algea- tired of it!!! going to bail on hobby

[deansreef]

I am gonna bail on reefkeeping- I have a 240g reef tank- tank is 1.5 years running at this point with 150lbs of liver rock...I change 25 gallons of water every week with 0 tds water produced by an aqua fx ro/di with 4 chambers I install new filters anytime the TDS reads 1.... I have 1 yellow tang, 1 blue face angel, 1 blue tang, 2 clown fish , 1 naso tang and 1 red wrasse and 4 green reef chromis...I run a tow little fishes reactor with carb changed every 2 week and 1 TLF GFO reactor and change that media every 2 week... I run an RLSS R8 skimmer and clean the cup every 3 days,,, 2 filter socks changed out every 3 days and still I have annoying algea.... what else can I do? phospahates and nitrates nirtites are 0... please help!!

 

[heathlindner25]

Get some urchins

 

[Cancun]

I am gonna bail on reefkeeping- I have a 240g reef tank- tank is 1.5 years running at this point with 150lbs of liver rock...I change 25 gallons of water every week with 0 tds water produced by an aqua fx ro/di with 4 chambers I install new filters anytime the TDS reads 1.... I have 1 yellow tang, 1 blue face angel, 1 blue tang, 2 clown fish , 1 naso tang and 1 red wrasse and 4 green reef chromis...I run a tow little fishes reactor with carb changed every 2 week and 1 TLF GFO reactor and change that media every 2 week... I run an RLSS R8 skimmer and clean the cup every 3 days,,, 2 filter socks changed out every 3 days and still I have annoying algea.... what else can I do? phospahates and nitrates nirtites are 0... please help!!

sorry for your algae trouble......how much are you feeding and how often? I have had good luck with both a tuxedo urchin and a Algae Blenny.....the love hair Algae. Also some people have had good luck with a sea hair too.

 

[Kremis]

My 180 has 3 tuxedo urchins and 2 longspines. It is kept very clean because of them. Id say possibly try 5 tuxedo and 3 longspine urchins. Watch out though, I have read stories about long spines eating zoas, etc. but mine have never done this

 

[deansreef]

thanks all, I also keep the tank barebottom and have 2 x maxspect gyre 150's and 1 x ecotech MP40- return pump is a ecotech M1... are urchins reef safe? and do they need a sand bottom?

 

[Kremis]

The tuxedo urchins are 100% reef safe, and my long spines have been too, but like I said above there have been stories of them eating zoanthids. My thinking is that as long as there is enough algae for them to eat they will leave corals alone. They do not need sand, and infact will probably prefer bare bottom because they will have more space to graze on lol

 

[deansreef]

last concern, reef is acrylic- wont the urchins scratch it up?

 

[tkeracer619]

Well you can go ahead and toss out the po4 readings. There is phosphate bound in the rock and the algae uptakes it.

When did this problem start?

 

[Bent]

Well you can go ahead and toss out the po4 readings. There is phosphate bound in the rock and the algae uptakes it.

When did this problem start?

This.


What kind of algae are we dealing with here? Pics?

 

[Kremis]

last concern, reef is acrylic- wont the urchins scratch it up?

They shouldn't, my take is acrylic too.

 

[moondoggy4]

I saw someone selling a tunze powerhead and it was all chewed up from a urchin I am just not sure which type.

I am sorry to hear about your algae problems I was having issue with algae as will I have been using Magnesium and Algae Fix it seems to be helping.

 

[Timfish]

+1 getting some urchins. The short spine royal and tuxedo urchins will be ok with your acrylic tan but the short spine altantic green and caribbean pink or rose will scratch acrylic. The long spine Diadem spp are critical herbivores and the decline of the Caribbean reefs can be directly tied to the dieoff the the longspine urchins in '83 but they are found to depths of 1000' so obviously can switch to an ominvorus diet

First think I would recommend is getting Forest Rohwer's "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" to get an updated picture of how nutrients and microbes affect our corals. Corals and algae are antagonistic to each other to say the least and the old notions about nitrate and phosphate (PO4) need to be rethought. Stripping out nutrients hurts corals as much as it does algae but algae reacts faster than corals. If this was my tank I would stop using GFO, stop using the filter socks, stop using the skimmer. I would start doing 5% - 10% weekly water changes pulling as much hair algae as I could with each water change maybe pulling some rock out and scrubbing it off in old saltwater and maybe even tossing it. I would be adding easy corals like mushroom polyps, GSP, Xenia although I would have no problem adding any fo the stony corals either. (I would be careful where invasive species are placed to control them in the future.) Be patient it may take several months to fix the problemand then you can start spreading water changes out if you like.

(Stripping nutrients out of a system makes for corals that are not resiliant and easlily affected by the slightest change in parameters hence the idea parameters have to be static. Check the swings in parameters with my system here)

 

[Joe0813]

Whats your lighting schedule ? What kind of lights? Intensity?

 

[oseymour]

Well you can go ahead and toss out the po4 readings. There is phosphate bound in the rock and the algae uptakes it.

I see this being said a lot. Why even bother testing for phosphates if it's bound up in rock and the algae? We can remove the algae but what about the rock?

 

[Bent]

I see this being said a lot. Why even bother testing for phosphates if it's bound up in rock and the algae? We can remove the algae but what about the rock?

I gave up testing. If I see algae, my po4 is up. I don't check it anymore.

I test my alk, mag and calcium weekly and that's about it.

 

[Cancun]

thanks all, I also keep the tank barebottom and have 2 x maxspect gyre 150's and 1 x ecotech MP40- return pump is a ecotech M1... are urchins reef safe? and do they need a sand bottom?

Yea tuxedo urchins are reef safe...my tank has a sandy bottom...but the urchin doesn't need it......he does a great job at cleaning algae....he has never bothered any corals or anything else..had him 3 yrs.....

 

[Sk8r]

A gratillis urchin will grow like mad, but eats a lot, shortspined and doesn't bother much. A rabbitfish is a voracious consumer, and so is a lawnmower blenny. Also, 1 GFO reactor in a 240 may not be enough. That's a lot of tank. I wonder if one of the phosphate sponges might help.

 

[wildman926]

You have an excess nutrient problem.

Short term - Use API's AlgaeFix Marine if it is truly hair algae. HERE is a thread about it's success.

Long term - deploy an Algae Turf Scrubber (ATS), and possibly a chaeto reactor for nutrient export.

I did this 2.5 years ago, and have never had an issue again with hair algae. Good luck.

 

[tkeracer619]

Testing for phosphates is only helpful when nuisance algae is not present. Once it is the test is useless. Most people use a test kit that is also pointless because by the time you add together the lowest range and margin of error you're above the levels one would like to keep for a mixed / hard coral tank.


It's often a parameter that is misunderstood. Knowing the relationship of po4 in a reef tank is half the battle.

You could do 100% water changes every day and not make a dent in phosphates.

 

[vikinglord13]

I have also heard sea hares are voracious algae eaters... but can get torn up by a powerhead and poison a tank. I personally would rather get an urchin.

If I may ask a question to the experienced reefers,
do old lights tend to cause algae blooms? I just can't grasp why people "throw out" lights that are working. Is it because the intensity isn't high enough to grow coral at a desirable rate? My lights are getting old but my softy-only tank is still doing well.