algae on steroids! ! help

[aquaman91]

Hey guys. I have a 140 gal soon to be reef. It's a new tank been up and running for a little over 90 days now been fully cycled for about 60ish days. I went through all the normal phases during cycle. Cloudy water and brown diatoms.. after it was clear and ammonia and nitrates and nitrites where zero. I added fish. never even grew green algae for a couple weeks after fish was introduced. One day I seen signs of green on the glass n was happy to see that this was a sign of a fully cycled tank and it was fine for a few days and now it will litteraly grow back on the glass 5 mins after I wiped it clean. In an hour it will be so green I can't see through it. is this normal part of a newly established tank? Please help. Ive had 2 other reef tanks before this and never had algae problem this bad. I'm running 4 60 inch t5s. 2 blue actinics and 2 white. I think there 16k. There on timers From 10 am - 730 pm.

Ph- (8.4-8.8) ammonia- 0, nitrite- 0, nitrate- 0, phosphates- .25, salinity- 1.025, temp- 74° F

 

[aquaman91]

Hey guys. I have a 140 gal soon to be reef. It's a new tank been up and running for a little over 90 days now been fully cycled for about 60ish days. I went through all the normal phases during cycle. Cloudy water and brown diatoms.. after it was clear and ammonia and nitrates and nitrites where zero. I added fish. never even grew green algae for a couple weeks after fish was introduced. One day I seen signs of green on the glass n was happy to see that this was a sign of a fully cycled tank and it was fine for a few days and now it will litteraly grow back on the glass 5 mins after I wiped it clean. In an hour it will be so green I can't see through it. is this normal part of a newly established tank? Please help. Ive had 2 other reef tanks before this and never had algae problem this bad. I'm running 4 60 inch t5s. 2 blue actinics and 2 white. I think there 16k. There on timers From 10 am - 730 pm.

Ph- (8.4-8.8) ammonia- 0, nitrite- 0, nitrate- 0, phosphates- .25, salinity- 1.025, temp- 74° F

 

[aquaman91]

I do run my tank with a sump if that matters with this issue. It's a 40 gal custom sump I have a refugium section with deep sandbed and live rock. Also cheaydo. I run a reef octopus bh150 skimmer pulls dark black skim. Not running filter socks yet... I feed 2 times a day also jus flakes and occasionally mysis

 

[fishroomlady]

it sounds like you have some elevated phosphate - how often do you do water changes and how much? the green haze may be related to a new tank but it shouldn't be growing that quickly. I might also suggest you reduce your photoperiod to about 8 hours until you need more light for corals.

 

[bairdimusprime]

i would run a uv sterilizer, i had one running the first year in my tank, and i would double the clean up crew. i add new snails and hermits every few months just to keep the cleaning going...
i you make your own water make sure the RODI systems filters are up to date... if there is anything i forgot i'm sorry... i'll be following this thread as much as i can

 

[aquaman91]

Okay. Yeah ill change the light schedule. I only done one 10 gal water change since it's been set up. That was about 60 days in from the initial set up of the tank. I plan on doin abother 10 gal water change today

 

[aquaman91]

Yeah the uv sterilizer would be a good option but they are pretty expensive so if I could save it another way First it would make me happy. I just bought the ro/di unit about 2 months ago so it should be good still. I initially filled the tank with well tap water ran through carbon and a filter sock of that might be a cause of this monster algae

 

[aquaman91]

Might go get some more snails and hermits too. I have over 10 zebra turbos and maybe 5 hermits now

 

[fishroomlady]

I think beefing up the CUC can be helpful. I have to say that by starting with tap well water - that's probably what is creating the algae bloom. I might suggest doing a higher percentage of water changes (20% every few days) to get some of that well water out of there. You could also try running some phosphate absorbing media (GFO or phosguard).

 

[LetItReef]

I initially filled the tank with well tap water ran through carbon and a filter sock of that might be a cause of this monster algae

That's it! Yes, water change.

 

[aquaman91]

Yeah I strongly feel it's from the well start up water too Now I think about it. This is the first time I used tap for filling a aquarium cause of the size of it. Never had this problem before so there's a good change your right on that one. Thank you I will do more frequent water changes for awhile and more cuc as well

 

[aquaman91]

Phosgaurd might become my best friend as well. Jus so hard to find the media bags anywhere

 

[luke33]

If you don't go with a UV sterilizer I would do water changes to pull the phos down. But no I wouldn't consider that normal behavior of a new tank.

 

[reefwiser]

This system is very new and you will go thru a lot of different algae issues over the next year. Also every tank is different and the balance of bio load and bacteria can be tipped in one direction or the other.

 

[aquaman91]

Okay I'll do weekly water changes of 20 gals for awhile and see if it improves. Also I will cut the light cycle down to 8 hours and run phosban when I can get some. I'm doing a water change now and heading to my lfs to get some more snails and crabs after. Thanks for the feedback guys!

 

[fishroomlady]

If you are going to use phosguard (phosban I'm not familiar with) and have access to lady's panty hose, you can cut the foot out and use that for a media bag

 

[bairdimusprime]

IF YOU DON'T MIND WHAT STATE ARE YOU LOCATED IN? I MAY HAVE AN EXTRA STERILIZER LAYING AROUND

 

[aquaman91]

I'm located in northern ohio

 

[aquaman91]

Haha yeah I might try the pantie ho method if I can't get a media mag

 

[bairdimusprime]

darn if you were in jersey i would have lent you my sterilizer.
i would highly recommend picking one up... local water will have elevated levels of phosphates and you will be battling them for the life of your tank if you continue to use that water source