Green algee problem

underwaterdan · Nov 2, 2015

So I have been doing so well on my 150, about one month since the first fish... Little to no algae in my tank. Had brown algae but added a cuc and they took care of it in short order. Now I have lots of green algae growing and none of my cuc is helping(not hair algee just growth on glass really, and a and and rocks.) . Tons of green algee on the glass. I gave gfo and carbon going and did a 30 gal water change today and still having a bad algee problem. Any advice?

cameronh · Nov 2, 2015

I scraped mine with a razor and used a net to scoop out the particles, then kept up with water changes. Algae gone. That was on my native tank.

ReeferBob · Nov 2, 2015

How often do you change your GFO? Is is tumbling or hard packed? Keeping up with GFO will do a lot for ridding the tank of algae. Also you might want to look into a UV filter. They work great on nuisance algae.

Have you tested for phosphates and nitrates?

underwaterdan · Nov 2, 2015

I installed my gfo two weeks ago. I just changed it again today along with the carbon hoping it would help. Nitrates are between 0-5ppm.
Just when everything was going so well I get this algae film problem!

underwaterdan · Nov 2, 2015

My algae is more of a thin film that disintegrates when I brush it into a cloud in the water then settles tothe bottom. Maybe I need to increase my sump light time also I have a small piece of cheato in the sump Maybe I need more

MAN-O-WAR · Nov 2, 2015

How long are u running your lights for? Probably a high phosphate level! I wouldn't do any water changes until the tank is totally cycled...

chimmike · Nov 2, 2015

Sounds like cyano. CUC can only help so much, but if the parameters are off, you'll constantly have the algae issue.

Check phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, see where the numbers are.

What's your fish load? How often/how much do you feed? Do you have any other filtration aside from gfo and carbon?

underwaterdan · Nov 2, 2015

MAN-O-WAR said:
How long are u running your lights for? Probably a high phosphate level! I wouldn't do any water changes until the tank is totally cycled...

Display lights are on for 10 hours ramping up and down, the fuge light is on for 6 hours opposite the display. My tank has been cycled for a while now....

MAN-O-WAR · Nov 2, 2015

underwaterdan said:
Display lights are on for 10 hours ramping up and down, the fuge light is on for 6 hours opposite the display. My tank has been cycled for a while now....

Your doing everything right! Maybe cut down the lighting to 4-5 hrs until the algae goes away, harvest that stuff out as well!

underwaterdan · Nov 2, 2015

chimmike said:
Sounds like cyano. CUC can only help so much, but if the parameters are off, you'll constantly have the algae issue.

Check phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, see where the numbers are.

What's your fish load? How often/how much do you feed? Do you have any other filtration aside from gfo and carbon?

Thanks for the help. I think I over feed, and that's the problem. I have a fuge and skimmer and filter socks for filtration. My nitrite is 0 and my nitrate is between 0-5.
I'm thinking of turning off the display lights for the day to try and help slow down the growth.

chimmike · Nov 2, 2015

What's the photoperiod? You can shorten it by a couple hours, that could help as well. Feed a little less for a couple weeks and clean out the filter socks. vacuum out/scrape or brush off any cyano you can

MAN-O-WAR · Nov 2, 2015

Lol, now that's a green hair algae problem!

underwaterdan · Nov 2, 2015

Thank goodness mines nothing like that. Just cloudy glass. Im gonna run today with only 5 hours of light. Probably do that all week. Should I turn off my fuge light too?

MAN-O-WAR · Nov 2, 2015

Run for about 4-5 hrs and shut everything off! It looks like this now...

underwaterdan · Nov 2, 2015

Big difference! Looks great. I guess I'm gonna hold off on getting my pajama Cardinals this week.
How long did it take to clear up?

MAN-O-WAR · Nov 2, 2015

Only a week! It's such a great hobby, patience is the game!

MAN-O-WAR · Nov 2, 2015

I think I'm going to buy some more live rock and move around the formation so it goes from the front corner to the back gradually getting higher and have a island in the opposite corner in the front with a lonely sea Apple!