At wits end with algae...

[peasout05]

I'm somewhat new to saltwater reefing. I started my tank in December of 2015 and can I just say that algae is the bane of my existence!! :mad: I have a 55g tank with a Fluval sea marine & reef LED light, Fluval 306 70US gal canister filter and power head. I use Instant Ocean Reef Crystals salt and Instant Ocean Reef accelerator in my tank. I also feed my corals zooplankton and phytoplankton weekly. I do 15g water changes ever 2-3 weeks depending on how busy I am. I'm having a horrible time with algae and not just one kind of algae. I have the regular green algae, green hair algae and what looks like red hair algae, brown algae, red slime and green bubble algae. ;Drowning Oh yeah a weird plant thing in my tank that grows faster that kudzu. Don't get me started on the aiptasia thats a whole other post.

My tank inhabitants include:

1 fire fish
2 bar goby
1 watchman goby
1 hector goby
1 mandarin goby

3 peppermint shrimp
1 turbo snail
10 various other snails
1 tuxedo urchin
1 halloween hermit
2 scarlet hermits
1 zebra hermit
1 Emerald crab

I want to have one of those pristine tanks with hardly visible to no algae and I don't know if I need a refugium sump system, protein skimmer, UV sterilizer or some combination of those.

 

[Brew12]

How often do you clean your canister filter?

What are your phosphates and nitrates?

 

[peasout05]

What do you mean by clean like with a brush and water or change out carbon and sponges?
I'm rechecking my phosphate and nitrates now.... waiting on results.

 

[peasout05]

My phosphate are 0 and my nitrates are pretty close to 0. I'd say maybe 1 or 2.

 

[brandon429]

post pics

like a surgeon likes to dive into a thoracic cavity we like to dive into challenge tanks and even before pics the phytoplankton should stop until this is controlled.

phyto is rarely a need in our reefing unless certain niche animals are stocked, 1% of posters. they degrade quick into algae feed, if I dose phyto to my perfect reef right now lightly for just a week, ill have green algae outbreaks on the glass guaranteed.

next up is white balance lighting, when you look at your reef it should appear heavy blue until this is corrected. many like the looks of a 10K tank, a 20K tank grows less algae from the ones mentioned above

must make sure your topoff water is distilled or RO DI and not just RO we get that a lot sometimes where high TDS input water is causing the issues. check that one off the list too

Im personally tired of staring at a bluer tank I do prefer the 10's but its simply stopping my need to wipe algae off the glass in this combo so ill keep it for a while. pics that reveal light blue and white heavy are very telling in algae challenge tanks especially in the params you post.

regarding waste uptake, its not necessarily algae holding in all your nutrients. ATS keepers use plants to truly strip nutrients from a system and they are harvesting constantly...a tank where algae sits and isn't an active export system isn't holding up nutrients, algae grow in low nutrient environments just fine. for an example, any person here with an algae free reef and the best nutrient controls in the game will grow green hair algae if I just bring over a high pressure sodium terrestrial grow light and shine it full blast down low on the tank. algae in a week, only from lighting.

im not saying you have to change lighting or stop the phyto, am saying that as a summary of gigantic tank correction threads those two hedges are powerful from the start.

once those two are fixed depending on pics we may need to fully part out the tank and clean it down to the glass, bed included, then reassemble via skip cycle and set it all back up,.pics

 

[AntarcticIkeelu]

If you could set up a sump with macro algae and a skimmer it will help a ton. Also how long do you run you lights for?

 

[AntarcticIkeelu]

Here are a few pics from my tank before I had macro aglae in my sump, when I get home I'll post a pic of what it looks like now.

 

[brandon429]

why the white to blue shift, what did you change in lighting that looks like a sharp turnaround there

 

[Brew12]

What do you mean by clean like with a brush and water or change out carbon and sponges?
I'm rechecking my phosphate and nitrates now.... waiting on results.

I was referring to changing out or cleaning the sponges.

I'm guessing your nitrates and phosphates are so low because of the algae growth.

Most salt water hobbyists don't like using canister filters because if you don't clean the filter media every few days it contributes to an increase in nitrates. Increased nitrates tends to lead to increased algae.

 

[peasout05]

Oh gosh I'm so embarrassed to post pics! But let me see if I can figure out how to put pics on here. Ill stop the phyto and as far as light I'm afraid to change it. Wont lowering the light to get rid of algae also hurt my corals? My lights run from about 8a to 8p with a 2hr break between 12 and 2 the lights dim a bit.

 

[peasout05]

Oh no I dont clean the sponges that often. I didnt know that. What kind of filter or set up in general is preferred?

 

[AntarcticIkeelu]

why the white to blue shift, what did you change in lighting that looks like a sharp turnaround there

I use to use an orbit marine light that ran on mostly white, the second last pic is under 2 gen 4 radions, but the main reason I switched was for color. And the algae turn around was sharp, I use to battle it all the time and now I literally have none in my display. I think the macro algae sump was the main cause of no algae.

 

[Brew12]

My lights run from about 8a to 8p with a 2hr break between 12 and 2 the lights dim a bit.

That is a very long photo period. You can cut way back on that without hurting your corals. Even Australia has cloudy days! I would recommend going to a 6 hour photo period total, breaking it up how you want and what will give you the most viewing enjoyment.

Oh no I dont clean the sponges that often. I didnt know that. What kind of filter or set up in general is preferred?

The issue is that the canister filter grabs stuff out of the water. It doesn't do any good if you let that stuff decay in the filter back down into nutrients that get release back into the water.

There are many ways to run filtration in a salt water system. You can actually run a very successful system with no filtration at all other than live rock and a powerhead. The next most important piece in my opinion would be a skimmer. You can either do one that hangs on the back or goes in a sump. Some people run filter socks in their sump and change them out every few days. These act like a canister filter in that they do little good if you let them collect waste for a week. You could also run one of the newer HOB (hang on back) filters that has integrated surface skimming. Not as effective as a regular filter but better than an improperly maintained canister filter.

I would also point out that many people don't run carbon in their systems full time. I always have some on hand if needed but I try not to use it if I can avoid it.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Macro algaes in a refugium are a nutrient export, extra nutrients grow the plants. with no other export the algae grows in the tank.

basicly, it easy to put food(nutrints ) in and harder to get it out. A canister pulls out actual particles so its a mechanical filter, a skimmer less particles and more of the waste from the bacteria that eat the foods.

It doesn't do any good if you let that stuff decay in the filter back down into nutrients that get release back into the water.

+1
by using floss only and cleaning monthly you remove the detritus and food so it doesn't go back in the tank.
If you start wish some basic scrubbing and let the canister pull it out itll go a long way to getting back on track. when I ruin my canister, I do some cleaning and scrubbing, clean the canister and do my water change.

 

[peasout05]

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yea thats not fun. Are you using RODI water?

 

[reeferfoxx]

This is fixable for sure! That "red hair algae" is just cyano growing on top of the Green Hair Algae or GHA.
I would remove the canister. It's not needed. Adjust the lighting to something more like what Brew suggested. In the meantime, prep a 25% water change. Try and hand remove all the red stuff. Wait about 24 hours and then test your Phosphates and Nitrates. Quality test kits like Salifert, Red sea, or Hanna PO4 ULR checker would be best for accuracy. Diligence and husbandry can get this tank looking great again!

 

[peasout05]

Yeeeeah it really sucks. I use RO water from a refill station I'm not sure if its DI or not.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Yeeeeah it really sucks. I use RO water from a refill station I'm not sure if its DI or not.

I used to do that with a freshwater tank. I eventually got tired of making the trip to the LFS. I spent MAYBE $150 on a 4 stage ro/di system that lasted me a year without changing filters. Refill filters only run $30 +/-.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yeeeeah it really sucks. I use RO water from a refill station I'm not sure if its DI or not.

I don't believe it is. Its possible, its adding a bit of fertilizer too.