Algae Problem

[pjscales]

I just recently got back into the hobby! I have a 70 gallon acrylic hex tank with about 50lb of live rock so far. I am running a sump filter and have a 250w metal halide. I have a major green algae problem. I know I am running a lot of light on it because I hope to start with corals soon. Any reccommendations to help with the algae problem would be greatly appreciated and Happy Holidays!!

[wallacefan]

how long are the lights on?

[pjscales]

I did have them on about 8hrs a day now put it down to 6 which has helped a little I have to clean it every third day instead of every other day!

[wallacefan]

what algea cleaners ex snails? do you have?

[pjscales]

So far I only have a few turbo snails. I have been planning on more but have not yet any reccomendations would be great!

[wallacefan]

this is what was recomended for me

10 Nassarius, 18+ Cerith, 12 Astrae, 6 Scarlet Hermits

[Esquare]

Phosphates?

[pjscales]

Not sure what the phosphates are at do not have a way to test? What should they be? Does that have a big effect on algae? I cleaned it last night and this morning with no lights on over night it is coming back all over! Getting very frustrated!!

[Cove Beach]

Do you have any fish in the system? If so what are you feeding? Phosphates can be an issue at start up of a system. I don't know your location but a trip to Salty Critter or Aquatic Tech with a water sample to test for phosphates would be a really good place to start. If they are high a TLF reactor might be the way to go. Another thing is are you using RODI water or tap? Tap water can supply algae with a ton of fuel to grow.

[Esquare]

Phosphates should be 0

[CleveYank]

As cove mentioned.
RO/DI water.
If non SPS tank phosphates should be -0- (sps believe it or not need a minor or slight trace of phosphate) although you cannot effectively test to that level (no test kits even Hanna will get you to a true -0- reading)
If your tank has been a tapwater fed, and possibly overfed flake food, sometimes neglected (life happens and water changes and media changing get skipped) setup, then your liverock may be storing locked in ortho phosphates. In which a liverock cookinig or bleaching and starting from scratch may end up being the ONLY way to get things back to square one.
Clean up crews and such if they are intentionally put to overkill numbers for the setup and high end medias like purigen can counter the locked in phosphates.
Time will tell where you need to go. Sometimes these things end up being expensive bandaids or tail chasing in the long run.

Low Flow, high bioloads and stray sunlight hitting a tank can just add more to the other possible causes.

If total system husbandry and feeding practices are at fault then a total re-think of how you care for your tank may be in order as a starting point.

Good Luck with your algae issue.

[puffster]

+1 on the phosphates "0". Water changes and a phosban reactor should stabilize the problem in a few weeks and keep it stable for the future. It did not grow overnight so be patient, bad things always happen quickly and the good take time. Good luck.

[pjscales]

Thank you to eveyone that has offered advice!!! I will start trying a few different things! I was originally using tap water but have slowly doing water changes now with RO so we will have to see how it goes with that! I have a tang and couple clowns in there but only feeding frozen food and not used any kind flake food and not overfeeding as far as I know. I will see what happens with the water changes for a little while and then try some additional things and see where it goes! If anyone else has advice please keep it coming! Thanks again for all the advice I will keep you up to date with progress!

[Esquare]

Tap water seems to be the culprit in alot of what I've read on RC regarding algae. What is the TDS on your tap water?

[Orin]

With the size of your tank I say buy one of those giant sea slugs from salty critter. It's amazing how much algae they eat (supposedly they can't be kept long because no tanks have enough algae). Turbos and hermits are useful but you'd want maybe a 100 of both for that size tank and they still might not as much as one of the slugs. If you have the correct lighting a couple tridacna clams will remove a lot of nutrients from the water.

[chuggy]

tap water big no no . show us a pic of the tank so we can see how bad it is.

[Jeepsrkool]

I used an ro/di that wasn't working properly (bad filters) and that was my culprit. Bought a tds meter and found out I was at 147. New filters now at 0 . No more algae problems.

[Cove Beach]

Another thing to do is if you aren't rinsing the frozen food in RO before you add it to the tank that can also fuel algae.

[pjscales]

I will update as to the results thanks again for all the advice!