Algae gone wild
- Thread starter sredzins
- Start date
- Tagged users None
To many nutrients cause algae wheter its fish food ,coral foods etc. Phosphates from makeup water or whatever water you are using is a possibilty also.
jayhawk
Active Member
Quick fix is Red Sea PO4/NO3 remover. It's similar to vodka dosing but this way you prevent from dosing yourself in the process. I am not a fan of using reducers but I was at the end of my rope with a green and brown algae outbreak that would not go away. After a week, it was noticeably better. Another week after, no more problem. I cut back my feeding and stepped up my maintainance to help. I would slightly decrease the max dose to be safe. Add it to the sump. Your fish get a gulp of this and it's lights out. Add an urchin or two to help consume the algae...
What do you mean you uped on your maintenance? I'm going to try and fix this naturally, just like you I don't want to artificially solve the problem.
Sent from my XT907 using Reef2Reef Aquarium Forum mobile app
Sent from my XT907 using Reef2Reef Aquarium Forum mobile app
kacrocorals581
Gotta have that acro
Skimmer
jedimasterben
Bubble coral sting good
Yes, surprised by how little it helps. Aquarium Chemistry: Phosphate And Math: Yes You Need To Understand Both ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
kschweer
Moderator
So sorry. Just sharing some of my experience. Even if it does not help dramatically with phosphates I will continue to rinse my food. Ever really look at the water your food was thawed in and see the "oil slick" on the surface. I don't know about you but I would rather keep that out of my tank.
This hobby has many many ways of going about things and I was simply trying to help out a fellow reefer by sharing things I have done in the past that have worked for me. Maybe try posting something to help with this situation instead of just posting an article to disprove one point in this thread. Stuff like this has been happening more and more on this site lately and it's getting kind if annoying. People are more concerned about trying to show how much they "know" instead of helping out and sharing hands on experiences.
Last edited:
kschweer
Moderator
Have you ever tested it with a TDS meter? An LFS around me was selling rodi water that turned out to be just ro water with a TDS reading of 64.
Last edited:
What is a tds? And no thanks, anything that can help I would like to know, even the slightest bit. I looked at my tank this morning and just from feeding less for the past few days and a few extra water changes, the algae has receeded off my power heads and is thinning on the glass. Thanks for all the advice
Sent from my XT907 using Reef2Reef Aquarium Forum mobile app
Sent from my XT907 using Reef2Reef Aquarium Forum mobile app
kschweer
Moderator
Tds is "total dissolved solids". It's how rodi water is tested. Quality rodi water will have 0 TDS. It is also not a bad idea to test the water you are buying for phosphates and nitrates.
I also use Redsea nopox and have had excellent results. This product is what we call carbon dosing. Many people are using vodka, vinegar,sugar etc. but i would rather drink my vodka myself. I truly believe that this product is excellent and helps me keep everything where i want it. Check out there videos on Redsea .com These people know reef keeping.
mcarroll
10K Club member
Algae almost always represents an excess accumulation of nutrients in the system due to the amount of food being placed into the system.
The amount of food (ideally) is dictated by the amount of livestock, so overstocking is a common root cause of algae. Too many fish = Too much food.
When this is the case, you either need to get more realistic and practical about your stocking levels, or get complicated and expensive with your filtration strategy.
Reducing the bio-load in the tank is a smart move - it reduces or eliminates the problem at its root.
Things like live rock and a skimmer are nice because they are virtually hands-off and last "forever".
Things like carbon/GFO/pellet reactors, carbon dosing schedules are complicated and while they can "band aid" a problem and help greatly with clean up, they are not a real solution and are very expensive compared with (e.g.) good husbandry, skimming and live rock.
One side effect of live rocks (as well as its main function) - nitrate reduction and removal from the system as nitrogen gas - is a long term accumulation of Phosphates beyond its norml balance with Nitrates. This causes the system (Google something I only know a little about called the Redfield Ratio. Search R2R for posts on it too.) to be out of balance and favor algae growth.
It sounds like you are on the right track already if you're seeing die-back in the algae on your pumps, but it might be worth checking in your sand bed to see if there's any detritus - particularly in the corners, around the bases of your rocks and directly under any flow pumps. (These are all your most likely "dead spots") If you find anything significant, consider strategically removing the sand bed. It's cheap, easy and highly effective if you confirm the sand bed is dirty.
-Matt
The amount of food (ideally) is dictated by the amount of livestock, so overstocking is a common root cause of algae. Too many fish = Too much food.
When this is the case, you either need to get more realistic and practical about your stocking levels, or get complicated and expensive with your filtration strategy.
Reducing the bio-load in the tank is a smart move - it reduces or eliminates the problem at its root.
Things like live rock and a skimmer are nice because they are virtually hands-off and last "forever".
Things like carbon/GFO/pellet reactors, carbon dosing schedules are complicated and while they can "band aid" a problem and help greatly with clean up, they are not a real solution and are very expensive compared with (e.g.) good husbandry, skimming and live rock.
One side effect of live rocks (as well as its main function) - nitrate reduction and removal from the system as nitrogen gas - is a long term accumulation of Phosphates beyond its norml balance with Nitrates. This causes the system (Google something I only know a little about called the Redfield Ratio. Search R2R for posts on it too.) to be out of balance and favor algae growth.
It sounds like you are on the right track already if you're seeing die-back in the algae on your pumps, but it might be worth checking in your sand bed to see if there's any detritus - particularly in the corners, around the bases of your rocks and directly under any flow pumps. (These are all your most likely "dead spots") If you find anything significant, consider strategically removing the sand bed. It's cheap, easy and highly effective if you confirm the sand bed is dirty.
-Matt
MelissaKathryn
Active Member
+1!
Also, we had a bad hair algae bloom right after we started turning on our halides because were just instantly started running them like 8-12 hrs a day. We had taken EVERYTHING SLOW before this. We had also just added new live rock from LFS and I guess it could have traveled on that. However, we wanted the tank to cycle with the addition of the lights before we purchased any coral (still had lots of live sand, live rock, crabs, snails and 3 or 4 fish in our 55g tank. Since we had no corals, we were able to just cut the lights until we had control over the algae. When we added the light back, we did so in small increments each day and now only have them on 6 hrs a day with actinic lights for at least 4 hours. We also got more turbo snails (10 XL-- 8 in main tank, 2 in fuge), purchased a Lawnmower Blenny, and more hermit crabs. Without the lights to fuel it, and with the creatures inside feeding on it, the algae cleared up in actually just a few days. BUT ALSO, we never used pellets or any other kind of dried food because they contain phosphates. We always use frozen food, or just let the pods in the rocks be the food. That being said, we took our time with the tank (except for the light--we were just so excited about the new bulbs and weren't thinking!) so we had a lot of pods and a really established system.
If you don't have any corals in your system, I would just cut the lights, invest in a protein skimmer, and cut down on your water changes as stated above. I think it would be less harsh on the system to just cut the lights vs. water changes a lot.
If you don't mind me asking, what is exactly in your tank (besides algae of course)? What size is it and what are your tank's occupants? I think this would help others (including myself) help you diagnose the source of your problem.
Best of luck! Please don't get too frustrated with these frustrating algae blooms!
