Algea Problem

[ARLO]

Hey Everyone
I've been fighting Red Slime and Hair Algae for two weeks now the tank is a fairly new setup (5 weeks). Here are the specs. 40 breeder with 20 gal sump about 45 lbs of live/dry rock, the dry rock I got from a fellow reefer that had in a rubber maid vat with a heater and pump for about 6 weeks. The tank has cycled through, here are the water parameters...

SG - 1.025
pH - 8.2
Temp. - 77-78
Cal. - 380 (a little low)
kH - 9
Phosphate - 0

I'm running API T-5 lights all bulbs are around 6-8 months old and I have cut back the lighting from 12 hours to 8, I have been doing water changes of about 30% weekly. I am not using any GFO/Carbon yet but do have a bag of Phosban in the sump along with some cheato. I have added a few doses of API Algaefix but that doesn't seem to be making much of a difference. Here are a few pics of the display sorry for the crappy pics but I took them from my phone. Is there anything else I am missing to fix this it's really ****ing me off.





Thanks

[cfredallen]

First Cyno and Hair algae usually indicate high Phosphate and Nitrate even if not reading on a test kit. Cyno especially tends to lock all of the available nitrate and phosphate up quickly.

Secondly I would replace the lights. I know MFG says 12 months or longer on lights but fluorescent bulbs start to drift in color spectrum way before they stop putting out enough light. The shift in color spectrum often is perfect for the growth of cyno and Hair algae. I replace my fluorescent lights every 6 months.

[sponger0]

Algae problem = Nitrates/Phosphates.

Also changing the lights is a good idea. Having a bad spectrum of light coming of your bulbs cant cause issues with algae.

[matilian]

went through the same thing. Setup my tank around October and did everything as close to the "right way" as possible as far as cycling and starting slow. Never had cyano but had a ton of hair algae for the first few months. Like you it drove me nuts because the tank never had detectable nitrates or phosphates but they are there. I had to beat it into my head that even though my test show "undetectable" they must be present because algae physically can't grow without both of them. I think the 30% WC might be a little over kill since most of the phos and nitrate is probably locked up in the cyano and algae as it becomes available. I was doing 20% wc weekly for months and algae wasn't going anywhere. What worked for me and not sure which component should get more credit but added a GFO reactor and fuge with chaeto. Also took out all rocks and scrubbed them in the sink while full of tank water. This was about 3 months ago and the hair algae is gone and only thing that came back but sparingly is a typo of macro algae that kinda resembles a fern leaf.

[Faye]

Alright.

You said in your original post you are using a combination of live rock and dead rock? Is this dead rock, rock that someone killed with bleach? Or was it from a place like marco rocks? Either way, that dead rock probably has a lot of trapped phosphate in it. Every time someone mentions they have a huge amount of cyano I always assume they started their tank up with dead rock. The only time I personally have ever had cyanobacteria is when I start a tank up with dead rock.

What you need to do is keep doing your water changes with RODI. Run carbon and GFO. Manually remove the cyano and just wait for it to stop reproducing. Make sure you're getting good flow in front of, to the right and left of, and behind the rock work. Make sure flow can pass through the center of your rocks.

The rock will continue leaching phosphate into the water until there is nothing left for it to leach. That's going to take as long as it takes. It could take months, if not years. I've heard of peoples personal rocks leaching phosphate for up to four years.

Your tank is five weeks old. Anticipate algae blooms for the next 4 months.

[brandon429]

I call that string diatoms- if so, the remedy is nothing in tank age or nutrients. Read threads on string diatoms for comparative pics to see if you agree.

[thomasp123]

Try dosing with a product called Microbacter 7. I have been battling red slime for a long time. I could slow it down by underfeeding but then my fish and corals would look bad because they were starving. If I feed enough to keep things happy slime would grow fast. Two weeks of Microbacter 7 and things cleared up nicely. Let me know how it goes for you.


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[ARLO]

Originally Posted by Faye

Alright.

You said in your original post you are using a combination of live rock and dead rock? Is this dead rock, rock that someone killed with bleach? Or was it from a place like marco rocks? Either way, that dead rock probably has a lot of trapped phosphate in it. Every time someone mentions they have a huge amount of cyano I always assume they started their tank up with dead rock. The only time I personally have ever had cyanobacteria is when I start a tank up with dead rock.

What you need to do is keep doing your water changes with RODI. Run carbon and GFO. Manually remove the cyano and just wait for it to stop reproducing. Make sure you're getting good flow in front of, to the right and left of, and behind the rock work. Make sure flow can pass through the center of your rocks.

The rock will continue leaching phosphate into the water until there is nothing left for it to leach. That's going to take as long as it takes. It could take months, if not years. I've heard of peoples personal rocks leaching phosphate for up to four years.

Your tank is five weeks old. Anticipate algae blooms for the next 4 months.

It has Marco Rock getting the GFO/Carbon reactor today.