Help on 2 month old reek aquarium

Ryushei · Mar 2, 2017

So I only had my tank for 2 months and I have been getting really bad brown and green algae and want to know what is the best way to get rid of it. I have chemi pure elite and its still like this. Any advice would really help.

Greg Miller · Mar 2, 2017

How many hours a day are you running that Kessil? That could be most of your problem.

Ryushei · Mar 2, 2017

Greg Miller said:
How many hours a day are you running that Kessil? That could be most of your problem.

9 am to 10pm
0 to 90 percent from 9 to noon. And reverse from 7 to 10pm.

Greg Miller · Mar 2, 2017

I would love to keep my lights on 13 hours a day but in my opinion, that is too much. I probably push it with mine on 9 hours with it ramping up and down. In my experience, if you overdo the lighting, the algae will follow. Reduce the lighting and continue to eliminate the phosphates.

Ryushei · Mar 2, 2017

Greg Miller said:
I would love to keep my lights on 13 hours a day but in my opinion, that is too much. I probably push it with mine on 9 hours with it ramping up and down. In my experience, if you overdo the lighting, the algae will follow. Reduce the lighting and continue to eliminate the phosphates.

What other ways can I reduce phosphates?

Ryushei said:
So I only had my tank for 2 months and I have been getting really bad brown and green algae and want to know what is the best way to get rid of it. I have chemi pure elite and its still like this. Any advice would really help.

Greg Miller · Mar 2, 2017

Ryushei said:
What other ways can I reduce phosphates?

Chemi Pure Elite has a small amount of granulated ferric oxide (GFO) in it to help reduce phosphates. In my opinion, I would rather use regular Chemi Pure or something similar and then put a bag of GFO or some other phosphate absorbing material in a larger quantity in a higher flow area such as near the sump return. There are some aluminum based products but I think the general consensus is that GFO is usually the way to go. You can go as easy as putting a bag of it in your sump or filter or advanced as a phosphate reactor. I think a reactor will reduce phosphates faster but it means more plumbing and another pump.

wkscott · Mar 2, 2017

The brown algae you are experiencing in your new tank are diatoms and are to be expected in a tank of this age. Diatoms are fueled by silicates. These will go away on their own, when the silicate is all used up. Are you using tsp water or RO/DI water? Tap water is many times loaded with silicates. GFO will also remove some silicates. Do you have a CUC yet? They will help by eating the diatoms and some of the green algae.

Ryushei · Mar 2, 2017

I mean I'm not new to the tank hobby so yeah but I haven't experienced it this bad before. I do have a CUC which are doing overtime right now cleaning up, if I didn't, it wouldve been worse. I am using RODI water with my own system. But alright, ill reduce the lighting and add more GFO.

wkscott · Mar 2, 2017

Ryushei said:
I mean I'm not new to the tank hobby so yeah but I haven't experienced it this bad before. I do have a CUC which are doing overtime right now cleaning up, if I didn't, it wouldve been worse. I am using RODI water with my own system. But alright, ill reduce the lighting and add more GFO.

In my first tank the diatoms were so thick that 4 hours after I cleaned the glass, it was completely covered again. I didn't add GFO and the Diatoms lasted a month. On my current tank I ran GFO from day 1. My diatom outbreak only lasted 4 days and it was very lite. I didn't even go through the green algae stages.

Ryushei · Mar 2, 2017

wkscott said:
In my first tank the diatoms were so thick that 4 hours after I cleaned the glass, it was completely covered again. I didn't add GFO and the Diatoms lasted a month. On my current tank I ran GFO from day 1. My diatom outbreak only lasted 4 days and it was very lite. I didn't even go through the green algae stages.

Wow your lucky. I guess I just gotta keep doing water changes, add ****, reduce lighting and just wait... I really dont like it because it looks really ugly and are bad for my corals.

harryball69 · Mar 4, 2017

Ryushei said:
So I only had my tank for 2 months and I have been getting really bad brown and green algae and want to know what is the best way to get rid of it. I have chemi pure elite and its still like this. Any advice would really help.

Well your tank is very young. Most likely still cycling. But I would cut that light back. Easy on the food. and maybe another powerhead as I only see one. Good flow helps.

Ryushei · Mar 4, 2017

harryball69 said:
Well your tank is very young. Most likely still cycling. But I would cut that light back. Easy on the food. and maybe another powerhead as I only see one. Good flow helps.

really? another powerhead? why, isnt one enough flow? O_O