Algae Problem

[andreasch]

hello guys,

am new to reef and wanna ask something. My first reef tank was setup and started its cycle on 18/8/18. I used dead rock. Cycle finished and added the first fish on 29/9/18.

Its been 5 months since the first day my tank is working now and i still have lot of sand algae like the one in the photos. Is this normal after 5 months or it shouldnt be like that?

The only CUC i have at the moment are 20-25 trochus snails and 2 tuxedo urchins.

My params at the moment are:

Ammonia: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 25ppm
Phosphate: 0,04
KH: 7,6
CA: 460
MG: 1500

 

[mcgyvr]

Yes that is basically normal..
A tank can take a good 8 months to a year to really "mature" and after that it typically gets much easier to maintain..

I would manually remove that algae as its quite easy to do so with it in the sand like that..

Also.. just a tip for future photos.. All of that blue light really messes with proper color rendition so if you are posting any identification pictures,etc... please turn the blue channel of your lights off or way down so that colors show up properly.. It also helps with focus sometimes too..

 

[andreasch]

thanks for the reply (and the tip for the photos.. you are right. i didnt think about it at the moment )

about this algae, is there any good CUC that could help removing this kind of algae? Maybe nassarius snails? or some other snails are better addition for this kind of algae?

Btw whats the name of this algae?

 

[mcgyvr]

That just green hair algae..
For the most part not much in the snail/crab world will go after it once it gets to lengths like that.. A nassarius snail doesn't eat algae at all..
Large mexican turbo snails may..
Urchins will..
Sea hares will.

 

[OldReefGuy]

"NO3: 25ppm"

Keep that in check also.

 

[ReefWreak]

Nassarius snails do NOT eat algae, FYI, they're scavengers, so they won't help.

But other snails and urchins will help with that algae. That happened to me in my 2nd or 3rd month set up. I just gave it time, kept stocking my tank, kept the skimmer running, and I believe I siphoned out large sections of algae with water changes as well (it's easy and you may lose some sand, but super easy nutrient removal).

 

[tomreefer]

NO3: 25ppm is what I would look at to control lower.