Rocks developing a lot of algae.

[Ernie C]

Hi. I set up my Red Sea 350 a couple of months ago. But all the live rocks and live stalk came from my established old tank. It still triggered new tank syndrome and so I’ve had to deal with faded colors, bacterial bloom etc. I was told to take the cheato out of the sump to help establish some phosphates and nitrates to help the corals get back some color. That has been working. I still don’t measure any with my Red Sea Kits but now I have a lot of algae on the rocks. Not sure if this is part of the tank getting established. Any advice would be great.

 

[LBReefer]

I had the same problem and dropped in five turbos. They have been demolishing it. You may want to look at the underlying issues, I.e flow or nutrients.

 

[Ranjib]

You have cyano bacteria. You should run the tests and check your parameters. I tend to get cyano everytime my tank stability goes off track,... due to any reason

 

[Ernie C]

I had the same problem and dropped in five turbos. They have been demolishing it. You may want to look at the underlying issues, I.e flow or nutrients.

Nutrients like phosphates and nitrates? I tested and got no readings. What else should I be testing for? I doesn’t look like cyano. Cyano could be blown off the rocks wouldn’t it?

 

[Ranjib]

yes, cyano should go away if you blast it using a turkey baster

 

[Ernie C]

yes, cyano should go away if you blast it using a turkey baster

This isn’t cyano then as it doesn’t come off when blasted.

 

[mcarroll]

Tell us about your cleanup crew?

If it was adequate before the change, then you need to scale it along with the algae growth.

Try to keep up with it yourself in the mean time....you're the #1 CUC!!! Toothbrush scrubbing, siphoning, etc.

Stick with adding herbivore snails. Crabs and fish are often too omnivorous and ignore the algae.

Forget carnivorous detritavores like nassarius....think of them as one-foot crabs.

 

[Ernie C]

Tell us about your cleanup crew?

If it was adequate before the change, then you need to scale it along with the algae growth.

Try to keep up with it yourself in the mean time....you're the #1 CUC!!! Toothbrush scrubbing, siphoning, etc.

Stick with adding herbivore snails. Crabs and fish are often too omnivorous and ignore the algae.

Forget carnivorous detritavores like nassarius....think of them as one-foot crabs.

Not sure how many but have mostly astrea snails. Maybe 2-3 blue hermits and some emerald green crabs. Algae is mostly on the upper rocks. Areas around snails are cleaned up by them so maybe need to get more snails. How many is too many for a 70 gallon display tank with rock work from top to bottom with a bare bottom?

 

[tvu]

I had the same prob on new tank start up. The algae died off on its own about 1 month later.

 

[mcarroll]

Not sure how many but have mostly astrea snails. Maybe 2-3 blue hermits and some emerald green crabs. Algae is mostly on the upper rocks. Areas around snails are cleaned up by them so maybe need to get more snails. How many is too many for a 70 gallon display tank with rock work from top to bottom with a bare bottom?

How many is totally dependent on algae load, so try to gauge by their current progress.

If 20% of the tank is being cleaned well, then you might need an 80% upgrade to your Astrea's. (Or vis versa)

Make sense?

(The crabs may eat algae, but I wouldn't count on it. They're more scavengers than anything, so they don't target algae the way herbivorous snails do.)

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Not sure how many but have mostly astrea snails. Maybe 2-3 blue hermits and some emerald green crabs. Algae is mostly on the upper rocks. Areas around snails are cleaned up by them so maybe need to get more snails. How many is too many for a 70 gallon display tank with rock work from top to bottom with a bare bottom?

Found my astreas don't do that much work and the emeralds are slow grazers.

I didn't want monster turbos so went with trochus. The trochus are very busy and speedy

+1 about the nassarius. I never see those guys until food goes into the tank

 

[Ernie C]

So algae is getting worse. I added the cheato back to the sump and going to do a large water change tomorrow. Hopefully I can find some snails at the lfs but they usually just have them all together and not sure I’ll be able to tell the difference between them to pick out the torchus ones. My Red Sea tests don’t show phosphates or nitrates at all. Frustrated.

My new tank has been one issue after the next. I miss my old ugly established tank. :-(

 

[Bayareareefer18]

I added some of the Kent marine phosphate sponge media into my sump. A day later algae was noticeably better and a couple days later pretty much gone.

If the hair algae growing on a couple snails shells turned white

 

[mcarroll]

I was told to take the cheato out of the sump to help establish some phosphates and nitrates to help the corals get back some color. That has been working. I still don’t measure any with my Red Sea Kits but now I have a lot of algae on the rocks. Not sure if this is part of the tank getting established.

You were on the right track then. And you're right, this is part of getting the tank established.

Bring home a nice pack of snails and keep on cleaning. If that pack doesn't make a difference within a week or so, bring home another pack of snails. Rinse. Repeat.

 

[Ernie C]

Drowning here. Algae is taking over. Not sure what to do. It doesn’t look like normal green hair algae. It’s brown and looks like cotton. Minimized feeding. Did water change added snails and cheato to the sump and don’t really see any effect. Will test water again. My ro/di filters are less than a year old and I only use for top off water. Help.

 

[mcarroll]

Are the snails eating it? (Put one right on the algae to find out.)

 

[dkevink]

Do you test your rodi water for tds? My water out of the tap is over 900. After a water softener it is 450. From my ro it is 20 to 30. If your di get used up, you can be adding a lot of phosphate.

If you have a lot of algae it can use all the nutrients and you test low. You have to find cause, not just coverup with cleanup crew.