Why do I have all this algae?

cnewman402 · Sep 26, 2015

I'm 90% sure its algae, but how do I control it? This is a newer tank with Live Rocks added in the last week. Now I have a major amount of growth on the stuff in the picture. Life seems flourish on the new rock from Florida. The corals are sprouting and with the development of life, maybe part of the sand. The algae growth is massive though and spread over the last few weekdays, even the poor hermit crab is covered in the algae.

This picture is after cleaning the majority of it off by sweeping it "under the rug" with a net, and brushing the algae down on the rock. Everything was yellow. I also did a 20% water change.

Looking for advice on how to maintain a clean floor?
What does this algae point to a sign of?
Natural ways to clean up the sand bed (no chemicals)?

TIA.

gcrawford · Sep 26, 2015

Diatoms....they usually go away with time. Very common with young tanks.

cnewman402 · Sep 26, 2015

Thanks again gcrawford, I was worried I wasn't maintaining something correctly. Should I add more cleanup crew do get it back to the white sand it was? The crabs seem to just hang out on the rocks and eat, while the hermits focus mainly on the edge wall. Im looking for something that will venture to the middle and eat the stuff, and clean my sand.

Downbeach · Sep 26, 2015

They will simply die off once they've consumed the available silica. Are you using RO/DI water for your top off and freshly making SW?

SantaMonicaHelp · Sep 26, 2015

I hope this bit of info might help:

Nutrient Export

What do all algae (and cyano too) need to survive? Nutrients. What are nutrients? Ammonia/ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate and urea are the major ones. Which ones cause most of the algae in your tank? These same ones. Why can't you just remove these nutrients and eliminate all the algae in your tank? Because these nutrients are the result of the animals you keep.

So how do your animals "make" these nutrients? Well a large part the nutrients comes from pee (urea). Pee is very high in urea and ammonia, and these are a favorite food of algae and some bacteria. This is why your glass will always need cleaning; because the pee hits the glass before anything else, and algae on the glass consume the ammonia and urea immediately (using photosynthesis) and grow more. In the ocean and lakes, phytoplankton consume the ammonia and urea in open water, and seaweed consume it in shallow areas, but in a tank you don't have enough space or water volume for this, and, your other filters or animals often remove or kill the phytoplankton or seaweed anyway. So, the nutrients stay in your tank.

Then, the ammonia/ammonium hits your rocks, and the periphyton on the rocks consumes more ammonia and urea. Periphyton is both algae and animals, and is the reason your rocks change color after a few weeks from when they were new. Then the ammonia goes inside the rock, or hits your sand, and bacteria there convert it into nitrite and nitrate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.

Also let's not forget phosphate, which comes from solid organic food particles. When these particles are eaten by microbes and clean up crews, the organic phosphorus in them is converted into phosphate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.

So whenever you have algae or cyano "problems", you simply have not exported enough nutrients out of your tank compared to how much you have been feeding (note: live rock can absorb phosphate for up to a year, making it seem like there was never a problem. Then after a year, there is a problem).

So just increase your nutrient exports. You could also reduce feeding, and this has the same effect, but it's certainly not fun when you want to feed your animals

Good luck!

SF

cnewman402 · Sep 27, 2015

I'm thinking my tank was not done cycling. This morning I found a crab trying to eat a clown that died overnight. I was sure I was done cycling, but at this point I think I wasn't. I'm going to give the tank another 30 days and hope that I can add fish again someday. I ordered two live rocks from Florida, and the diatoms began to grow. I have been graphing my pH, Nitrate, Nitrites and, Ammonia levels and they have all been ideal. In fact they were ideal for about a week before I decided to add fish. At first I blamed the crab for killing the one clown but I noticed the other was gasping for air. This told me is was probably opportunistic feeding from the crab. I'm still not sure what the cause of all this was. I tried to save the other after chasing the crabs around and removing them. At this point the water quality became really low with debris. I did a 20% water change and I 'm waiting for the tank to cycle more before doing anything else. The rocks I bought have corals sprouting on them generously. I really thought my tank was in a good condition but now I'm not so sure. Any advice?

pH= 8.0
Ammonia= 0.0
Nitrites= 0.0
Nitrate= 5.0

Most of these levels have remained the same now for about 2 weeks now. The water I'm using is premade box water from a petstore here in town, which is what I am using for water changes. Temperature is about 78f.

TIA

Russ265 · Sep 27, 2015

takes 6 months to a year before the tank stabilizes fully.
you will have several speed bumps (mostly first 3 months) during this timeframe to witness algae and other "uglies".

Jeffys · Sep 27, 2015

SantaMonicaHelp said:
I hope this bit of info might help:

Nutrient Export

What do all algae (and cyano too) need to survive? Nutrients. What are nutrients? Ammonia/ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate and urea are the major ones. Which ones cause most of the algae in your tank? These same ones. Why can't you just remove these nutrients and eliminate all the algae in your tank? Because these nutrients are the result of the animals you keep.

So how do your animals "make" these nutrients? Well a large part the nutrients comes from pee (urea). Pee is very high in urea and ammonia, and these are a favorite food of algae and some bacteria. This is why your glass will always need cleaning; because the pee hits the glass before anything else, and algae on the glass consume the ammonia and urea immediately (using photosynthesis) and grow more. In the ocean and lakes, phytoplankton consume the ammonia and urea in open water, and seaweed consume it in shallow areas, but in a tank you don't have enough space or water volume for this, and, your other filters or animals often remove or kill the phytoplankton or seaweed anyway. So, the nutrients stay in your tank.

Then, the ammonia/ammonium hits your rocks, and the periphyton on the rocks consumes more ammonia and urea. Periphyton is both algae and animals, and is the reason your rocks change color after a few weeks from when they were new. Then the ammonia goes inside the rock, or hits your sand, and bacteria there convert it into nitrite and nitrate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.

Also let's not forget phosphate, which comes from solid organic food particles. When these particles are eaten by microbes and clean up crews, the organic phosphorus in them is converted into phosphate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.

So whenever you have algae or cyano "problems", you simply have not exported enough nutrients out of your tank compared to how much you have been feeding (note: live rock can absorb phosphate for up to a year, making it seem like there was never a problem. Then after a year, there is a problem).

So just increase your nutrient exports. You could also reduce feeding, and this has the same effect, but it's certainly not fun when you want to feed your animals

Good luck!

SF

Perfectly said!

Downbeach · Sep 27, 2015

What are you using to top off for evaporation? What is your salinity?

Reefing Madness · Sep 27, 2015

Your looking at Diatoms as your Algae. It happens to all new tanks, it will eat the silicates out of the tank then will disappear.
As for your water parameters, they are infact inline. I don't think thats what killed your fish. how did you acclimate him to your tank? And new fish dieing is a thing we all have had it happen, sometimes there is no explanation as to why.
Can you give us your SG, Phosphate readings?

thenanoreef · Sep 27, 2015

Take a look at my thread for causes of algae

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/r...-to-quit-the-hobby.214755/page-2#post-2467989

thenanoreef

cnewman402 · Sep 27, 2015

Pre-made water to top off evaporation from a nation chain (petco).

Salinity= 37

No way to test phosphates right now. I will need to order a test. I really appreciate the advice I was pretty upset this morning when the fish were dying. I'm glad to know more people have went through this. I don't plan to add fish again for awhile. I acclimated with a drip line to the bucket for about 30 minutes. They survived about 5 days in the tank. After 48 hours they lost their appetite, so I went and got them new foods. They didn't eat the new food much. The I noticed heavy respiration and the want for air at the top of the tank. I will reduce feedings, and thank you all.

I'm till suspicious of the crab though, some snails disappeared. One on the way home and two after about 2 days. A week later the third disappeared. He doesn't try the turbo snails though.

LivinTheSwreefLife · Sep 27, 2015

Pre-made water as in salt water? You should always be topping off with fresh water or your salinity will keep increasing.

Russ265 · Sep 27, 2015

cnewman402 said:
Pre-made water to top off evaporation from a nation chain (petco).

Salinity= 37

No way to test phosphates right now. I will need to order a test. I really appreciate the advice I was pretty upset this morning when the fish were dying. I'm glad to know more people have went through this. I don't plan to add fish again for awhile. I acclimated with a drip line to the bucket for about 30 minutes. They survived about 5 days in the tank. After 48 hours they lost their appetite, so I went and got them new foods. They didn't eat the new food much. The I noticed heavy respiration and the want for air at the top of the tank. I will reduce feedings, and thank you all.

I'm till suspicious of the crab though, some snails disappeared. One on the way home and two after about 2 days. A week later the third disappeared. He doesn't try the turbo snails though.

what kind of flow do you have in the tank? eg: is water rippling at the top of the tank to promote gas exchange?

a stagnant tank is an unhappy one

i lose fish occasionally as well in the first week. usually the biggest offenders look depressed after 48 hours (big cue) then pass after a week. ive had this happen with female mandarin dragonettes. i have a male, and he is still kicking, but 2 dragonettes later and still no-go on the female.

funny... cuz the male was from petco, the 2 females from separate lfs.

cnewman402 · Sep 29, 2015

Water is rippling up top. I'm going to focus on more live rock before adding anything else. I only have 15lbs in the 30 gallon, ill need more for proper filtration. I'm starting to convince myself I have a killer in the tank though. Another member of the clean up crew disappeared.

Cameron · Sep 29, 2015

I purchased 3 margarita snails a while back and put them in with my hermit crab when only my CUC was in the tank. One of the snails disappeared, and within a day or two I noticed that my hermit crab has a new home that looks awfully familiar...

cnewman402 · Oct 1, 2015

Yeah everything in the hermit crabs reach is gone. The only thing that didnt get killed in the turbo snails, because they hang out up top out of reach. Im going to pull them and sell them back to the LFS, they are not doing what I needed them to do.