Dark Algae growth in Sand

[racemd]

Hello, i was using a old T bulb setup for a long time and never had a problem with algae. I switched to a LED system from Amazon and it was too much light and got a Red Algae hairy bloom on all my rocks and in the 1 strip on the sand where the light sat i got dark green to black algae that clumped the sand. I sifted the sand, took rocks and sun dried them, soaked them for 24 hours in salt water then put back in the tank. The rock is good and stable now for weeks and fish are happy, however, DAILY<!!!> i get this new dark green to black algae on the sand and i remove with a light net drag. The tank is 90 gallons, it has a "protein skimmer" , a 450 dual enviro wheel and a penn plax elite 1000 instead of a sump. Water tests on PH, Nitrite/Nitrates are in limits, did a 20 gallon water change last week and made no change. I removed the LED Light from Amazon and switched to a daylight 10k 36" with a blue 36" light believe T5's 2 weeks ago. I only run the light about 5 hours daily, Im thinking the fish store sold me a plant light by mistake. Any thoughts? Also, within a couple of days, i will get a "red algae mark on the glass that holds bubbles"

 

[Flippers4pups]

How old is the tank? Looks very new. This is expected with new systems to have the "uglies" for sometime.

A side note: did you rinse your sand before adding it to your tank?

What light from Amazon did you get?

 

[Dragon174]

Welcome to R2R!

Can you post your water test results? This will help a lot.

 

[racemd]

The Tank is 1.5 years running, Clowns are 1.3 years, the Dory's i have are 3 weeks. I have a dozen hermits for the clean up crew, small and ultra small as they are readily available here in FL for $5 dozen, 2 Red Shrimp, 1lg (10-12count size) gulf shrimp. No Snails
Amonia 0 , Nitrite 0 , Nitrate NO3 160PPM, PH < .25ppm

As for the light from amazon, its now my work bench light, way too bright. The Sand is 1.5 years now.

The Light from Amazon that is now my work bench light
NICREW ClassicLED Plus LED Aquarium Light, Full Spectrum Fish Tank Light for Freshwater, 30 to 36-Inch

 

[racemd]

bump

 

[racemd]

bump

 

[racemd]

How old is the tank? Looks very new. This is expected with new systems to have the "uglies" for sometime.

A side note: did you rinse your sand before adding it to your tank?

What light from Amazon did you get?

The Tank is 1.5 years running, Clowns are 1.3 years, the Dory's i have are 3 weeks. I have a dozen hermits for the clean up crew, small and ultra small as they are readily available here in FL for $5 dozen, 2 Red Shrimp, 1lg (10-12count size) gulf shrimp. No Snails
Amonia 0 , Nitrite 0 , Nitrate NO3 160PPM, PH < .25ppm

As for the light from amazon, its now my work bench light, way too bright. The Sand is 1.5 years now.

The Light from Amazon that is now my work bench light
NICREW ClassicLED Plus LED Aquarium Light, Full Spectrum Fish Tank Light for Freshwater, 30 to 36-Inch

 

[OrangeCountyReefer]

The Tank is 1.5 years running, Clowns are 1.3 years, the Dory's i have are 3 weeks. I have a dozen hermits for the clean up crew, small and ultra small as they are readily available here in FL for $5 dozen, 2 Red Shrimp, 1lg (10-12count size) gulf shrimp. No Snails
Amonia 0 , Nitrite 0 , Nitrate NO3 160PPM, PH < .25ppm

As for the light from amazon, its now my work bench light, way too bright. The Sand is 1.5 years now.

The Light from Amazon that is now my work bench light
NICREW ClassicLED Plus LED Aquarium Light, Full Spectrum Fish Tank Light for Freshwater, 30 to 36-Inch

Your nitrates are off the charts. There is something serious going on in the tank if you nitrates are at that level. High nitrates like that probably means your phosphates are high as well, which having elevated levels of both of those will fuel algae growth. Your first course of action should be to reduce nitrates. I would start with big water changes.

 

[Flippers4pups]

The Tank is 1.5 years running, Clowns are 1.3 years, the Dory's i have are 3 weeks. I have a dozen hermits for the clean up crew, small and ultra small as they are readily available here in FL for $5 dozen, 2 Red Shrimp, 1lg (10-12count size) gulf shrimp. No Snails
Amonia 0 , Nitrite 0 , Nitrate NO3 160PPM, PH < .25ppm

As for the light from amazon, its now my work bench light, way too bright. The Sand is 1.5 years now.

The Light from Amazon that is now my work bench light
NICREW ClassicLED Plus LED Aquarium Light, Full Spectrum Fish Tank Light for Freshwater, 30 to 36-Inch

Can I get a picture of your tank?

Yes, that light fixture is meant for freshwater tanks. Wrong light spectrum.

 

[Dragon174]

Your Nitrate NO3 of 160ppm is an issue for sure.

 

[racemd]

Your Nitrate NO3 of 160ppm is an issue for sure.

How can I lower this??? I have tried weekly water changes, 10g to 20g getting water from a Salt Water Store that I have checked and is good water... What else can i do? is 10k T5's the wrong light?

 

[racemd]

The white light is a 10k, the blue is a Coral Life Actinc

 

[racemd]

How can I lower this??? I have tried weekly water changes, 10g to 20g getting water from a Salt Water Store that I have checked and is good water... What else can i do? is 10k T5's the wrong light?

What are thoughts on a Vodka shot?

 

[OrangeCountyReefer]

How can I lower this??? I have tried weekly water changes, 10g to 20g getting water from a Salt Water Store that I have checked and is good water... What else can i do? is 10k T5's the wrong light?

watch Bulk Reef Supply videos on reducing nitrates, it is very informative. A weekly 10 to 20% water change is not going to help your situation right now. You will have to do much bigger water changes. I have heard people do three 30% percent water changes over the course of 3 days. And some people even do 75% + single water changes. Then once you get the nitrates down you need to figure out why the nitrates are so high. Over feeding, lack of nutrient exports, lack of good bacteria, etc...

 

[racemd]

I will say that my wife uses "Frozen Marine Cuisine" once a week, contains Mysis Shrimp, Krill and Spirulina dissolved in salt water, she hand feeds the carpet a minow once per week and typically feeds daily a pinch of Cobalt Aquatics "contains probiotics" Premium Fish Flakes daily.

 

[racemd]

Thank you for the responses, i will reduce the feeding and get on those big water changes.

 

[Ken_lou3]

I second the advise to look into BRS videos and doing more research on nutrient export, definitely add a skimmer if you don’t have one, I would suggest looking into an algae turf scrubber as well, vodka dosing is way more complicated but could work but needs to be done very carefully with a lot of research because you could easily kill everything with that method, or you could set up a refugium with macro algae, what is your current filtering set-up?

 

[racemd]

I second the advise to look into BRS videos and doing more research on nutrient export, definitely add a skimmer if you don’t have one, I would suggest looking into an algae turf scrubber as well, vodka dosing is way more complicated but could work but needs to be done very carefully with a lot of research because you could easily kill everything with that method, or you could set up a refugium with macro algae, what is your current filtering set-up?

the tank is 90 gallons, it has a "protein skimmer" , a 450 dual enviro wheel and a penn plax elite 1000 instead of a sump. I posted a video that shows all the filtration devices.