Cleaning up algae

[SmokeyCFH]

Hey guys, I'm pretty new to keeping saltwater, but I've had freshwater for nearly 10 years. I have a few questions to ask, firstly I have a slight issue with brown algae, I've read to lower the amount of light time and to have plenty of current so there's no dead spots but my real issue is syphoning it. I have fine sand and it's somewhat difficult to not syphon the sand with the water. Are there any fish that you can suggest I get what will help? my CUC consists of 2 turbo snails, 2 cerith snails, a nerite snail and 5 or so hermit crabs with the addition to hitchhiking stomatella's. It's a 20g DT with a 10g sump rio2500 return and hamilton PC lighting (day bulb and actinic).

Another worry I have is red hair algae or red turf algae, I'm not sure but its a bright red and looks more like hair to me. it hasn't spread too much but how should I go about removing it?

Thank you guys so much and have a great day,
SmokeyCFH

 

[skinz78]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

How old is your tank? It sounds to me like you are experiencing a diatom bloom which should go away with time. Can you post a pic of the algae's in question?

Sadly there aren't many fish that will eat algae in a smaller tank, the fish that do actually require bigger tanks. I too have a 20g and have the same issue....

 

[SmokeyCFH]

my tank is about 2 or so months old, and i've been hearing that the diamond goby likes to sift through the sand but I dont want to get something for this tank that gets too big, and I want something reef compatible. I have a small patch of red hair algae and i had a bunch of brown algae covering the sand and the front of the tank. I did a water change yesterday to get a decent amount of it up and it did but I also sucked up a lot of sand in the process.

I have around 20 pounds of LR in the DT and about 10 pounds in the sump, no mechanical filtration or UV sterilizer. I'm going to add a timer to the lights today that will keep the lights on for 10 hours a day, would that be okay? Thank you.

 

[skinz78]

The Goby will probably become a pain for you, they sift sand but they sift it all over the place dropping it everywhere.

A timer should help.

 

[firefightered]

It sounds like your tank is still going through it's cycle. It takes a while for new salt water tanks to finish thier cycles. They even sometimes go through a couple . Check your nitrates and nitrites and see where they stand. Make sure your tank is done cycling before you add fish!!!! Did you seed your tank with live sand and live rock? or did you get dead stuff (already dry)?

 

[Mellowguy]

From my experiance, I would say your tank may cycle about the first 4 - 6 months, but I've never had a small tank. How many hours of light? If you don't have corals yet, I would only light the tank for about eight hours a day, maybe even six hours. Check your nitrates, nitrites and phosphates, as firefighter suggested above, and keep them as low as possible. You may also may want to check the water that you change with. If it's just tap water, it may contain nitrates and phosphates. So then every time you do a water change, you are supplying more nitrates and phosphates, which feeds the algae.

Sea urchins may work for you now. They eat alot of algae, but they knock stuff over. So you will probably want to get rid of them later. I used to keep 3 - 4 urchins in my sump and put them in my display tank when I have outbreaks of algae. Sea urchins also eat my coraline algae, so I got rid of mine. Sea urchins are cheap and can look pretty cool.

You could also buy a macro algae (big plant). Mermaids fan, chaetomorpha, sea fan, and many other varieties, that can cost only a few bucks. They eat the nitrates and phosphates in the water and help rid of nuisance micro algae. There are alot of cool red macro algae available. Chaetomorpha is very effective and easy to grow. You can put it in your sump with a light or you can put it in your display tank, for now. Some fish will eat your macro algae, so you can put it in your sump as a refugium later. A 20g tank won't need much to eat up the unwanted things.

 

[SmokeyCFH]

thanks a lot for the input guys.

All my levels are perfect, I check them once a week. I have a damsel in the tank and has been in there for a little while, and I do have corals. everything seems to be doing VERY well there was just an explosion of algae, perhaps due to the light and heat? I just got a chiller yesterday (I scored big time with a full 24g aquapod setup with a 1/15 prime chiller and hamilton metal halide) So I got the chiller up and running and I will be putting a timer on my lights.

As of a few days ago I got some red macroalgae (not sure what kind it is, just looks like seaweed or a saltwater plant) and I put that in my sump so my hermit crabs dont eat it (they were eating some that was growing on a rock with some polyps) and I put my sump light on which is a nova t5 HO at night when the DT light it off so I dont have any over heating of the tank.

I'm almost regretting this sand, it's too fine and floats like crazy.

And yes, I cycled the tank with live sand AND live rock with some base rock (which is live now). I cycled the tank for well over a month before I added a fish. My CPR bak pak skimmer is working like a champ (finally) and everything seems to be thriving but unfortunately that means the algae as well.

Thank you guys so much! I really appreciate it!
SmokeyCFH

 

[mobatic]

You can get a sleeper goby, they look as nice and aren't aggressive towards other sand bed dwellers.
They sift plenty of sand, it's rare that I see mine sift it on my chalices or SPS. Careful though, they're known to carpet surf.