Algae Question

[mlaneusmc]

I got this algae starting to form on a couple of my rocks pretty bad and also starting to grow on the back of my tank.... What should i do? what do you think is going on? Im thinking about getting the GFO and Carbon reactor from Bulk Reef Supply. Any thoughts on that as well? Thanks!

 

[Diesel]

Few questions.
How long has this been set up?
What are your Po4 and No3 sitting at?
What light?
Run any skimmer?

 

[mlaneusmc]

The tank was setup for 10 years but i bought it from someone and moved it, i kept 75 gallons of the water and added about 50 gallons of new water. It has been set back up for 3 weeks.

PH is about 8.3, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, Ammonia 0

Light is T-5 fixture with 8-80 watt bulbs. bulbs are 4 blue 2 purple and 2 auqablue special.

I have a Octopus Classis 150 skimmer

 

[Diesel]

Thanks.
Great the move explains in a way.
Did you removed everything from the tank, rock and sand?

 

[mlaneusmc]

kept the sand. unloaded the rocks in to containers with the rock. Then put everything back together and added 55 gallon new water.

 

[Diesel]

And there you have it.
In any case when moving the tank you need to unloa the sand, rinse it good and then put it back in the tank before you fill it up.
Why, cause the sand has all kinds of toxic stuff in it

 

[Snookin]

That tank looks like it is going to be a headache in the short term for you and here's why: Hair Algae, Bubble algae, Aiptasia all over. There may be a lot more bad hitchhikers that I can't see from the pics too.

I don't see any fish or coral in the picture. If that is the case (and I hope it is) I would drain the tank, dry out the live rock to kill of everything, put in new dry sand and re-cycle the tank.

You are starting a battle from the bottom of a DEEP hole if you start with a tank like that without killing off all that bad stuff. You'll be fighting off nuisance algae and aiptasia for at least 2-3 months maybe more.

 

[Michael Llabona]

Yep. Tear down. Kill everything off and restart or you'll be fighting the pest problem for months.

 

[mlaneusmc]

well honestly i put so much work in transporting the water 4 hours away, keeping it heated and using containers i could keep the rock in good condition that i dont think im at the point of tearing it down and starting over. Yes i have bubble algea and aiptasia and am looking for good advise on how to address this problem aggressively. The hair algae just started growing about 4 days ago and im trying to figure out what i can do to stop that as well.

 

[Diesel]

Well that makes sense I must say.
Sorry to hear that you disregard some solid advice from hobbyist that been there before but...
For the algae you can turn lights off and change water twice a week.
Till you don't see any algae any more.
For aiptasia you can buy a aiptasia eating file fish or the aiptasia eating nudi's.
Or you can treat them with the kalkwasser method.
All will take a few months to make sure they are all gone.
Bubble algae is simple, you can inject each one you see with MA and continue doing that till you don't see any popping up anymore but once you have BA you will never get rid of it.
Or a fox face fish can help you out
Good luck and let us know how things are going.

 

[mlaneusmc]

Not really disregarding, I should further explain. I moved everything and set it up, let it run for about 2-3 weeks, during that time i did a 40 gallon water change to clean the sand bed really good. Bought 40 gallons of Red Sea premix from my LFS and everything was looking PERFECT. Then i got to messing around with the 5 stage rodi unit that came with my setup which i have zero experience with but the guy i bought it from said i have about a month left on the filters and my sump had a leak so i needed top off water and was tired of transporting it from LFS so i setup the rodi and made 5 gallons which took a lifetime itself and topped of the tank, woke up the next day and had a diatom algea massive break out which i knew had to be from the bad rodi water and i am on a well with high iron. So i asked the forum what i should do and i did turn the lights our for 3 days and bought replacement filter kit from BRS and a TDS meter. Then the tank was back to great, did a 30 gallon water change while i installed my new UP39 Skimz sump. And now the hair algae has started to form on the back wall on my top center rock. My tank is 125g with 35g sump, octopus 150 skimmer. Right before i posted this post i had ordered 2 clown fish, anenome, and a small mix of about 10 snails and a few crabs. Living in the tank before i added that was a fish the my LFS suggested i buy to help take care of the Aiptasia and the fish literally hasnt ate one of them yet. I had also added 5 Berghia Nudibranch bc they only eat aiptasia. So this is why i dont want to tear it all down lol i need help with what i got. Im willing to put in the work.

 

[Diesel]

Well you did a lot of good things.
I pointed out that exactly in my previous post but it will be a long road.
Reading for what you all did xlresdy pretty sure you will be ready for that long road and it will pay off.
How is the anemone doing?

 

[mlaneusmc]

Water tested good again today. I am showing a little phosphates though. Other than that everything was perfect. Went down to my LFS and bought a decent size powder brown tang, decent size copperband and a few more turbo snails. Hoping for the best. I only have 2 emrald crabs and due to the amount of bubble algae i have im thinking a may need some more.

 

[Diesel]

Water tested good again today. I am showing a little phosphates though. Other than that everything was perfect. Went down to my LFS and bought a decent size powder brown tang, decent size copperband and a few more turbo snails. Hoping for the best. I only have 2 emrald crabs and due to the amount of bubble algae i have im thinking a may need some more.

How many gallons is that tank again?

 

[mlaneusmc]

125 tank 35 sump

 

[Snookin]

Not really disregarding, I should further explain. I moved everything and set it up, let it run for about 2-3 weeks, during that time i did a 40 gallon water change to clean the sand bed really good. Bought 40 gallons of Red Sea premix from my LFS and everything was looking PERFECT. Then i got to messing around with the 5 stage rodi unit that came with my setup which i have zero experience with but the guy i bought it from said i have about a month left on the filters and my sump had a leak so i needed top off water and was tired of transporting it from LFS so i setup the rodi and made 5 gallons which took a lifetime itself and topped of the tank, woke up the next day and had a diatom algea massive break out which i knew had to be from the bad rodi water and i am on a well with high iron. So i asked the forum what i should do and i did turn the lights our for 3 days and bought replacement filter kit from BRS and a TDS meter. Then the tank was back to great, did a 30 gallon water change while i installed my new UP39 Skimz sump. And now the hair algae has started to form on the back wall on my top center rock. My tank is 125g with 35g sump, octopus 150 skimmer. Right before i posted this post i had ordered 2 clown fish, anenome, and a small mix of about 10 snails and a few crabs. Living in the tank before i added that was a fish the my LFS suggested i buy to help take care of the Aiptasia and the fish literally hasnt ate one of them yet. I had also added 5 Berghia Nudibranch bc they only eat aiptasia. So this is why i dont want to tear it all down lol i need help with what i got. Im willing to put in the work.

There was an old woman who swallowed a fly......

I think a lot of hobbyist get stuck in this mindset and I have been there too. But, you are just adding organisms to your reef trying to combat the multiple problems and that is a hard fought battle. You aren't creating the reef you want. You are creating a tank to manage your reefs problems. Good luck. Your LFS is going to make some money.

 

[Chanjad385]

Just wanna say that's some nice purple on those rocks