Nuisance algae

AndyOneTwentyFive · Nov 21, 2016

hello all.
I seem to be having trouble with nuisance algae such as red slime, brown diatom, and green hair. I've gotten the red slime under control with chemi-clean but I have lots of brown diatom and green hair.

Details are:
-125 DT with cheap aquatraders LED and added blue strips for actinic supplementation
-10 gallon dedicated fuge with slow flow and 6500k 100w equivalent cfl. Growing culerpa at the moment.

I'm wondering if my cheap LED fixture is the source of my problem. I've kept the fixture set to blue for a couple weeks now and I only turn on 10k to feed so the tank isn't getting hardly any white light. (No coral) I've also switched the fuge light to run 24/7 and I'm not seeing much progress. I have not tested the water but I plan to do so when I get home from work.

Refugium:

Highgrade · Nov 21, 2016

Try Vibrant tank cleaner. Lights and parameters are most likely the issue. Post up your parameters and lighting schedule.

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 21, 2016

How old is the tank. Looks like new tank uglies. How big is the clean up crew. Off hand I'd say more clean up crew.

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 21, 2016

Onother note you don't have much flow in there. Keeping good turbulant flow even ifs it's slower for some corals keeps the particles in suspension and gets them into the skimmer.

AndyOneTwentyFive · Nov 22, 2016

I do need to up my flow. I've repositioned the little cobalt pump I had under the Jabeo to the other side but I think I still have dead spots. There's 10 blue leg hermits, 2 skunk cleaners, pistol, watchman goby, 10 nasarius, 10 small turbos, 10 margarita, and 10 snails that I forget the name of (cone shaped shell) tank is coming up on 4 months old.

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 22, 2016

AndyOneTwentyFive said:
4 months old

classic uglies.

yea thats a big tank for all that. youll get there though.
Keep an eye on the crabs and shrimp. crabs are not to be trusted and shrimp are jerks. snails will do the heavy lifitng with the ditoms and slime.

Whats the dims on the tank? I can recommend some low cost heads till you get the good ones.

with that much new sand and dry rock diatoms are what they are. its a lot better than the alternative.

AndyOneTwentyFive · Nov 22, 2016

saltyfilmfolks said:
classic uglies.
yea thats a big tank for all that. youll get there though.
Keep an eye on the crabs and shrimp. crabs are not to be trusted and shrimp are jerks. snails will do the heavy lifitng with the ditoms and slime.

Whats the dims on the tank? I can recommend some low cost heads till you get the good ones.

with that much new sand and dry rock diatoms are what they are. its a lot better than the alternative.

Uh oh what do crabs do that's bad? And the tank is a standard 125, 72"x24"x18"
I like the jabeo I have and I think I want one just like it. Problem is I'm not sure what size it is. It's pretty big though and puts out a lot of flow. I'm thinking it's a wp40 or 60

AndyOneTwentyFive · Nov 22, 2016

Well I wasn't expecting to see ammonia. Good thing I tested it anyway. I did recently loose a chromis and can't find him. Figured the CUC took care of him. Anyway looks like a little phosphate and a little nitrate. I guess I will do a big water change followed by some decent sized changes once a week or more?

AndyOneTwentyFive · Nov 22, 2016

Well I made some saltwater with what salt I had left and discovered my mixing bin to be filthy. This may have something to do with the ammonia spike.

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 22, 2016

If crabs don't have enough food they'll eat snails. In rare cases fish
Defiantly get some bottled bacteria in the water as soon as you can. I keep seachem prime and stability on Hand at all times. That much ammonia can be really bad for the fish.
With ammonia if you get readings that high. Test twice and if it's true dump in the bottle bacteria.

Are you on rodi water?

The no and Po are pretty normal for a tank that new and good bacteria will keep it down I wouldn't worry about those.

Yea the wps are nice. I Have two wp25 in my 55.
I'll try to get a link to my favorite eBay seller He has them cheap and also has the dual controller for a good price to. And he is here in the states.
Look on the back of the magnet it should have the model on it

Bpb · Nov 22, 2016

One note I will give is since your tank is under a year old, you are going to have some algae. It's unavoidable and in the early stages not only is it no indication anything at all is wrong, but to be downright expected. Just keep that in mind. As rock and sand mature and form different balances of bacteria, microscopic and small crustaceans, biofilm, sponge life, etc...various levels of algae will cover the rock. It's normal to get a nasty cyano, green hair, dinoflagellates, red turf blooms. With careful cleanup crew selection and diligent husbandry, it'll clear up and coraline will begin to grow as well as sponges and what not.

Just ensure you're keeping up with the basics such as using only RODI water (with working filters), maintaining a regular water change schedule, not overfeeding, and not providing excessive light levels. It'll pass in time. You honestly don't have to use any kind of chemical removal methods. Those will only be temporary and will interrupt the natural maturation cycle, actually prolonging it. If this is your first tank and it's really difficult for you to look at the algae, manual removal when you have time is perfectly fine.

AndyOneTwentyFive · Nov 22, 2016

saltyfilmfolks said:
If crabs don't have enough food they'll eat snails. In rare cases fish
Defiantly get some bottled bacteria in the water as soon as you can. I keep seachem prime and stability on Hand at all times. That much ammonia can be really bad for the fish.
With ammonia if you get readings that high. Test twice and if it's true dump in the bottle bacteria.

Are you on rodi water?

The no and Po are pretty normal for a tank that new and good bacteria will keep it down I wouldn't worry about those.

Yea the wps are nice. I Have two wp25 in my 55.
I'll try to get a link to my favorite eBay seller He has them cheap and also has the dual controller for a good price to. And he is here in the states.
Look on the back of the magnet it should have the model on it

I had no idea crabs ate snails! Crazy! I'll watch em. Thanks for the information. Yes I use a BRS RO/DI system. It's as old as the tank or should I say as new.

Bpb said:
One note I will give is since your tank is under a year old, you are going to have some algae. It's unavoidable and in the early stages not only is it no indication anything at all is wrong, but to be downright expected. Just keep that in mind. As rock and sand mature and form different balances of bacteria, microscopic and small crustaceans, biofilm, sponge life, etc...various levels of algae will cover the rock. It's normal to get a nasty cyano, green hair, dinoflagellates, red turf blooms. With careful cleanup crew selection and diligent husbandry, it'll clear up and coraline will begin to grow as well as sponges and what not.

Just ensure you're keeping up with the basics such as using only RODI water (with working filters), maintaining a regular water change schedule, not overfeeding, and not providing excessive light levels. It'll pass in time. You honestly don't have to use any kind of chemical removal methods. Those will only be temporary and will interrupt the natural maturation cycle, actually prolonging it. If this is your first tank and it's really difficult for you to look at the algae, manual removal when you have time is perfectly fine.

Thanks, Bpb this is all very reassuring.

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 22, 2016

http://www.ebay.com/usr/supermart168?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2754
this is the cheapest ive found the jebao's

Grab some bacteria and get that Am down.

jimmy2times · Nov 23, 2016

i had some hair algae i that was annoying and i built a algae turf scrubber in about 30 min. it started growing in 2 days and by day 12 to 14 the algae is totally gone in DT. best cheap totally effective way to get it under control. you also need way more CUC in your tank.

AndyOneTwentyFive · Nov 26, 2016

Quick update if anyone is still following. I have performed 2 10% WC's over the last few days and I have lost 1 clown fish. I received a bottle of dr tims today (150gal) and poored it in but I am concerned because I forgot to turn off my skimmer until about 8 hours later. What do you think? I'll get test results soon.

AndyOneTwentyFive · Nov 26, 2016

Update on ammonia level... the test tube showed a lighter green than the last test. It looked closer to .5 than 1.0 if not closer it WAS .5

jimmy2times · Nov 26, 2016

That bacteria needs to grow a bit before seeing a significant change I would still set up turf scrubber I can Fred whatever I want and not worry bout a thing except algae growing faster. To date it's best cheapest fix that works better than anything I have tried for NES

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 26, 2016

AndyOneTwentyFive said:
Update on ammonia level... the test tube showed a lighter green than the last test. It looked closer to .5 than 1.0 if not closer it WAS .5

How much did you put in? Wait and test again in a few.
Somewhere three should be a source of the ammonia or a reason the bacteria isn't kicking in. I.e. Cloraines in tap water or a dead snail etc.
good luck glad you updated. Sorry about the loss. Well get this thing fixed.

Jasonnew2reefing · Nov 26, 2016

I recommend sea urchins... i put a pin and a long spine in 120g and boy let me tell ya they went to town on my green stuff

AndyOneTwentyFive · Nov 29, 2016

I just did another water change. Haven't had time to test parameters but I haven't lost anything else. I've got more problems now, my main light went out. I believe it's the power supply and I'm trying to track down a new one. I'm going to post a new thread about this but I'll ask you all too. I have a cheap "green element" led fixture that I bought from Aqua Traders. As I get online to try and remedy this thing I can't find their website. My only conclusion is that they went out of business so that's great. At any rate I need a 24 volt 6 amp power supply to get the light going and I'm not having luck finding one of those either. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.