the last test I did was this past Friday and it was 11dkh.

I had a feeling that it would be because of the age of the tank but wanted to check with you guys before I did something drastic. Thanks guys for all your help and if you have anything else to add, please do.