Need help with large algae problem

[Reef.Blue]

What are your nutrient levels? What type of lighting do you use?

Nitrate is really high about 70 ppm. Phosphate is 1.5 ppm. I use 2x AI prime 16hd. Haven't be able to get the nitrate or phosphate down.

 

[ReefEco]

First thing I would do would be to test the distilled water you are using. Consider getting an RODI unit. Nitrate and Phosphate are VERY high (what are you using to test these? Check the units on the phosphate reading...), which is fueling growth. You will likely never be able to get ahead of the algae issues with these levels. Even reducing them significantly, with the algae established, it will be a long road back - since algae is very good at life. Most herbivores have a hard time with algae once it gets long - i.e. snails and tangs in my experience prefer the shorter lengths, and once it gets long it is harder for them to handle. So, course of action would be to continue to remove as much as possible manually, test your distilled water, do a 50% water change to get nutrients down (or some other method), depending on if you have other corals you can reduce your photoperiod a little, but it won't have much effect until you get your nutrients down. Dying algae is just going to put those nutrients back into the water without some export method.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Lately I had huge algae blooms in the past 2 months. I tried everything; reduced lighting, water changes, reduced feeding, more cuc members, added a tang, and i'm still struggling with algae. It is all hair algae. I have to clean it out almost every other day because it grows back so fast. Please let me know of any advice to fix this.

Please provide a pic or two of your algae issue.
Also is your tank at or near a window?

 

[Reef.Blue]

Please provide a pic or two of your algae issue.
Also is your tank at or near a window?

It's near a window, but the blinds are always shut so no light gets through. I can get a picture later.

 

[ReefEco]

Its your phosphate and nitrate levels. And more importantly, if you are doing water changes to get those levels down, and can't - where is it coming from? Got to get your detective on : ) Even doing a 50% water change and cutting those levels in half likely won't make a large impact. Shoot for 10ppm nitrate and .05ppm phosphate. Note that you said your phosphate was 1.5ppm, which is orders of magnitude higher than what it should be if you are having an algae issue. Older more established tanks can run higher levels, but something is obviously out of whack in your water. If you have corals in the tank, you'll also need to proceed slowly to get those down. A string of 50% water changes (assuming your replacement water is clean of nutrients) 3-4 days apart will do the ticket - once you've identified where all the nutrients are coming from....

 

[vetteguy53081]

It's near a window, but the blinds are always shut so no light gets through. I can get a picture later.

This and Phosphate is your likely issue. The power of UV is very strong and will penetrate shades-blinds-curtains. I generally recommend getting a sheet of black construction paper from Walmart and placing it on side of tank that faces the window. You will see a drastic reduction. Often, clean up crew cannot keep up with the rate of growth of algae unless minimized.

 

[Reef.Blue]

Please provide a pic or two of your algae issue.
Also is your tank at or near a window?

I removed most of it so this is really the only rock with noticeable algae. These strands got up to almost 3-4 inches long before I removed them.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I removed most of it so this is really the only rock with noticeable algae. These strands got up to almost 3-4 inches long before I removed them.

does not look terrible. I see a snail in pic- good cleaners are:
Astrea-turbo-cerith-trochus snails
a pencil urchin
8-10 carribean blue leg hermits which are tiny. They should take this algae right down

 

[Reef.Blue]

does not look terrible. I see a snail in pic- good cleaners are:
Astrea-turbo-cerith-trochus snails
a pencil urchin
8-10 carribean blue leg hermits which are tiny. They should take this algae right down

Have a ton of snails, astrea, turbo, cerith. I also picked up a small conch to clean up algae on the sand bed. I have like 15 hermits also. It seems like they haven’t really been cleaning the amount of algae that I need them to.

 

[Graemesreef]

Have a ton of snails, astrea, turbo, cerith. I also picked up a small conch to clean up algae on the sand bed. I have like 15 hermits also. It seems like they haven’t really been cleaning the amount of algae that I need them to.

Once again the algae you are dealing with might not be what you think it is as many forms of algae/ cyano can look a lot a like and be not only not palatable to your fish and inverts but toxic as well.

 

[EZKLR]

spray it with some hydrogen peroxide and it'll die quickly

 

[ReefEco]

Nothing you do will start to make a real difference until you reduce your high nutrients. It will keep coming back.

 

[VirginiaReefer]

tuxedo urchin, turbo snails, and a sea hare helped me beat back some gha and dinos into no algae, diff situation im sure but i did reduced lighting. basically 6 hours a day of blues only and no whites at all(i did do a blackout for maybe 36 hours once) did anything die in your tank maybe and its stuck behind a rock polluting the tank?

 

[Reef.Blue]

tuxedo urchin, turbo snails, and a sea hare helped me beat back some gha and dinos into no algae, diff situation im sure but i did reduced lighting. basically 6 hours a day of blues only and no whites at all(i did do a blackout for maybe 36 hours once) did anything die in your tank maybe and its stuck behind a rock polluting the tank?

No I don’t think so. Only one fish has died lately and I removed him quickly

 

[jhadaway]

What are you feeding your fish and how often? Consider using frozen foods that have been strained. I thaw my cubes in a small container and pour off the liquid. I then feed 2x daily with tweezers. I have found that flaked and pellets make gha worse. If you are feeding nori or food with algae for herbivores you might cut that out for awhile too. Nori can be gas on a fire. Thats my best guess. That phosphate is coming from somewhere. Consider gfo as well.

 

[Reef.Blue]

What are you feeding your fish and how often? Consider using frozen foods that have been strained. I thaw my cubes in a small container and pour off the liquid. I then feed 2x daily with tweezers. I have found that flaked and pellets make gha worse. If you are feeding nori or food with algae for herbivores you might cut that out for awhile too. Nori can be gas on a fire. Thats my best guess. That phosphate is coming from somewhere. Consider gfo as well.

I feed half a cube of frozen mysis 1x a day.

 

[VirginiaReefer]

I feed half a cube of frozen mysis 1x a day.

thats not much at all. can you post pictures of your algae?

 

[Reef.Blue]

thats not much at all. can you post pictures of your algae?

I attached a picture if you go up a few posts. I have been manually removing the algae so the picture is a few hours after I removed it

 

[Poseidon03]

Nitrate is really high about 70 ppm. Phosphate is 1.5 ppm. I use 2x AI prime 16hd. Haven't be able to get the nitrate or phosphate down.

How are you trying to get them down? What methods have you used and how often?

 

[Reef.Blue]

How are you trying to get them down? What methods have you used and how often?

I added a skimmer and been doing weekly 10% water changes