Algae problem in 10 Gallon Reef HELP!

[brandon4432]

Below is a picture of the tank, hair algae covering rocks and the brown algae on sand bed. As well as some green/brown algae on bottom of glass.

How can I quickly fix this?
-I added a emerald crab in hopes that he'd eat it but he hasn't made a dent.

 

[nawilson89]

So the main questions people will ask are:

How long are the light's on daily?

What's your CuC?

How much are you feeding (nutrient build up giving the hair algae food)?

Also try doing a 25% water change . Probably 2.5 gallons of water.

 

[nawilson89]

Another question would be:

How long has this tank been up? The brown algae is most likely diatoms that come up when a tank is going through a cycle. Which is where my tank is now. That will clear away eventually, though the die off may cause the hair algae to grow more. What i think it is, is the build up of nutrients in the water.

 

[brandon4432]

Another question would be:

How long has this tank been up? The brown algae is most likely diatoms that come up when a tank is going through a cycle. Which is where my tank is now. That will clear away eventually, though the die off may cause the hair algae to grow more. What i think it is, is the build up of nutrients in the water.

The tank has been up for several months, almost 5. I'm most definitely confident it is diatoms. Although they aren't subsiding. A build of of nutrients is most likely the case but I lightly feed fish, don't dose yet, and due water changes strictly weekly. Could it be nutrients from my live rock I added a month ago? And may have skimped out a little on cycling the rock externally before adding it to the system?

 

[brandon4432]

So the main questions people will ask are:

How long are the light's on daily?

What's your CuC?

How much are you feeding (nutrient build up giving the hair algae food)?

Also try doing a 25% water change . Probably 2.5 gallons of water.

Photoperiod: 8 hours
I'm not sure what CuC stands for
I feed every other day a few pellets.
I will step it up to a 25% change today.

 

[nawilson89]

Adding a piece of live rock can induce a miniature cycle. Bacteria on the LR could have died off causing an ammonia increase and then the mini cycle.

 

[nawilson89]

Photoperiod: 8 hours
I'm not sure what CuC stands for
I feed every other day a few pellets.
I will step it up to a 25% change today.

CuC is for Clean up Crew. Basically the janitors.

i see you have a few snails and you added an emerald crab. If you don't plan on adding corals you can add a few hermit crabs, though the sometimes go after snails. Cerith Snails are a great addition. I have a team of them cleaning diatoms in my tank right now.

 

[brandon4432]

Adding a piece of live rock can induce a miniature cycle. Bacteria on the LR could have died off causing an ammonia increase and then the mini cycle.

Would the problem still linger if the rocks been in the system for over a month?

 

[brandon4432]

CuC is for Clean up Crew. Basically the janitors.

i see you have a few snails and you added an emerald crab. If you don't plan on adding corals you can add a few hermit crabs, though the sometimes go after snails. Cerith Snails are a great addition. I have a team of them cleaning diatoms in my tank right now.

Clean Up Crew:
Cleaner shrimp
5 Astraea snails
Emerald Crab
5 Hermit Crabs
Mini Starfish
Tiny little snails that stay on the glass
3 snails that rise out of the sand bed at night and then burry down again when the lights come up( what are they called?)

 

[nawilson89]

So I would definitely say a few water changes should suffice. Though a few more chiming in with their insights could help. You can also try putting a filter sock over your circulation pump, then scrubbing the hair algae off the rocks with a tooth brush. The current should rip them up and pull them into the filter sock to catch them, that way they will be taken out your tank then try a water change.

 

[joshkirkland83]

Where is your water coming from?

 

[Blue Lip]

Silicate & phosphate remover woll help greatly!

 

[brandon4432]

Where is your water coming from?

We have a RODI unit. TDS is 0 I believe

 

[brandon4432]

Silicate & phosphate remover woll help greatly!

What brand and where can I purchase that?

 

[Possumcop]

In my experience adding new live rock will cause a mini cycle for sure the diatoms have always gone away eventually but the GHA is really stubborn. I put a small bag of phosguard in and it helps quite a bit. Along with what everyone else has said of course.

 

[dmh41532]

I've had dwarf hermits eat hair algae. But first I had to pull out the long stands of it, they then ate what was left. They really are a great addition to the clean up crew, since they can get into places snails can't, and they truly are reef safe, the dwarf hermits atleast. You may need to add a media reactor to reduce phosphate. As for the oily substance on the surface, try pointing the power head up slightly to add surface movement, that should help break it up.

 

[chimmike]

What are the water parameters?
What's your filtration? Any kind of skimmer or anything? There are excess nutrients in the system that aren't getting exported, so the algae is growing and consuming the extra goodies.

 

[brandon4432]

What are the water parameters?
What's your filtration? Any kind of skimmer or anything? There are excess nutrients in the system that aren't getting exported, so the algae is growing and consuming the extra goodies.

Water parameters in check. Mame protein skimmer pumping out lots dark brown/black skimmate.