Algae problems

[youngreef180]

I am having some problems with a brown somewhat slimy algae growing on the rocks and sand.

 

[youngreef180]

The tank should have plenty of flow. Somewhere around 20 times a hour turnover. The tank is 180 gallon with probably little over a 100lbs of live rock straight out of my old tank that was probably approaching 4 yrs old. When the rock was moved into the new setup was a little over 3 months ago. Also quite abit of live sand was used too. Total sand bed depth averages one and a half inches Heres pics of the whole 3 month old setup.

Any ideas as to why this is flourishing would be great.

 

[blackhemi35003]

What are the water par. Something is feeding this algae.

 

[youngreef180]

I just went and tested everything to be sure.

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
dkh 10
phosphate 0
salinity 1.026
calcium 375

 

[blackhemi35003]

How long did it take to grow?

 

[youngreef180]

Seems like maybe only the last week or so its gotten real noticeable ,and now it seems to have got out of control in the last couple of days.

 

[youngreef180]

Could it possibly have to do with the fuge seems like thats where I first noticed it in there on the loc line.

 

[blackhemi35003]

Its a possible but something has to feed it though. Thats what I would say. Do you have macro in the fuge? Is it covered also?

 

[blackhemi35003]

Did you just add saltwater? Silica can contribute to a bloom. But the thing is if you have used the same salt then it shouldn't be that. Unless you have changed brands I would not expect that unless someone at the plant that makes the salt was having a bad Monday and put a little extra in.

 

[youngreef180]

Just this small nest of what I guess is Chaeto not real sure though the guy at the lfs said its better than caulerpa. The flow through there is real slow and I leave that light on 24/7.

 

[blackhemi35003]

Yes that is Chaeto. Me I like Caulerpa better. I have never had any luck with Chaeto doesn't grow that fast for me. Caulerpa I can watch it grow. Bad thing about the Caulerpa it can go asexual on you and then you have a much bigger problem.

I would see if you can get a couple Poly Filters (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4136+4335&pcatid=4335) at your LFS to get whatever thats feeding that alage out. I would also get some more of the Chaeto to starve out the bad. Also a water change would help.

 

[youngreef180]

Can you test for silicates?

 

[blackhemi35003]

Yes indeed here is a link.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4345+17340+15480&pcatid=15480

 

[youngreef180]

So where all can you get silicates from. Possibly old filters on a R/o unit? Wondering because this tank uses alot of top of water that my R/o unit supplies.

 

[Triterium]

I made a post in the other forum, but to answer your silicate question...

Silicates are often high in tap water.

Diatoms are a form of algae that use silica to produce their cell wall.

From your pictures, it does not appear to be diatoms.

 

[Triterium]

It is more effective to produce unfavorable conditions for the algae you want to get rid of, then trying to use macroalgae to "compete" with it. This is especially true when you have undetectable nutrient levels.

 

[youngreef180]

Here is some great info Triterium posted in the other thread that I have linked to this one in the Algae forums.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1300806

 

[youngreef180]

So if this is red cyano bacteria what can you do to try and get rid of it. It is getting on everything including my frags.

 

[Triterium]

It is usually pretty easy to remove from corals by directing the flow of a powerhead at them.

My advice, do as much manual damage to it by lightly stirring the surface of the sand bed. Yes it will grow back, but eventually it won't. This is how I have always dealt with cyano. You could also try tweaking the tank parameters (temperature, salinity, etc) and see how that works.

I'm definately not the expert on how to get rid of it, so don't qoute me on anything

 

[Triterium]

BTW, you need to water your banana plant