Overfeeding? Nuisance algae starting?

calf85 · Feb 6, 2013

I have 3 clownfish, a royal gramma, and a damselfish and I think I may be overfeeding them. I was giving 1/3 a cube of myasis shrimp in the morning and as much pellet food as they'll eat in a few minutes (and a bit that floats away) in the evening, plus a few flakes of dried seaweed for my algae-eating clean-up crew as my tank wasn't too well established. I've noticed an uptick in my nitrates this week (20? those color vials are so hard to read...) and some algae growing (see below).

My plan is to do several partial water changes to lower my nitrates and reduce my feeding. No more seaweed flakes, not letting any pellets escape, and only 1/4 cube of shrimp. My question is, do you know what kind of algae this is, and do I need to do anything besides reduce nitrates to control it? If you need any more details on my tank I posted a tank thread here.

Thanks!

_Alex_ · Feb 6, 2013

Turn your filter/sump pump off when feeding. Then no food will "get away". And for the fish you have I would agree you are over feeding.

The algae looks like maybe the start of green hair algae

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calf85 · Feb 7, 2013

Ok thanks. I forgot to mention that I found two dead hermit crabs and my urchin ate my halimeda plant, so maybe that could be contributing to my nitrates too.

calf85 · Feb 7, 2013

Are you thinking that 1/4 cube of myasis shrimp is till too much? I could cut it in half again to 1/8. I want to decrease the number of pellets I feed, but the clownfish are so darn greedy! If I don't feed them until they're full, the gramma and damsel won't get a bite! Thoughts?

_Alex_ · Feb 7, 2013

Pellets will do less harm than the frozen. Frozen a lot of time has phosphates and decomposes a lot faster than pellets. Just cut back on how often you feed the frozen.

Also the food your saying that gets away is causing a problem because its either sitting in your sump or filter and rotting causing nitrates. Turning filters and return pump off will keep te food on the tank where the fish and clean up crew can consume it.

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calf85 · Feb 7, 2013

Alright, thanks, I will give that a try.

calf85 · Feb 18, 2013

Been over a week and it's grown a little more. Still doesn't quite look like hair algae does it?

zibba · Feb 19, 2013

How old is the tank? Nitrates may not be related as much to the feeding as it is to new tank syndrome. Assuming the tank is new, you're using RO/DI and a good skimmer, I'd say you should just stay the course. Nothing too dramatic.

always reefin · Feb 19, 2013

What are your phosphates?

calf85 · Feb 19, 2013

Tank is about 3 months old, so yeah it is a fairly new tank. My phosphates are 0, always have been since very early on. My nitrates have been about 20, and partial water changes haven't done much to control it. I set up a biopellet reactor recently and hope that in a few months it will help take care of that, but we'll see.

My main question was just whether I needed to do anything more to control the algae, but it sounds like I should leave well enough alone for now?

mike007 · Feb 19, 2013

I only feed once a day and that is very little. I learned the hard way that introducing too many nutrients will cause a outbreak of algae. Also all top off water and water change water must be pure ro.