Serious Algae Problem

rpritch · 12/01/2012, 08:14 PM

Hello,

My tank has been set up for about three weeks. It's at my house, but I'm at college. I came home to a great deal of algae. Some is purple and stringy. The rest is a dark greenish-brown. It looks like hair algae, but dark.

It's only on my live rock.

What could this mean? What animals will eat it?

I'm using purigen and chemo-pure...so my phosphates shouldn't be too bad...

SushiGirl · 12/01/2012, 08:24 PM

Cyano & hair algae, very common in new tanks. You'll go through a few algae phases in the first year. Keep water parameters stable and wait them out.

rpritch · 12/01/2012, 08:26 PM

Should I do any manual removal of the algae...take a toothbrush to the live rock?

Are there inverts that will eat it?

SushiGirl · 12/01/2012, 09:25 PM

You can manually pull out what you can. Some snails & crabs will either eat it or at least mix up the sand surface for you. I prefer to try to pull out as much cyano as possible, it usually pulls up in sheets.

hossa81 · 12/02/2012, 12:09 AM

Turbo snails are great algae eaters. I got a cuc that had turbo bumblebee cerith and tons of astrea snails in it and in a weeks time in my 20 gallon. Now hopefully they eat all the poo! Taking out the rox and scrubbing them down works pretty well to if u have the time.

Denbf58 · 12/02/2012, 06:42 AM

first try the turkey baster see if it blows off if it does then it more then likely cayno if it does not come off that way manual removal is best remove rock from tank scrub in bucket of salt water so it does not spread in tank

SushiGirl · 12/02/2012, 09:56 AM

Snails don't eat poo. They do make a lot of it, though!

kbacon · 12/02/2012, 10:32 AM

Where are you getting your water

rpritch · 12/07/2012, 05:46 PM

I was using the bottled Sea-Pure, but I was having a pH problem (I couldn't keep it above 8.0. I've switched to mixing the Red Sea Coral Pro Salt with the RO water at my LFS.

Driver13 · 12/07/2012, 05:49 PM

New tank syndrome, keep up the water changes, keep Phosphate levels down, and it will settle out.

12/01/2012, 08:14 PM	#1
rpritch Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 130	Serious Algae Problem Hello, My tank has been set up for about three weeks. It's at my house, but I'm at college. I came home to a great deal of algae. Some is purple and stringy. The rest is a dark greenish-brown. It looks like hair algae, but dark. It's only on my live rock. What could this mean? What animals will eat it? I'm using purigen and chemo-pure...so my phosphates shouldn't be too bad...

12/01/2012, 08:24 PM	#2
SushiGirl Premium Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Fort Worth, TX USA Posts: 8,267	Cyano & hair algae, very common in new tanks. You'll go through a few algae phases in the first year. Keep water parameters stable and wait them out. __________________ Visit my Homepage or "My Albums" (via Profile) for hitchhiker pics. Current Tank Info: 55g softy/LPS tank & 20L reef tank

12/01/2012, 09:25 PM	#4
SushiGirl Premium Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Fort Worth, TX USA Posts: 8,267	You can manually pull out what you can. Some snails & crabs will either eat it or at least mix up the sand surface for you. I prefer to try to pull out as much cyano as possible, it usually pulls up in sheets. __________________ Visit my Homepage or "My Albums" (via Profile) for hitchhiker pics. Current Tank Info: 55g softy/LPS tank & 20L reef tank

12/02/2012, 12:09 AM	#5
hossa81 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Geneva,IL Posts: 900	Turbo snails are great algae eaters. I got a cuc that had turbo bumblebee cerith and tons of astrea snails in it and in a weeks time in my 20 gallon. Now hopefully they eat all the poo! Taking out the rox and scrubbing them down works pretty well to if u have the time. __________________ Enjoy life, there's plenty of time to be dead. Current Tank Info: 180 FOWLR, 29 BioCube

12/02/2012, 06:42 AM	#6
Denbf58 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: selden N.Y. Posts: 885	first try the turkey baster see if it blows off if it does then it more then likely cayno if it does not come off that way manual removal is best remove rock from tank scrub in bucket of salt water so it does not spread in tank __________________ Life is good Current Tank Info: 75gal reef ready koralia 3, 30g sump, 4b 48" t5s lighting, 29g reef with breeding pair clowns 55g reef 55g freshwater

12/01/2012, 08:26 PM	#3
rpritch Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 130	Should I do any manual removal of the algae...take a toothbrush to the live rock? Are there inverts that will eat it?

12/02/2012, 09:56 AM	#7
SushiGirl Premium Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Fort Worth, TX USA Posts: 8,267	Snails don't eat poo. They do make a lot of it, though! __________________ Visit my Homepage or "My Albums" (via Profile) for hitchhiker pics. Current Tank Info: 55g softy/LPS tank & 20L reef tank

12/02/2012, 10:32 AM	#8
kbacon Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 36	Where are you getting your water

12/07/2012, 05:46 PM	#9
rpritch Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 130	I was using the bottled Sea-Pure, but I was having a pH problem (I couldn't keep it above 8.0. I've switched to mixing the Red Sea Coral Pro Salt with the RO water at my LFS.

12/07/2012, 05:49 PM	#10
Driver13 Moved On Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 53	New tank syndrome, keep up the water changes, keep Phosphate levels down, and it will settle out.