algae problem

[alfieferenzo84]

Hi everyone. Been along time sense last post. I have been doing this for years but only kept fish only. I just started adding corals and im having issues with algae. I have always had algae due to high nitrates but now its different. I have been keeping my tank at zero nitrates and the algae is kinda getting worse and covering my corals. before fish only didnt care but now its killing them.

Tank is 120gal 48x24x24. 3 korall power heads. 3in live sand, about 100lb of alor live rock. few fish, crabs, snails, starfish ect. Some soft corals. Lights are cree with optics 120watt x 2 panels running at 25% for 12hrs a day now only 10 hrs. The tank was setup a year ago but the rocks i have had for over 5years. sand was new. Im changing about 20-40 gal a mo.

perm. 1.025, 76f, ph 8.4, 5.4dkh,1.93alk, no ammonia or nitrite, Nitrates stay under 2. I use a few test kits just to make sure there good. Nitrate i use 3 api, red sea, salifert. I dont test for anything else or dose the tank.

The algae grows back in a few days. its brown hair like.

pics are from different times so you all can see. Any help on id or what to do would be great. Thanks

also the pics at the end are current pics i just changed water and cleaned some sand out...

http://s278.beta.photobucket.com/user/alfieferenzo84/library/tank

 

[username in use]

Have you tested for phoshpates?

How much are you feeding? Have you tried cutting back and feeding only enough that you see the fish eat every piece?

 

[alfieferenzo84]

phosphates always read zero with api test kit so idk

With nitrate i use 3 different brands all read 0-2.5

i feed 1x a day either newlife flake or live cube brine or mysid small amount and yes the fish eat it all and would take 2nd or 3rd id bet. the 2 tangs would eat all day nonstop

My main concern was that this is dino... but my snails seem to be eatting it and not dying but my urchin is not looking so well now that the algae is growing on his spins

debating if i should buy more inverts to eat it and if so what will? or is it dino and i need to take them out and figure out treatment.

I been searching and comparing pics and i or my gf cant decide what it is.

Day 2 after water change no bubbles but its growing back very slow. lights on for 8hrs.

Anyone???

oh also my blenny is about to explode he is eatting tons of this stuff from the rocks but wont really touch the sand or walls.

 

[mperales]

The "algae" on the sand looks more like Cyano, which can be brownish in color and "stringy". Definitely re-check your phosphates. Are you using RO/DI to top off your tank and make your salt.

Edit: sorry I was typing before you posted your PO4 results. You may want to have your phosphates checked with another test kit. I found out the hard way one of the kits I was using was reading 0 yet when checked with another kit it was reading high (I was having a cyano outbreak) and it looked a lot like whats on your sand.

 

[alfieferenzo84]

okay i went to another lfs they said they dont know but call it snot algae lol

bought a few snails there already going to town eatting it...

I also bought a salifert po4 test kit and it reads zero. i even did the double test and still clear white so idk what is going on.

I also added 2 more power heads its like a tidal wave in my tank now and i put a hob filter on with just carbon just to see what it will do. Im going to try this for a few days and see if not i will go lights out for a day or 2 and try that. I dont think its current because the hob filter intake already is covered in algae...

i dont understand anyone else have any input on this? Im also thinking about adding a ton of snails but fear if its dino they will all day. But with 3 fish and all my snails eatting it they all look fine but my urchin looks not good... I had him for about 6mo he did this about 3 mo ago to so idk maybe its just a case for him every 3 mo?

oh and yes i use ro/di water for water changes and even top offs. zero tds on both inline and hand held. the system is about 6 mo old sense i changed all the filters.

 

[mperales]

Well, if it is Dinoflagella, I know that some people recommend slowly bringing up pH to 8.6 to 8.8 for a period of time, decreasing light period to 3 to 4 hrs, running carbon to decrease toxins that could be released and decreasing nutrients (skimming, GFO, frequent water changes), you've already improved circulation but make sure the circulation is also improved at sand level to minimize dead spots.

 

[Anomal0caris]

I just got out of a similar situation but it was with dinos. your testing should be low anyways cuz the algae will uptake no3 and po4. If you are using rodi, i started 10% water changes every other day with a 50% on the first day, moving the rocks every 3rd wc to get detritus from under them and on them. I also added a uv sterilizer to get the free floating gunk. and started a vodka dosing regimen. and im on my 4th day of lights out. and added 20 nerites, two ornate conchs for detritus and 20 astrea for the glass and rocks.
I would advise getting some more snails. after 1 week, 20% of the astreas have died (prob from the red slime i had too) and a few nerites have died bc my sand was in baaad shape. if you can get your snails cheap, id say go for it. im 1.5 weeks in and almost all of my algae is gone

 

[Anomal0caris]

I just got out of a similar situation but it was with dinos. your testing should be low anyways cuz the algae will uptake no3 and po4. If you are using rodi, i started 10% water changes every other day with a 50% on the first day, moving the rocks every 3rd wc to get detritus from under them and on them. I also added a uv sterilizer to get the free floating gunk. and started a vodka dosing regimen. and im on my 4th day of lights out. and added 20 nerites, two ornate conchs for detritus and 20 astrea for the glass and rocks.
I would advise getting some more snails. after 1 week, 20% of the astreas have died (prob from the red slime i had too) and a few nerites have died bc my sand was in baaad shape. if you can get your snails cheap, id say go for it. im 1.5 weeks in and almost all of my algae is gone

 

[tsdpurdue]

You could do a lights out period. Cover the tank and leave the lights off for 3 days. Then do a large water change. This is only a short term fix to larger problem. However if you are making changes this is a good way to get things back under control so the tank is easier to manage.

You still need to find the reason behind the algae

Also maybe I missed this (i read through quickly) but do you use RODI water. If so I would check the TDS maybe you need new filters/media. If you don't use RODI water I would RECOMMEND it. I use to use tap water from a well and I thought that my water is good, however I always had algae. I thought it was from over feeding so I cut back my feedings and still had algae. I finally bought a RODI unit that had a tds meter on it and found out that my water had a tds of over 350. So every time i was doing a water change to try to get rid of the algae, what i was actually doing was feeding the algae. Once i started using RODI water the algae disappeared and i haven't had a problem with alga since.