Algae growing crazy, but can't move tank out of light

[xsentrixsupra]

I'm fairly new to saltwater, only had it for like 3 months now. I have a ton of algae growing in my nano tank. It was the brown stringy diatom stuff and now its the green stuff. I don't mind algae, but its not fun when its all over the glass. The tank is in my office, which is surrounded by big glass windows on all sides. Is there anything I can add to the water to slow the algae? The simplest solution obviously is moving it out of the light, but that's just not possible. Thanks!

 

[mcgyvr]

What are your nitrate readings?
What are your phosphate readings?
Are you using RO/DI water or regular tap or something in between?

Can you post a picture?

New tanks should 100% expect algae.. We call it the "ugly stages".. Diatoms then green film/hair algae then sometimes cyanobacteria comes next..
It can take a few months to get through the worst of it..

There are products like Fluconazole (sold as "Reef Flux") that can kill hair algae but if you don't solve the reason its there (high nutrient levels,etc...) it will just come right back.. Some just use it and continue using it as general maintenance..

Most though will just tell you to have patience and the ugly stages will pass provided you are doing proper maintenance..

 

[xsentrixsupra]

View attachment 396853

What are your nitrate readings?
What are your phosphate readings?
Are you using RO/DI water or regular tap or something in between?

Can you post a picture?

New tanks should 100% expect algae.. We call it the "ugly stages".. Diatoms then green film/hair algae then sometimes cyanobacteria comes next..
It can take a few months to get through the worst of it..

There are products like Fluconazole (sold as "Reef Flux") that can kill hair algae but if you don't solve the reason its there (high nutrient levels,etc...) it will just come right back.. Some just use it and continue using it as general maintenance..

Most though will just tell you to have patience and the ugly stages will pass provided you are doing proper maintenance..

Nitrates are 0-20
Not sure on phosphates

Completely understand about it taking some time to settle down hah. The picture is of the algae on the glass. As you can see in the background the windows are open and its like that on all sides. I feel thats why it grows so fast on the glass. That's why I was curious if there was anything to add to the water to slow it down. It's not a lot of fun scrubbing the glass every 2 days or so. Just notice the pic is sideways. Sorry about that, but you get the idea.

 

[xsentrixsupra]

Oops, also forgot to add using RO water.

 

[mcgyvr]

Totally normal...if scraping algae from glass every few days is a problem this hobby is not for you.. It will never stop..

Continue with proper maintenance and give it time

 

[garygonzales]

probably should use ro/di water ..ro water alone might give you unwanted algae...

 

[outssider]

get one of these for the glass....
https://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=33218

Algae from sunlight should only be a problem if you are getting direct sunlight hitting the tank...

 

[dattong]

I'm fairly new to saltwater, only had it for like 3 months now. I have a ton of algae growing in my nano tank. It was the brown stringy diatom stuff and now its the green stuff. I don't mind algae, but its not fun when its all over the glass. The tank is in my office, which is surrounded by big glass windows on all sides. Is there anything I can add to the water to slow the algae? The simplest solution obviously is moving it out of the light, but that's just not possible. Thanks!

Get a sea urchin. You'll be amazed by how fast it cleans algae in your tank.

 

[Uncle99]

Sunlight is very bad.
The colour spectrum fuels algae.

 

[NikonN8]

If you can slip a small sump under your desk, a skimmer and a lighted macro chamber will help slow your growth on the glass. I had a similar issue with my office system so I grew some of the less-invasive Caulerpa species (C. prolifera) in my sump. I ripped out about a third of it on a weekly basis and only cleaned the glass on Monday mornings.

 

[xsentrixsupra]

Totally normal...if scraping algae from glass every few days is a problem this hobby is not for you.. It will never stop..

Continue with proper maintenance and give it time

Haha I mean I'd prefer not, but its not a huge deal. I just don't want it to overtake the tank! I guess I'm use to my freshwater tanks at my house. My 125 and 75 have no algae growing on the glass, but they also aren't in direct sunlight.

Get a sea urchin. You'll be amazed by how fast it cleans algae in your tank.

A sea urchin in an office sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen haha. I like it! What kind would you recommend for a nano tank? Its 13.5g and has 2 clowns and a Peppermint shrimp in it along with some corals.

 

[sde1500]

Why would an urchin be a lawsuit? They do an excellent job and no one should be sticking their hands in the tank anyway.

Scraping the glass is definitely an expected job of cleaning a tank. Even some of the most perfectly maintained tanks will have it, its healthy and natural. Really a tank with no algae anywhere isn't healthy.

 

[xsentrixsupra]

Why would an urchin be a lawsuit? They do an excellent job and no one should be sticking their hands in the tank anyway.

Scraping the glass is definitely an expected job of cleaning a tank. Even some of the most perfectly maintained tanks will have it, its healthy and natural. Really a tank with no algae anywhere isn't healthy.

If someone unsuspectingly sticks their hand in there and gets stung. I meant it more as a joke hah. I don't know much about urchins though so I don't know how bad the sting is from various ones or if some don't sting at all

 

[sde1500]

They don't really sting. They are just prickly that's all. Plus no one beyond the person maintaining the tank has any business sticking their hands in, so if they get pricked they deserve it.

 

[xsentrixsupra]

I ended up getting a tuxedo urchin from the fish store. Hopefully he grows nice and fat with all the algae!

 

[mcgyvr]

Its like a bee sting IF you get zapped..

 

[xsentrixsupra]

Its like a bee sting IF you get zapped..

I picked him/it up and it was like picking up a piece of velcro. Wasn't bad or bothersome at all. I guess my only experience with urchins is out in the wild when I was a kid and was unfortunate to come in contact with one. However it wasn't small and with little spikes like this.