I'm About to Give Up! Please, Help!

[Greg129]

I do not know how to get ride of this algae (see my gallery for pics). There is a thick greenish brown algae growing on 75% of my sandbed,
brown alge growing on the glass, and various algae such as mermaid's cup growing on the rocks. Is there anything I can do? Could I just remove the whole sandbed?

[whatevva]

We would need to know all you water parms. (everything that you test for)

Feeding habits?(and types of food)

Lighting Cycles?(and what type of lighting)

[Greg129]

I'll go test now. I feed the fish once per day for two minutes. Right now, I alternate between frozen Emerald Entree and frozen zooplankton. The lights are on for 10-12 hours per day. Light specifics are in my signature.

[yoboyjdizz]

might trying shorting your light cycle while you find out what the cause is.. Also could need to change bulbs this happen to me once. Also maybe phosphate levels are high.. Also had a phosphate problem and notice tons of this brown algae all over my sand..

[2crazyreefers]

You may want to cut back on feeding to once per day and try the flake food. Many people I know have had a tendancy to overfeed with the frozen. Also are you using RO water ? and doing good water changes ?

[renko]

Are you using RO/DI water? If not, I'd start immediately. Also, I'd do frequent small water changes until the problem is under control. Also, if you don't have a refugium, start one.

[yoboyjdizz]

RO/DI could be the case as well i forgot to mention i was using tap before i got one with i had the phosphate problem... I don't think he is overfeeding he does only feed once per day.

[Hop]

By looking at this picture I have a hunch and only a hunch...


That his sandbed is releasing phosphates. it's too shallow for a DSB and there has probably had little or no care, vacuuming, replacing the SSB. I'm not 100% sure...

But if it were my tank I would likely siphon the algae and sand out and replace it with new, do a water change, skim wet and test, test and test...

[Greg129]

To answer some questions: I'm using bottled water from the grocery store. It's labeled distilled, but I called the company, and they said that it was also purified by reverse osmosis. I know for a fact that my bulbs need replaced - they are 8 months old. But, the algae started getting bad even before the bulbs needed replaced. I have no sump and no refugium. The sandbed is aragonite. Could this be releasing the phosphate? Would it hurt to vacuum up the sand and replace it? Could I vacuum up the sand and leave it bare bottom? Thanks for the help so far.

[Scottkelly911]

To me it sounds like your phosphates are too high. I would start by using a good phosphate sponge/remover and do several small water changes. Since you've got a 65 Gallon, I'd use the sponge/remover and then do about approx 5% water changes every other day for about a week, starting 1 day later. If that's too much attention, then do two 15% water changes about 3 days apart, starting 2 days after you put in the phosphate sponge/remover. I wouldn't worry too much about taking out the sand, I'd stir it up really good and do a big water change, maybe about 20%, prior to doing the sponge/remover. It's really important that you use good water when making your changes though because your params are going to be pretty volatile during this "cleansing" period and you don't want to stress the fish/corals too much during this time. Definitely change your lights when you get the chance since they're old. Good luck! Let us know how it turns out no matter what you decide to do.

[Hop]

Run it by the reef chemistry forum. I think we could be guessing for a while and make sure if you use a phosphate remover that it does not contain aluminum. Also using a phosphate remover is only just a band aid. If it's like I suspect, then the sand bed will need to come out before your tank crashes. JMO though

[Greg129]

Thanks for your helps guys. I hardly have any sand after I removed a lot of it along with some hair algae a few months ago. There's even some bare spots where I can see the bottom glass of the tank. So would it hurt too much to get ride of the sandbed and either replace it or go bare bottom? Then, I'll do as Scottkelly911 recommended with the phophate remover and series of water changes. How does that sound?

[Creade]

Id definately cut back on the feeding. As well as the photoperiod.
Clean the sand, skim as wet as you can handle, change your bulbs.

How often do you do water changes?
And how long has the tank been setup?
You said youve had this problem since before the bulbs needed changing, so how long has it been going on?

Personally, id probably run a phosphate remover while I was working on all of the above as well.

[Greg129]

I do a 10% water change every 2 weeks.
The tank has been setup for 7 months.
Problems started 2 months ago.

How does this sound - First, I replace the bulbs. Then, I remove the sandbed and do a 25% water change. After I remove the sandbed, I run a phosphate remover for a week while doing 5% water changes every other day. I test, if levels are good, I'll add a deep sandbed. Good plan, or no?

[Sk8r]

It should give you a much better basis. What a deep sand bed does is layer itself into zones of bacteria that process waste all the way to nitrogen gas. You'll see bubbles rise from it. You'll see shadowing of it on the front glass---and you may get a mini-cycle from this process of dsb replacement, and maybe even another algae spike, but this one will be [hopefully] brief and respond to a cleaning crew. Whatever you do once it's established---don't overturn the layers. Protect its integrity, though you may have creatures like nassarius and conchs that delve into it for cleaning.
The right species of urchin might be a help. New bulbs, a good skimmer, good feeding habits and a log book of tests so you can spot a trend and remedy a slide toward a situation before it becomes a situation---and you should be golden.

[Greg129]

Thanks, Sk8r. I have a wrasse that loves to sleep in the sand. If I were to add a dsb, would he be detrimental to it? Wouldn't him sleeping in the sand and stirring it around cause mini cycles and algae to grow?

How deep should a deep sand bed actually be? What type of sand should I use? Would aragonite again be okay?

[Greg129]

bump

[scaryperson27]

Do you have a seperate tank you can set up for your fish while you are curing this tank of the algae problem? I had a pea soup issue. What I did to get rid of the problem and worked for me was a refugium (competes with algae in the tank), carbon, phosphate remover, and chemipure. I did a 15 gallon waterchange every week. I lost a wrass in the process though which is why I advise you set up a seperate tank to house your fish.

[Hop]

4-6" for a DSB.

For a SSB 1" max and feel free to siphon and stir as needed. Replace the siphoned sand out with new every so often.

I subscribe to the barebottom theory, but hate the look of it

[Sk8r]

Not at all: I have a conch that spends days rummaging about down under, and it doesn't disturb enough of the dsb at one time to have any effect. You've got a 65, which is 10g bigger than mine, and with my dsb, it's no particular effect. What really gets the bad stuff going is if the human owner gets in there with a siphon or the input of a pump and blasts a whole corner up at once. You get a nasty cloud of white, and general bad stuff. I've seen tanks where the whole bed got overturned at once, with really bad effects, but your little wrasse won't do any damage. His digging will probably score a few copepods, but he'll be fine and they should outproduce him; and once your copepods start multiplying they'll help you with algae growth, too. I feed phyto daily to encourage copepods and sponges and the filter feeders and my clam, and I think it does help with the microlife. Until your tank is really booming with life I wouldn't feed that often, but a little now and again might be beneficial. I don't think copepods are often mentioned as a method of algae control, but where they exist bigtime, algae doesn't dominate, in my own experience.

[Hop]

I second what sk8r said for a DSB. He may have needed to clarify that as our two posts I feel are saying the same thing, but could have been interpreted different

[richfavinger]

Just to add, I would get some PhosBan and add it to a small canister filter or setup there PhosBan Reactor with a small pump per directions (it only needs about 75gph flow max). Fight threw it, we all get Algae at one time or another. I consider it "RIght of Passage".

Green, Brown, Red... after that it's all good, then we get purple. And still need to scrape it LOL

[aclos3]

Feed as little as possible while you are working on this, reduce your lighting to 6-8 hours per day (it doesnt look like you have too many corals to worry about from your pictures).

You can buy cheap phosphate removing pads. They usually come in a 10" square sheet, and you can cut it to fit your filter. I started using one of these when I had bottom algal growth and it worked wonders. I also do not have a sump or skimmer currently on my 18g tank.

[renko]

I'd recommend trying to find the problem before implementing too many fixes. Have you tested for phosphates and nitrate? If phosphates are high, you need to find out why. They are getting into your tank somehow and if you don't eliminate the source, your problems will continue with or without PhosBan. Replacing the sand may help for a while but the problem will return if you don't eliminate the phosphate source. If the problem is nitrates, the DSB could definately help along with more frequent water changes.

[Angel*Fish]

As far as the feeding goes - I'd switch to different foods - for algae eaters, try and get them on a nori clip and change it daily, always rinsing the clip well
For zooplankton, try solid whole foods like PE brand mysis and thaw and rinse with RO water (in a net) before feeding to tank.

There is no way the fish are getting all the Emerald Entree as some of it is mush & thus going straight to your tank without passing first through your fish. Not something I personally would add to my tank very often. And if I was having algae issues, I'd toss it in the trash.

Don't jump either way on the DSB/BB issue until you have read thoroughly on each. Either method done wrong will simply encourage algae growth.

Being a lazy reefer, I like the DSB. the thought of ever having to get in there and physically vacuum the tank turns me green around the gills

-2x Maxijet 1200 Powerheads

Not sure what's going on as far as return pumps... but it sounds to me like you might want to think about adding a Seio (or better) for some more circulation