Algea Problem

[mozz]

Hi, I was wondering if anybody could tell me, how high I would have to raise the temperature of my tank to kill all the algae. I've had the tank about a year and a half. I got bryopsis that was on a coral I bought not knowing what it was.
I lost the battle and dismantled the tank putting the fish and corals in another tank. I bought new dry rock, sand and redid the the whole thing from plumbing on up. I refilled the tank and started the cycle. Its been about 2 months and I don't know where it came from but the tank is pure green from algea. I use RO water, and I have GFO and GAC going in reactors. I had been running the lights but when things first started turning green I shut the lights off and wrapped the the tank in black garbage bags for 7 days. I took the bags off and the rock was white again. I started the lights again increasing the duration a little everyday and now the algae is back, it seems stronger than ever. I thought if I put an extra heater in the tank and removed the temp sensor I could get it hot enough to kill the algea or maybe I could dose real heavy with peroxide. Any suggestions would be more than welcome.
Thanks.

 

[Captmrbles]

Raising they temp in the tank is not the cure for algae... the cure is proper tank husbandry, if you're interested in that I would be glad to provide suggestions. if you raise the temperature in your tank you are going to kill everything else that we try to culture in our tanks (pods worms ect)

 

[LowersMyBP]

I'd assume you feed more than is needed and/or you run the lights longer than is needed.

Go Lights out again (assuming no livestock would be damaged) and then try to find a better balance.

 

[mozz]

There is no livestock in the tank. Just ghost feeding to help with the cycle.

 

[sullyfish]

your are not done cycling. you said about 2 months ago you started w/ new sand,rock and everything, so you are starting new again. A couple things about cycling a tank is #1 you will get an algae bloom, usually after a few weeks and last a month or so, until bacteria, pods, increase to meet demand. You should only have your lights on after tank is done cycling, otherwise this will just increase algae bloom. Have you tested water to verify you are done cycling ? If any Amn, No2 or No3 are present you are not done.

 

[mozz]

Tank is done cycling, 0 NH3, 0 NO2, 0 No3, 0 PO4. No life in tank, no pods no cheato, nothing but algae. Started with dry rock, should be no life there. Dry sand, should be no live there. The tank sat empty for 3 months. I really don't know where the algae came from. But it shouldn't be there.

 

[sullyfish]

it still does not mean you are done cycling. You have no Amn, No2, No3 but did you ever see a spike ? Also, you started w/ dry rock and dead sand, did you seed it with anything ? If not you are looking at a very long cycle, more than 2 months.

Also, you said you have no pods or anything, if you were done cycling you should see something by now.

Your algae is of secondary importance right now. You need to be sure you are done cycling. If you put livestock in the tank now before completed cycling you will never get this algae under control.

I suggest putting a clean up crew in. You will see a small spike in params but this will help complete the cycle and also help get some of the algea under control.

 

[mozz]

Yes I had a ammonia spike, I had a nitrite spike and I had high nitrates for a while. I did add bacteria from a bottle. Special Blend, Microbacter 7 and some from a company called Fritz. All I really want to know is if I heat the water up will it kill the algea. If so how high do I need the the temp and for how long.
Thanks

 

[sullyfish]

good luck

 

[brandon429]

please post pics of your setup before using peroxide if u can

 

[sslak]

The algae will survive temperatures far warmer than anything else in the tank...I would be surprised if your heater is capable of getting the water that hot. I had a heater malfunction in my Biocube and it cooked every coral in the tank, temp hit 96...the algae was fine.

Even if it does kill the algae, as soon as you dropped the temp, your cycle will start again and the algae will be back.

What strain of algae are we talking about here? You said green...is it turf, hair, bubble, macro?

You also don't list your parameters- Ca, Alk, Mg, Sg - these can have a huge impact on algae growth.

 

[Captmrbles]

The problem that will arise with cooking your algae is as follows. When we cycle our tanks we are starting what is known as the nitrogen cycle. This cycle is a bunch of bacteria in our tanks that processes poop and other waste to nitrites which (with additional bacteria) transformed to nitrates to be removed with w/c. If you get your tank hot enough to cook your algae you will also probably be killing off the bacteria we grow during our "cycling process" and have to start cycling all over again. Wait till cycle is over (as it sounds like yours is.) Get the water to good levels (sounds like yours is.) Scrub off the algae with a toothbrush and net it if possible. Get a skimmer if you don't have one, this will remove massive amounts of nutrients from the water. Think about adding macro algae to export nutrients too.