Algae bloom...how long is too long?

Augy · 03/27/2006, 07:02 PM

My tank was brought up and started cycling in early January so it's not quite to 3 months. An algae bloom started about 2 weeks ago with some red slime and a lot of brown/green algae on the rocks. I dosed some product to kill the red slime (per a LFS suggestion) and that seemed to work pretty well against the red slime. However, the brownish algae is now all over the live rock and I have a light green algae on the glass.

I've suctioned off what I can twice in the past week doing maybe 10-15% water changes each time. The green algae on the glass I just scrape off with a mag-float and it comes back the next day (it's like a haze on the glass). The skimmer is getting a lot of foam...so much that the lid gets dislodged from the collection cup each day.

This seems like a long time for the bloom to last. I know I need to test for phosphates (haven't purchased a test kit yet) but assuming they are high, what can be done to lower them?

Anyway, how long do typical algae blooms last during the maturing of a tank? The smell is really aggravating the wife

90 gallon display, 29 gal sump
Berlin Classic skimmer
2 Rio power heads
Tropic Marin salt mix (started with Coralife)
300 Watt MH + 196 Watts PC actinic
MH are on about 8 hrs and PC's about 10 hrs.

Ammonia and Nitrites test 0. Nitrate is about 10 ppm. pH is 8.2 and temp is about 79-81 degrees. Can't think of anything else that might affect it. Oh, I use RO water (cartridges are 3 months old) but no DI. I don't have a TDS meter yet...

1 Yellow Tang and 1 Royal Gramma. Probably 2 dozen snails (turbos, nassaris, cerith) and a dozen hermits. 1 cleaner shrimp and 2 peppermint shrimp.

Can't think of anything else off the top of my head.

What's the longest everyone else has experienced a bloom like this? Any suggestions welcome. Thanks.

Sk8r · 03/27/2006, 08:33 PM

I'd say don't dose anything now if you can possibly help it. A better answer to a water-choking bloom is a diatom filter, IMHO, and others may say no to that...but you've got a situation sliding toward disaster, and right now the skimmer is, again IMHO, keeping your fish and inverts alive. Stop feeding the fish and inverts until the algae is at acceptable levels. This is not cruel: food at this point can kill them all, and b: they're supposed to eat algae---make them work for a living. The way in which they process things will be more gradual, more natural, and do less violence to the chemistry. Shorten your light period or turn the lights off totally, except for ambient light in the room, run whatever filtration you can get and keep up those partial water changes until the tank clears up. This is what I would do. I hope you'll get more creative answers, but this as I see it is what's going on: there's way too much nutrient in the tank. Your phosphates are probably through the roof...I've never used Phosban, but it might be indicated here. Someone please comment... Number two: way too much light for a tank beset by algae. Cut it off and the algae may die, but as it dies, it will start dumping its bio./mineral-mass into the water. The fish will eat it, and the skimmer will cycle the fish poop, which will get that part out. Your water changes will help the situation: this is going to be expensive in salt water, but you need nitrate/nitrite to be 0/0 if possible. Keep all parameters steady as you can and test every day before every water change. The skimmer, as I say, is your lifeline. Keep emptying it and keep an eye on it. Comments by experts welcome here. I'm not. I've just survived a lot of my own mistakes in my hobby career. I think your tank will make it, given you take measures now, as you're doing.

phishcrazee · 03/27/2006, 09:45 PM

I'm certainly no expert, my tank has been up 5 months and it is just now "turning the corner" as far as algae. First 2 months nothing.... then for the last 3 I've had it. People have been telling me algae problems are very common for a tank under a year old. Here's what I've done:

-reduced nitrates to zero, mind you, this took like a month and a half! Weekly 20% water changes with rodi water.

-reduced lighting down to two 3 hour periods and changed the bulbs

-use phosban and a nitrate reducer (just in a nylon, nothing fancy!)

-upped my cleaner crew

-was very careful about how I fed my fish so that nothing would become more waste/ie phosphates

-got a ton more chaeto for my fuge (thanks Lee Weber!)

-tested weekly for everything and twice a week for nitrates and phosphates

-took out some LR that I suspected was not fully cured, and re-cured it

-I also take this paintbrush I have and "fan" off the detritus from the rocks and the surface of the sand.

-Oh yeah, I increased the flow with rotating powerheads and added a powerhead (cyano only grows in low flow areas)

Hope this helps!

Augy · 03/28/2006, 08:19 PM

Thanks for the replies. I've shortened my photo period to 4-5 hrs and have ordered a cleaner crew to bolster my current stock. I should get them tomorrow and they include lots of snails and hermits. Hopefully, they can make a dent in the algae and with the addition of some macro algae in the sump and the shortened light period things will come back in line. I want to give this a go for a week or so before I try any dosing of chemicals. I'd rather keep it simple and wait it out if no real harm is coming to the inhabitants and it's part of the natural maturation of the tank.

dastratt · 03/28/2006, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Augy
My tank was brought up and started cycling in early January so it's not quite to 3 months. An algae bloom started about 2 weeks ago with some red slime and a lot of brown/green algae on the rocks.

What's the longest everyone else has experienced a bloom like this? Any suggestions welcome. Thanks.

All my tanks went through this in this time frame. Earlier than 6 mo I would not dose chemicals etc. also Alk level I've found can drop. Coraline should be starting up, usually the purple takes over but this has taken awhile in my latest tank. I partially blame the Alk I think went a bit low < 2 Meq/l and now I'm trying to keep it near 4Meq/L with Ca 450 being more diligently dosing 2 part solution.

I have the same number of clean up or maybe more in my 54 g than you said you had so I agree good idea to get more.
No worries

Augy · 03/30/2006, 10:16 AM

I increased my cleanup crew significantly and they arrived yesterday. After a 1.5 - 2 hr acclimation, they were in the tank by noon. When I got home around 5 pm, they had made some serious headway on the algae. One rock, about the size of a softball, was nearly free of the algae thanks to about 10 or 15 hungry red-legged hermits!

Things are looking up

03/27/2006, 07:02 PM	#1
Augy Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Iowa Posts: 130	Algae bloom...how long is too long? My tank was brought up and started cycling in early January so it's not quite to 3 months. An algae bloom started about 2 weeks ago with some red slime and a lot of brown/green algae on the rocks. I dosed some product to kill the red slime (per a LFS suggestion) and that seemed to work pretty well against the red slime. However, the brownish algae is now all over the live rock and I have a light green algae on the glass. I've suctioned off what I can twice in the past week doing maybe 10-15% water changes each time. The green algae on the glass I just scrape off with a mag-float and it comes back the next day (it's like a haze on the glass). The skimmer is getting a lot of foam...so much that the lid gets dislodged from the collection cup each day. This seems like a long time for the bloom to last. I know I need to test for phosphates (haven't purchased a test kit yet) but assuming they are high, what can be done to lower them? Anyway, how long do typical algae blooms last during the maturing of a tank? The smell is really aggravating the wife 90 gallon display, 29 gal sump Berlin Classic skimmer 2 Rio power heads Tropic Marin salt mix (started with Coralife) 300 Watt MH + 196 Watts PC actinic MH are on about 8 hrs and PC's about 10 hrs. Ammonia and Nitrites test 0. Nitrate is about 10 ppm. pH is 8.2 and temp is about 79-81 degrees. Can't think of anything else that might affect it. Oh, I use RO water (cartridges are 3 months old) but no DI. I don't have a TDS meter yet... 1 Yellow Tang and 1 Royal Gramma. Probably 2 dozen snails (turbos, nassaris, cerith) and a dozen hermits. 1 cleaner shrimp and 2 peppermint shrimp. Can't think of anything else off the top of my head. What's the longest everyone else has experienced a bloom like this? Any suggestions welcome. Thanks.

03/27/2006, 08:33 PM	#2
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	I'd say don't dose anything now if you can possibly help it. A better answer to a water-choking bloom is a diatom filter, IMHO, and others may say no to that...but you've got a situation sliding toward disaster, and right now the skimmer is, again IMHO, keeping your fish and inverts alive. Stop feeding the fish and inverts until the algae is at acceptable levels. This is not cruel: food at this point can kill them all, and b: they're supposed to eat algae---make them work for a living. The way in which they process things will be more gradual, more natural, and do less violence to the chemistry. Shorten your light period or turn the lights off totally, except for ambient light in the room, run whatever filtration you can get and keep up those partial water changes until the tank clears up. This is what I would do. I hope you'll get more creative answers, but this as I see it is what's going on: there's way too much nutrient in the tank. Your phosphates are probably through the roof...I've never used Phosban, but it might be indicated here. Someone please comment... Number two: way too much light for a tank beset by algae. Cut it off and the algae may die, but as it dies, it will start dumping its bio./mineral-mass into the water. The fish will eat it, and the skimmer will cycle the fish poop, which will get that part out. Your water changes will help the situation: this is going to be expensive in salt water, but you need nitrate/nitrite to be 0/0 if possible. Keep all parameters steady as you can and test every day before every water change. The skimmer, as I say, is your lifeline. Keep emptying it and keep an eye on it. Comments by experts welcome here. I'm not. I've just survived a lot of my own mistakes in my hobby career. I think your tank will make it, given you take measures now, as you're doing. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

03/27/2006, 09:45 PM	#3
phishcrazee Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Riverside, IA Posts: 833	I'm certainly no expert, my tank has been up 5 months and it is just now "turning the corner" as far as algae. First 2 months nothing.... then for the last 3 I've had it. People have been telling me algae problems are very common for a tank under a year old. Here's what I've done: -reduced nitrates to zero, mind you, this took like a month and a half! Weekly 20% water changes with rodi water. -reduced lighting down to two 3 hour periods and changed the bulbs -use phosban and a nitrate reducer (just in a nylon, nothing fancy!) -upped my cleaner crew -was very careful about how I fed my fish so that nothing would become more waste/ie phosphates -got a ton more chaeto for my fuge (thanks Lee Weber!) -tested weekly for everything and twice a week for nitrates and phosphates -took out some LR that I suspected was not fully cured, and re-cured it -I also take this paintbrush I have and "fan" off the detritus from the rocks and the surface of the sand. -Oh yeah, I increased the flow with rotating powerheads and added a powerhead (cyano only grows in low flow areas) Hope this helps! __________________ Fawn Current Tank Info: Tearing down a 75g, setting up a 24g planted/reef and a 29g frag tank

03/28/2006, 08:19 PM	#4
Augy Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Iowa Posts: 130	Thanks for the replies. I've shortened my photo period to 4-5 hrs and have ordered a cleaner crew to bolster my current stock. I should get them tomorrow and they include lots of snails and hermits. Hopefully, they can make a dent in the algae and with the addition of some macro algae in the sump and the shortened light period things will come back in line. I want to give this a go for a week or so before I try any dosing of chemicals. I'd rather keep it simple and wait it out if no real harm is coming to the inhabitants and it's part of the natural maturation of the tank.

03/30/2006, 10:16 AM	#6
Augy Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Iowa Posts: 130	I increased my cleanup crew significantly and they arrived yesterday. After a 1.5 - 2 hr acclimation, they were in the tank by noon. When I got home around 5 pm, they had made some serious headway on the algae. One rock, about the size of a softball, was nearly free of the algae thanks to about 10 or 15 hungry red-legged hermits! Things are looking up