Algae

[Jamie805]

Hello. I have a 36g bow front saltwater tank. Fairly new at about three months old. I have 2 clowns, 2 firefish, a sailfish, and small blue damsel, and a banded shrimp and about 10 snails. Not sure what type. Google says tectus snails. I have red algae growing on the substrate and green on the rocks. My question is do I need more of a clean up crew or do I need to treat the tank? I also have algae hard algae frowning on the glass that a scrubber won’t remove. Feels like fine sandpaper. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance. Also tried to get rid of the red algae with a gravel siphon. No luck.

 

[griss]

Your tank is still fairly new and going through the “ugly phase.” This is completely normal.

The red algae on the sand is Cyanobacteria. You CUC will not eat this, there are very few things the *might* eat it. It will eventually go away as your filtration matures and you do regular water changes.

I can’t really tell what the green on the rocks is but would guess just typical film algae. Your CUC will eat this.

The hard algae in the glass is coralline algae and is desirable on rocks. You can remove it from the glass using either an old credit/debit card or a straight razor and gently scraping.

Something that can allow us to help you more is a bit more about your system.

What filtration are you using?
What lighting do you have?
Water are your parameters:
-ammonia
-nitrite
-nitrate
-phosphate
-alkalinity
-pH
-calcium
-magnesium

 

[Guygettnby]

I would also ask about your flow? What kind of flow do you have going on in there? Dead spots will also help algea or bacteria (cyanobacteria) settle in spots.

They have products out there that will help remove the cyano, but I recommend you do it the proper way and get into the habit of proper husbandry. Figure out your issue in the 1st place and what actually caused it. You have a rather small tank and when things go bad, they go bad quickly. Keeping up with your nutrient export will help out alot. The more livestock you add, the better your filtration and husbandry will have to be.

 

[Jamie805]

Parameters:
Nitrite-0
Ammonia-0
Nitrate- <10
PH-8.0
Alkalinity-2.68
Calcium-400
Phosphate-2.5
No magnesium test. Looks like I’ll be getting one of those this week. All test except for calcium and phosphate are Red Sea. Others are api. HOB skimmer and marine land bio wheel 300. UV filter is my main source of flow but just ordered a Jebao DLW-5. Oase canister filter.

I know the flow is not even close to ideal. That is my next fix. Hopefully by this weekend it will be better.
Lighting is an AI BLADE GROW 21”. I have the white turned up because the wife and I like the look with more light. A 1 hr ramp up and down set for the sunset and sunrise controlled with the Mobius app and set to a template. Also have the moon setting activated.

 

[Jamie805]

I would also ask about your flow? What kind of flow do you have going on in there? Dead spots will also help algea or bacteria (cyanobacteria) settle in spots.

They have products out there that will help remove the cyano, but I recommend you do it the proper way and get into the habit of proper husbandry. Figure out your issue in the 1st place and what actually caused it. You have a rather small tank and when things go bad, they go bad quickly. Keeping up with your nutrient export will help out alot. The more livestock you add, the better your filtration and husbandry will have to be.

I totally agree. I don’t want to use chemicals because to me Thats a bandaid and not a solution. We are adding a coral or two a week right now. Not going to add much more fish until we get the copepods established. We’ve added a couple jars so far but want to wait and add a couple more. I also want to remove my UV filter and put it into the water as I make it and not in the tank.

 

[Guygettnby]

I totally agree. I don’t want to use chemicals because to me Thats a bandaid and not a solution. We are adding a coral or two a week right now. Not going to add much more fish until we get the copepods established. We’ve added a couple jars so far but want to wait and add a couple more. I also want to remove my UV filter and put it into the water as I make it and not in the tank.

You should slow down on adding anything new until you get your issue taken care of. Adding more will just make things worse for you. I would say you need to add a powerhead/wavemaker of some sort. I normally run 2 in my tanks, but I have run 1 single gyre in my IM 40g nuvo tank with great success.

Canister filters can work great if kept in check. Again it's all about the husbandry of your tank. Keeping up with the maintenance and even more so with a small tank. The bigger the tank, the easier it is to maintain IMO...

I personally have had great luck with jebao products. All besides the brand new MOW series. For the life of me I can't get them to pair together. For the money though, it's hard to beat them.

What brand skimmer are you using? Model?

 

[Jamie805]

You should slow down on adding anything new until you get your issue taken care of. Adding more will just make things worse for you. I would say you need to add a powerhead/wavemaker of some sort. I normally run 2 in my tanks, but I have run 1 single gyre in my IM 40g nuvo tank with great success.

Canister filters can work great if kept in check. Again it's all about the husbandry of your tank. Keeping up with the maintenance and even more so with a small tank. The bigger the tank, the easier it is to maintain IMO...

I personally have had great luck with jebao products. All besides the brand new MOW series. For the life of me I can't get them to pair together. For the money though, it's hard to beat them.

What brand skimmer are you using? Model?

Thank you for the info! I don’t know the model and I forgot the brand. Got it off marketplace for 10$.(picture below) I just ordered a Jebao wave maker DLW Series.

 

[Guygettnby]

Thank you for the info! I don’t know the model and I forgot the brand. Got it off marketplace for 10$.(picture below) I just ordered a Jebao wave maker DLW Series.

Jebao can be decent. I have never had any real issues. I have only had 1 small powered go bad on me after a few years of use. This was long ago.

Skimmers can be a touchy subject. Many believe one is not needed, while others swear by having them. I'm personally on the "swear by them" side of the fence. Having a decent quality skimmer can in fact help, even more so if you prolong your maintenance. I personally don't have the time to change water multiple times a week.

I'm a stickler on having good filtration. I can sometimes be lazy and prolong my maintenance for awhile. I will always recommend a decent skimmer, now decent doesn't mean the most expensive either. I'm a budget Reefer. Also I love to have a refugium on every tank if possible or needed. Many options available out their for HOB refugiums. Can even make your own from aquaclear HOB filters. Just Google that and millions of things pop up.

Ask many questions, do your research and above all have patience. You can turn that tank into a piece of living art and be addicted very quickly. That big tank bug will eventually bite you.

 

[Guygettnby]

Here is my 40g nuvo with aquamaxx 1.5hob skimmer "completely bad ass skimmer, have 2" and the restart after setting up my 2 new tanks. Awaiting cycle to finish.