Algae take over.... HELP!

E

Edmontonreefer

New member
Hi all,

new to RC and also new to the hobby. I have had my 135G set up for about 3 months now. as of 2 weeks ago I have been going through a nasty algae cycle, it started off that everything started to turn a green color as seen in photo 1 below, then after a few days everything started to turn brown... now a week later I have red, pink, brown, green... the tank is a mess...

first thing I tried is a water change 20% last week.. I also added 12 red banded Snails.. I plan to do another 20% water change this weekend.

I'm using a Watts RO system for my water with instant ocean salt mix.
I have a pair of ocellaris clowns - only feeding about 6 pellets a day
been testing the water often and level have all been good no spikes
running my T5 lights for about 7 hours a day - tank is out of direct sun
running 130 LBS LR
100 LBS sand
have a octopus 2000HB skimmer
530C marine land canister
fluval g6 filter


any advice would be very helpful, if you need more info just ask.... I have been reading a lot of horror stories regarding algae battles and hope to avoid
 
Sounds like it's just a new tank going through the regular algae problems. Try running GFO and using a powerhead or scrubber to mechanically remove the algae. It should pass after a few weeks.
 
That's about on schedule. Get a GFO reactor and change the medium monthly until you see the algae losing ground. THen you can slack off on the monthly change.
 
pictures

pictures

1.jpg

2.jpg

3.jpg

4.jpg

5.jpg
 
Welcome, when the algae grows it actually converts the nutrients in your tank into algae. Mechanically removing the algae essentially removes the nutrients. combine that with consistent water changes is the fastest way to a algae free tank.

i use gfo and consistent water changes to maintain an algae free tank.

reefing is a lot of work, it is rarely easy, and remember consistent maintenance is much easier then chasing a problem after it becomes a problem.
 
Try to keep nitrate and phosphate as low as possible. However you could check phosphate and it'll be 0 even though it is present. The algae can absorb it before you can measure it. Phosphate always checks 0 in my tank and I'll get algae occasionally. But I've noticed when it's really bad changing gfo and keeping the water as clean as possible will make it fade slowly.
 
Also, if you don't have any corals in the tank you could reduce the lighting to 5 hours a day which will restrict growth/ if you have afuge you can grow some chaeto in there and keep the lights on for much longer than you keep them on in the DT. The macroalgae in the fuge will outcompete the algae growing in the DT. This would be a long-term solution.
 
Update - tested my phosphate level and it's only .5, I tested the phosphate from my RO and its 0. I did a TDS on my tap water 180, TDS from my RO is 15ppm. From what I can read this is high but not sure if it would be a factor in my algae issues? Or is it?

I have not added a GFO yet as I would like to figure out the source of my issues...

Is there something else I should be testing?

I have also reduced my lighting cycle as suggested, the turbo snails seem to be doing a great job cleaning the rocks beside the hair algae (but this is not a part of there diet from what I have read)

Tomorrow I will be doing a 20% water change and will vacuum the sand in hopes that this will solve my sand... Is there another member of a CUC I can add for the hair algae and to clean the sand?
 
rt67ghy - I do not have a sump on my set up, I do have a reef octopus HB2000 if I picked up a small led could I grow chaeto in my overflow area?
 
Tds coming from ro should be 0. Phosphate of .5 is very high. Some say you want .02-.04 phosphate or none at all because it'll still be present even if it tests at 0. Phosphates can get absorbed into the rock and come back out into the water. My rocks leached phosphate for several months. I went through a lot of gfo during that time.
 
If you don't have a sump, look up chaeto reactor in the forum, you could try that, that might work. But sumps are wear it is at if you can ever afford to do it!
 
You don't have phosphate because it is all bound up in the growing algae.

I have fought algae in my tank that I started with dry rock for over a year, and I am talking forests of the stuff.

Manual removal is your friend. GFO is also, but it works best when you manually remove it so it can work on the new growth.

You can't fix alge with critters. They help the fight, but add their waste into the problem, too.
 
you need to add a DI resin cartridge to you existing RO system. Otherwise you will never get TDS to 0. check out bulk reef supply they sell add on kits.
More than likely you will be battling the algea until this is done.
 
I agree, your phosphates are double the safe level.

You definitely need a DI unit on your RO system.

If you are savvy, you could look into carbon dosing to help fight your parameter problems. It's cheap, and pretty easy, and has a lot of success with reefers.

As someone else mentioned, your tank is still very young, and an algae bloom is to be expected.

Most reefers will experience this for about the first 6 months. A CUC can help, but as stated, will only be adding more nutrients to the system, when what you want is to remove nutrients.

I personally would run gfo, keep up on aggressive water changes, and wait it out.

Assuming you aren't adding nutrients to the system, waiting it out will eventually allow the algae to consume all of its food source, thus making it starve to death. Which is what your end game should be.
 
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