Algae problem

[ouiey1000]

Hi All,
i have an excess algae problem, and was wondering if you had any tips on shifting my green nightmare?
I have 120g and have 3 clowns & 1 wrasse
my cleanup crew consists of 25 turbos 2 conch 1 feather duster
1 brittle star 3 shrimp and 2 mithrax.
i run carbon 3 days a week and my skimmer is working fine
my levels are :
phosphate 0
amonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 6
Every time i have a good clean up it just comes back with more
even my sand bed is becoming a green/red layer
I think i,ve covered most things any tips?
Thanks

 

[HippieFish]

What type of water are you using? Tap or RO/DI ?

 

[ouiey1000]

always ro/di water even for top up
at first it was just the rock & glass but the sand bed is now getting slimmy

 

[shadowman70]

how much flow do you have to your tank.....may ned to try increasing that......how old are your lights? old lights emit the wrong sprectrum of light........i used some stuff called chemi clean ......to rid my tank of red algae......that and incresased my flow....

 

[cw150]

You didn't mention it, so I assume you already have as large a refugium as possible and a very good skimmer? If not, make those investments before dumping chemicals in your tank.

 

[guyguerra]

I highly recommend a phosphate filter. A Phosban 50 reactor is cheap and does a great job. I wouldn't have a tank with out a phosphate filter. I have the phosban on my 50 gallon and a rowaphos on my 230. They WILL make a difference. If your tank is young, under 6 months your going to get brown diatoms no matter what you do, though the phosphate filters will reduce it a lot. For a new tank I would put the filter on immediately so that phosphates don't get started, then run your lights 4 or 5 hours a day, adding about an hour every three weeks or so. You'll see a big difference if you do this. Another trick, so that you can enjoy the light being on when you are home, is to set your timer so that the VHO's shut off while your working, leaving just the actinic on, then set the VHO's to come back on just before you get home.

 

[goda]

whats the temp of the tank
ime higher the temp more or at least faster algae growth

 

[Ken-21]

How much are you feeding your fish. Overfeeding can cause an outbreak too!

 

[ouiey1000]

thanks for all the replies,
i'm running rowa phos at the moment, hopefully this may help.

ken-21, i feed them 1 cube of frozen brineshrimp or mysis a day
i was feeding two, but it was still all being eaten, the shrimp love it.
goda- 25-26c it only varies about 1/2 a degree when the lights have been on for some time(halide)

guyguerra - Phosphate filter sounds good i tried my LFS but they
don't stock them do you recomend a good site to buy on line ?

Once again thanks to all, you've just gotta love this hobby it throws up a challenge all the time, but so addictive.

 

[guyguerra]

I like Foster & Smith. here's a link to their page that has some good info about controlling algae, and you'll find the link to the Phosban 150 Reactor. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=926 .You'll find that phosphate filters are about 60% of the remedy for reducing algae. Others in the order of importance IMO are light duration, age of tank, Refugiums, UV, and some acceptance that algae isn't bad, and is part of the system. that said, my 230 has no brown diatoms, the sand is clean, and always looks the way you want it to. But, I also have several tangs, sea cukes, etc, etc. Tanks balance out after a while and develop their own biology that will help settle things down. My first tank was a 120 and I thought the brown diatom stage was terrible and fought it daily. I haven't done that on the next two tanks I set up, and they look better than my 120 ever did. I stopped stirring the sand, which I did in the 120, and just cleaned the glass. That NEVER stops. I clean my glass almost daily and leave a magnet set up on all three walls so that I don't even have to lift the lid, or try to turn the corners without the magnet splitting up, causing me to have to reach in for it. Hair algae is a different story, and though I wouldn't panic with it, I would not let it get too far out of control. Good Luck.