Green algae and advice

[E&S]

Hi all..
I have 45 gallon tank,about 40 pound LR, about 2" of LS,remora skimmer, T5, and 3 maxijet 900.
I have 4 fishes,1 shrimp,3-4 snails,3-4 blue leg and 1 multihead plate.
I want to move forward with my tank by ordering from TBS, but i have few things that i need advice in order to move forward.

1. I can't get rid of the green algae on the sand and the LR.
2. your advice for upgrading my flow from the maxijet.
3. Any things i should add to my setup before getting the order

All the reading of the tank are ok.

Thanks.

 

[awestruck]

How long has your tank been running? How much are you feeding your fish and what type of fish do you have? How strong is the t5? What is your photoperiod (how long lights are on)? Are you getting sunlight through a window? Have you checked your phosphate levels? What kind of water are you using?

3 maxijets are pretty good for a 45 IMO. Also, though, how is your surface agitation? You need to move it well at the top for good gas exchange.

Do you have a heater? I didn't see it listed and was just wondering if your temp. is remaining constant. Also, do you have a refractometer or a hydrometer to check your salinity? That's a must!

Keep us posted!

 

[returnofsid]

Well, the first thing I'd do is increase your flow. You're only getting a maximum of 690 GPH with the 3 MJ900s. Typically 10X-20X turnover in flow is recommended with the higher end being much better than the lower end. I'd suggest replacing the 3 MJ900s with the same amount of MJ1200s. That'd put you at about 885 GPH...still not quite enough IMO but better. Adding some more live rock may also help with nitrifying bacterial break down. You mention that all of your tank readings are okay. What exactly are you testing for and what are your results.

Do you test Nitrates, Ca, Alk, Mg and Phosphates? Are you using tap water or do you have an RO/DI unit? If you have an RO/DI unit, have you had the water tested for TDS lately?

How often are you doing water changes and how much do you change? When doing water changes, I'd suggest doing 10-20% every week. Also, when doing water changes, siphon off as much of the algae as you're able. You might also consider getting a couple Emerald Crabs in the tank. They do a great job with algaes of most kinds.

 

[surfjeepzx]

There are several things that can contribute to algae growth. Since you're tank has it now the best way to deal with it is to remove it manually. If possible get some filter floss and place it in your sump or in front of whatever you use to cycle your water. Take a tooth brush and start scrubbing it off the rocks and get it in suspension so it can be removed by recirculating the water. For the sand you'll need to get some 3/8" - 1/2" vacuum hose and vacuum the sand free of the algae. Then take your maxijet and use it to blow all the detritus off the rocks. This whole process shouldn't take that long on your tank.

You may have to change out and rinse off the filter floss a couple times during the process as it loads up with the algae debris.

A trick I use for vacuuming is to take a filter sock and use a small spring clamp to secure it inside the sump. Then start a siphon and place the end of the hose in the sock and secure it along with the sock in the sump. You can also use a sock that you wear. It will work fine for filtering the algae while vacuuming.

You may need to repeat the blowing off of the rocks a few times until you get the tank clear of most of the sediment.

 

[E&S]

Awestruck...
I Have the tank for almost a year now,
I am using RO/DI for adding water,
I feeding my fishes oncevery other day,
My T5 is 4 39w, and i have it on for about 10 hours,
My phosphate level is 0,
The temp. is around 78 deg. its going up and down 1 or 2 deg. and salinity aroud 1.027.

Returnofsid ...
I an testing for ammonia 0.25 or less, nitrate 0.1, nitrite 0, ph 8 - 8.3, phosphate 0, calcium 350, carbonate 8 alkalinity 2.9,
I don't do water change because of my evaporation rate a littel bit hi.

Thank you.

 

[reefnetworth]

mexican turbo snails, and red legged hermits. both love green algae. if its hair algae, get a bowl of cold tap water and manually remove what you can. everytime you remove some dip your hand in the bowl and it will kill the spores on your fingers.
JDM...

 

[reefnetworth]

oh! almost forgot, a FoxFace LO is exellent for all types of algae, but in a 45G you will want an X-tra small one.
JDM...:smokin:..

 

[E&S]

And i don't need to be worry that the crab will go after the multihead plate or other fishes?

Thanks.

 

[E&S]

Sorry but i don't know what is FoxFace LO

 

[alexb518]

two things you can do. 1) add more snails/hermit crabs. 2) start doing water changes. Your evaporation rate means nothing. that's like saying that your car burns or leaks oil, so you're never going to change the oil. sounds like you're doing everything else right, but your problem is the fact that you don't do water changes. i change mine (10%) every single week in order to control the algae.

 

[E&S]

Buy the way i dont have somp on this setup,
And what you thinks about ordering from TBS?

 

[E&S]

Oppsss.....sorry......... sump
Thanks.

 

[awestruck]

A sump is always great because you can put some macroalgae in it. Dr. Holmes-Farley once explained it like this: algae is natural and there are many ways to get rid of it. The most natural ways are to add a strong cleanup crew and also to make sure that the nutrient export is more than the inport (or at least balanced). To balance it you need something strong (macroalgae) to consume the phosphates which in turn will starve the microalgae and the micro. will then die off. Does that make sense? I don't have a sump so I put a lot of macroalgae in a netted bag and keep it behind the rocks. It has helped immensely.

 

[E&S]

Good idea awestruck.....

1. can you advise about a good strong cleaning crew,
2. How much macroalgae i should use on my 45G tank and wich kind of bag i can use for this application ?

Buy the way i have 10G and 30G tanks that i don't use, i can turn one of them to a sump, but i think it's going to be to much work in order to turn one of them to a sump.

Thank you.

 

[awestruck]

Hi E&S--go to Drs. Foster and Smith--look in the FISH category, then go into reef cleaners (or whatever it's called). You can buy a package or you can get some individually. Good algae cleaners are turbo and margarita snails; hermit and blue legged crabs are good detritus cleaners. There are some crabs that eat algae but I don't remember which ones because I use snails. Try starting with 20-30 of a mixture because that will help A LOT! Black spiny urchins also eat detritus. Regarding algae--get a regular woman's nylon (or you can buy an acutal netted bag at your LFS)
and also purchase chaeto macroalgae. Stuff the bag or nylon and then just tie a knot in it. If you don't want to see it just push it behind some rocks. A sump would be a GREAT addition to your tank if you can figure out how to do it. Unfortunately I don't know how but there a lots of people on RC who could help you make one. Keep on reefin'!

 

[E&S]

Awestruck....i first want to thank you very much for all the advises that you give me.
But do you think that the snails that i am going to add going to help me with the hair green algae that i have on my LS?

 

[awestruck]

Hi E, I'm happy to help you--gosh only knows how many people have helped me! You know, I've never heard of hair algae on sand--are you sure it's hair algae? The snails should help though. Something else that might help is to simply pull the hair algae out of the sand with your fingers. Reefnetworth explained it best by saying to get a cold bowl of tap water; everytime you pull some hair algae out, rinse your fingers in the cold water before putting your hand back in the tank. Then smile everytime you throw it away. Three more things E: 1) Do 10-15% water changes weekly (always RO/DI water); 2) If you are using frozen food make sure you rinse it really well before giving it to your fish because most frozen foods have phosphate in them; and 3) Consider using Phosban to get things under control. YOU WILL WIN THIS BATTLE--ONWARD!!!

 

[E&S]

Hi awestruck,
I think it's hair algae.....i'ts growing all over the sand and it's long thin algae, and i pull this algae with my fingers all the time, i didn't know about the cold tap water.
And how you rinse the frozen food, as soon as i mix it with water it's break down to very small pieces.
Thank you.

 

[awestruck]

Hi E--yes, the rinsing frozen food can be challenging. Even just a quick rinse (b4 it breaks down) should help a little bit. Also, why don't you get some Phosban and run that. I just thought of this too: try shortening your photoperiod. Instead of leaving the lights on for 12 hours (or however long you leave them on), try cutting back to maybe 6-7 hours per day or even a little less. I think by utilizing all of the aforementioned ideas you will get things under control!

 

[E&S]

Awestruck......I want to thank you for your time and advices,
i am going to put them to work, if it's not going to help i gonna post again. it's going to be cool if i can get in touch with you and give u updates.