Every 3 days: is this normal?

[ThisCityIsDead]

Every three days my aquarium becomes covered in algea. I cleaned it yesterday. It was crystal clear. But today, 30hrs later, I can already see the algea build up. Is this normal...:/

Tank is 4mo old.
[IMG]http://i59.*******.com/mjpl6a.jpg[/IMG]

Parameters:

Ammonia: .0
Nitrates:0
Nitrites:0
Ph.7.8
Calcium:520
Phosphates:0

[gone fishin]

I clean my glass about every 2-3 days.

[ThisCityIsDead]

Originally Posted by gone fishin

I clean my glass about every 2-3 days.

Really? My freshwater tank that's outside doesn't even need that much cleaning. I thought it was part of the cycle

[moneymm]

What is your lighting schedule? And setup

[PotteryMan]

Originally Posted by moneymm

What is your lighting schedule? And setup

and nitrate and phosphate levels?

Looks like hair algae right below the clown. Are you running GFO? I had hair algae apocalypse. You can see pics in this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2465424

GFO, manual removal, patience and it is all gone.

[m0nkie]

Imo Depends on lighting and nutrients. Now i clean mine every week. But at my worst stage, i clean the glass, 20min later, another light green layer

[One fish]

Exactly! I don't know what to do either.. Scrub glass at 3:00pm, make a sandwich walk by again at 3:05 and its even worse than before! I hate it.

[ThisCityIsDead]

Originally Posted by PotteryMan

and nitrate and phosphate levels?

Looks like hair algae right below the clown. Are you running GFO? I had hair algae apocalypse. You can see pics in this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2465424

GFO, manual removal, patience and it is all gone.

Under the clown is a toadstool and it has its polyps fully extended.

Lighting schedule:

First 2 lights go on from 8am-6pm
Other 4 lights go on from 9am-5pm
Moonlights 6-10pm

Nitrates/nitrites/phosphates, as mentioned above... Are 0.

Fixtures:

One 4 HO lights fixture
One 2 HO light fixture. Both coralife and 54W.

Lights:
1 actinic (coralife)
1 regular white (coralife)
1 ATI purple plus
1 ATI blue plus
2 ATI coral plus

[rfgonzo]

If you have that amount of glass cover in 3 days, your readings of NO3 and PO4 at 0 are not correct.

[evan38109]

It's all competition, one way or another. The algae is the first thing to use the nutrients. Either export those nutrients before the algae can get to them, or make conditions less favorable to algae (e.g., lighting intensity or spectra, etc.).

A good manual algae removal, both glass and rocks, can help reduce its running start.

Good luck!

[ThisCityIsDead]

Oh, other equipment:

Red octopus skimmer
Coralife UV filter

Forgot one important detail. When I first started the tank setup, I used tap water. Then for the first 2 months I used filter drinking water for water changes. It wasn't until these past two months that I've used RO water. (RO not RODI since my system is only a RO I have not yet purchased the DI cartridge)

[Myka]

Originally Posted by rfgonzo

If you have that amount of glass cover in 3 days, your readings of NO3 and PO4 at 0 are not correct.

Algae growth pulls the NO3 and PO4 out of the water column so test kits will read lower than "true" readings when there is significant algae growth.

Feed less, clean better.

[1MP3R1AL]

How old are your bulbs?

[PotteryMan]

I set my tank up with all the old sand and rocks from a tank that used tap water for water changes for at least 15 years. I was saturated with phosphates. I set tank back up in August with RODI and got slammed with algae. GFO got rid of it. You probably have some phosphates luckily not bad. Tank looks pretty good from what I can tell. I would add DI as soon as you can, run GFO when you can, and it will clear up quickly.

I clean my glass MAYBE once a week now.

[ThisCityIsDead]

PO3 is actually .25 my apologies... Read the wrong readings. NO is 0 though.

Bulbs are new. 2 months each. The whole system is only 4 months old but I replaced the Coralife bulbs with ATI and purchased that second 2 light fixture 2 months in.

[ThisCityIsDead]

I have a lot of diatoms... I purchaed a diamond goby and it was doing a great job. Every time I came home from work it had half the sand bed cleaned, but it went missing 4 days after I brought him home. I'm thinking it jumped out.

[1MP3R1AL]

I would try this. Turn off your lights for a day. Go to your LFS, pick up a few turbo snails. 50% water change. If things do not improve consider adding GFO and or GAC in bags in a high flow area.

[toothybugs]

^^ That. You have excess nutrients coming in somewhere. Turn your lights off every third day for a couple weeks and cut your feeding amount back. Between a few snails (I prefer turbos), a water change, and this schedule you should be able to rein things back pretty easily.

[m0nkie]

Originally Posted by One fish

Exactly! I don't know what to do either.. Scrub glass at 3:00pm, make a sandwich walk by again at 3:05 and its even worse than before! I hate it.

reduce lighting period, change old bulbs, feed less, gfo, and water change..

i also carbon dose (vinegar) to reduce nitrate.

controlled this madness. now it gets a thin layer every week. the snails make a good dent. it's not dark enough to block the view

[FraggledRock]

get more cleanup crew?

are you using RO-DI water?

[JerseyGuy]

Just start running a GFO/carbon reactor and problem solved.

[zoafarm]

As mentioned above, your nutrients for algae is there...regardless of what the test says. The tap water / RO water is not helping you. Every time you add new water, you are increasing those nutrients and the algae thrives. This problem will probably continue to increase and lead to other issues without action.

1. Get the DI unit and start using RO/DI water.
2. Run some GFO/carbon to help clean some of the nutrients out of the water.

Once you do this, the algae should start going away. I clean minor algae off my glass maybe every week to week and a half...and it is only a very very light film.

As for your lighting/lighting schedule, I don't see a problem.

[coralsnaked]

Hey it's a 4 month old tank. Really ? Its gonna have algae on glass. Consider it a victory of sorts. Your tank is now mature enough tio support plankton. Yeah!!!!

Keep up with your tank maintenance and yes please use RODI to remove silicates a good food source for algae

[Timfish]

Originally Posted by coralsnaked

Hey it's a 4 month old tank. Really ? Its gonna have algae on glass. Consider it a victory of sorts. Your tank is now mature enough tio support plankton. Yeah!!!!

Keep up with your tank maintenance and yes please use RODI to remove silicates a good food source for algae

+1, your system is probly only about halfway through the maturation process. You are also not removing the algae when you wipe it off if you are using an algae magnet, you are just suspending it in the water and a lot of it will be resettling pretty quickly and keep growing. Personally I would not change anything except increasing size/frequency of water changes. I would not reduce your lighting any. Your corals are competing with the algae (They need NH3, N03 and P04 for their symbionts too) and reducing the lighting reduces their ability to grow and compete for nutrients.