Please HELP

Aqua12212011 · 03/23/2012, 08:55 PM

[IMG]

[/IMG]
We've had our tank for about 2 months and we have bright green algae growing on our live rock.(It's taking over our bright purple and hot pink coralline) I tried to scrape it off with my fingernail and it's hard like coralline. But im still not sure if it is or not. We also had a recent outbreak of a brownish red. we've done 3 30% water changes and a 50 and its still there. Any suggestions?

The Grizz · 03/23/2012, 09:09 PM

Do you have any coral in the tank? Sounds & looks to me that your nitrates & phosphate is to high. Reduce your feeding, check your nitrates & phosphates if high get some GFO or RowPhos running & you could try a 3 day total blackout if you don't have coral.

Lynxone · 03/23/2012, 09:42 PM

Algae outbreaks are part of the process for a new tank. I had brown, dark green, light green, green hair algae etc etc. Gfo will help, as will not running your lights for a few days or shortening the light cycle. Getting your water parameters right and stable is the big thing. Read the stickys on this forum, there's a ton of great info there that will help.

By the way, green was my favorite color algae lol

Lynxone · 03/23/2012, 09:43 PM

Whoops, double post

Playa-1 · 03/23/2012, 09:45 PM

To Reef Central

Algae outbreaks are not uncommon in new tanks. They are associated with the excess nutrients in the water which is very common in new systems. Things you want to do to help control it are to do regular water changes and use RO/DI water. Many people like to use GFO in a media reactor which will help to filter out Phosphates from the water which is a fuel for nuisance algae. Refugiums with microalgae help to export excess nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates, Denitrators, as well as RDSB filters. Protein skimmers help to filter some of the waste from the tank before is has time to pollute the water. You will also want to make sure you are not overfeeding (#1 rookie mistake) and over lighting the tank. Since we don't really know anything about your tank specifically then it's kinda hard to give you more specific advice. Most people are running a combinations of many of these methods to keep their water quality in line.

Aqua12212011 · 03/24/2012, 09:08 AM

I was really hoping it was green coralline, It's my favorite color as well

No we don't have any coral in the tank. Would a 3 day blackout mess with my clowns and the purple coralline on my Lr? I know that my boyfriend tested the water and said the nitrates & phosphate levels were high, thats why I did the 50% change but I haven't had the chance to test it again. (I have a 3 month old son, so I try not to touch the chemicals when i'm home alone) But ill do that as soon as he gets home from work.
Would the Rowaphos Phosphate Remover be safe for our banded coral shrimp? I haven't really looked into it yet.

We didn't have this problem until a friend gave us about 20lb of live rock from his tank that he was getting rid of because the filter broke, we scrubbed it before we added it to our tank, but I guess we should have boiled it too.

29g Biocube, live sand, live rock, 1 ocellaris clownfish, 1 Caramel Ocellaris Clownfish, 1 banded coral shrimp, 1 emerald crab, 12 (mix of) blue and red leg hermits, 1 mexican turbo snail, 2 zebra snails, and 2 random snails that were given to us.

03/23/2012, 08:55 PM	#1
Aqua12212011 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Daytona Beach, Florida Posts: 2	Please HELP [IMG][/IMG] We've had our tank for about 2 months and we have bright green algae growing on our live rock.(It's taking over our bright purple and hot pink coralline) I tried to scrape it off with my fingernail and it's hard like coralline. But im still not sure if it is or not. We also had a recent outbreak of a brownish red. we've done 3 30% water changes and a 50 and its still there. Any suggestions? Last edited by Aqua12212011; 03/23/2012 at 09:02 PM.

03/23/2012, 09:09 PM	#2
The Grizz Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Red Deer, Alberta, Canada Posts: 58	Do you have any coral in the tank? Sounds & looks to me that your nitrates & phosphate is to high. Reduce your feeding, check your nitrates & phosphates if high get some GFO or RowPhos running & you could try a 3 day total blackout if you don't have coral.

03/23/2012, 09:42 PM	#3
Lynxone Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 251	Algae outbreaks are part of the process for a new tank. I had brown, dark green, light green, green hair algae etc etc. Gfo will help, as will not running your lights for a few days or shortening the light cycle. Getting your water parameters right and stable is the big thing. Read the stickys on this forum, there's a ton of great info there that will help. By the way, green was my favorite color algae lol

03/23/2012, 09:43 PM	#4
Lynxone Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 251	Whoops, double post

03/23/2012, 09:45 PM	#5
Playa-1 Moved On Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Laguna Niguel, CA Posts: 7,497	To Reef Central Algae outbreaks are not uncommon in new tanks. They are associated with the excess nutrients in the water which is very common in new systems. Things you want to do to help control it are to do regular water changes and use RO/DI water. Many people like to use GFO in a media reactor which will help to filter out Phosphates from the water which is a fuel for nuisance algae. Refugiums with microalgae help to export excess nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates, Denitrators, as well as RDSB filters. Protein skimmers help to filter some of the waste from the tank before is has time to pollute the water. You will also want to make sure you are not overfeeding (#1 rookie mistake) and over lighting the tank. Since we don't really know anything about your tank specifically then it's kinda hard to give you more specific advice. Most people are running a combinations of many of these methods to keep their water quality in line.

03/24/2012, 09:08 AM	#6
Aqua12212011 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Daytona Beach, Florida Posts: 2	I was really hoping it was green coralline, It's my favorite color as well No we don't have any coral in the tank. Would a 3 day blackout mess with my clowns and the purple coralline on my Lr? I know that my boyfriend tested the water and said the nitrates & phosphate levels were high, thats why I did the 50% change but I haven't had the chance to test it again. (I have a 3 month old son, so I try not to touch the chemicals when i'm home alone) But ill do that as soon as he gets home from work. Would the Rowaphos Phosphate Remover be safe for our banded coral shrimp? I haven't really looked into it yet. We didn't have this problem until a friend gave us about 20lb of live rock from his tank that he was getting rid of because the filter broke, we scrubbed it before we added it to our tank, but I guess we should have boiled it too. 29g Biocube, live sand, live rock, 1 ocellaris clownfish, 1 Caramel Ocellaris Clownfish, 1 banded coral shrimp, 1 emerald crab, 12 (mix of) blue and red leg hermits, 1 mexican turbo snail, 2 zebra snails, and 2 random snails that were given to us.