Green slime algae on sand bed?
- Thread starter JoeESSA
- Start date
Ahh no replies yet. Well, last night I checked my nitrates and I was surprised to find that it was just over 20ppm. My nitrates have normally been unmeasurable, but seem to have built up lately. I bought a tubastrea and a blastomussa a couple of months back and have been spot feeding them every second day. Reckon that this together with the regular feeding has increased the bioload and hence the nitrates and probably the recent algae bloom I am witnessing...
I have started a series of water changes to reduce the nitrates and I am also going to remove the bioballs from my refugium to see if that helps. Any other tips are appreciated...
I have started a series of water changes to reduce the nitrates and I am also going to remove the bioballs from my refugium to see if that helps. Any other tips are appreciated...
Paintbug
New member
the green slime is just another form of cynobacteria. syphon it out when you do your water changes. once you get your nitrates down, it will go away. same with the other algae.
removing the bio-balls will help reduce the nitrates, but dont remove them all at once. maybe a cupfull every 2-3 days. your skimmer maybe a little small for your tank as well (going by your sig). as a general rule you want a skimmer that is rated 2x your tanks size. im not saying run out and get a new skimmer
. just means you will need to watch on the over feeding.
do you have any macroalgae in your fuge? what type?
you dont mention your fish list. how many and how big are your fish? if you have to many in the tank that can lead to high nitrates as well.
removing the bio-balls will help reduce the nitrates, but dont remove them all at once. maybe a cupfull every 2-3 days. your skimmer maybe a little small for your tank as well (going by your sig). as a general rule you want a skimmer that is rated 2x your tanks size. im not saying run out and get a new skimmer
. just means you will need to watch on the over feeding.do you have any macroalgae in your fuge? what type?
you dont mention your fish list. how many and how big are your fish? if you have to many in the tank that can lead to high nitrates as well.
drummereef
Team RC
Yep. Remove the bio balls and any filter foam you might have. Can create some unwanted buildup of detritus which causes a rise in No3. The brown 'diatoms' are normal and will go away after the initial break-in period. Keep your alk/calcium levels up and your nitrate down and you shouldn't have problems.
Thanks for the replies. The tank has been up and running for 6 months now. Effectively longer since I transferred everything from my established 70 gallon to the new tank.
Paintbug, I have a mixture of Cheatomorpha and Caulerpa in the refugium. It's pretty thick in there with macroalgae. There are 15 fish in total, a powder blue tang, a maroon clownfish, lawnmower blenny, a dragonet, a six line wrass, four anthias and six green chromis. The powder blue has been with me for a year.
I have little doubt that I have been overfeeding especially since I started intensively spot feeding corals. I have been feeding the fish once a day 2-cubes (one mysis, the other brine shrimp) with some veggie flakes. The tang and the blenny also get a 2" strip of seaweed every day. On top of that I spot feed the corals with a shot glass of phyto mixed with cyclops and one cube of brine shrimp. This sounds like a lot to me for sure, but I'm a bit unsure of how much I can pull back on the feeding?
Paintbug, I have a mixture of Cheatomorpha and Caulerpa in the refugium. It's pretty thick in there with macroalgae. There are 15 fish in total, a powder blue tang, a maroon clownfish, lawnmower blenny, a dragonet, a six line wrass, four anthias and six green chromis. The powder blue has been with me for a year.
I have little doubt that I have been overfeeding especially since I started intensively spot feeding corals. I have been feeding the fish once a day 2-cubes (one mysis, the other brine shrimp) with some veggie flakes. The tang and the blenny also get a 2" strip of seaweed every day. On top of that I spot feed the corals with a shot glass of phyto mixed with cyclops and one cube of brine shrimp. This sounds like a lot to me for sure, but I'm a bit unsure of how much I can pull back on the feeding?
Paintbug
New member
have you noticed your Caulerpa going asexual? that can cause problems with nitrates. im not an expert by no means, but i have read its real important to trim the macroalgaes in the fuge from time to time. it allows them to grow and consume more nitrates.
i dont think you have a bio-load or overfeeding problem. unless your putting in a half a jar of flakes.
so for now just keep up with the water changes, something like 20% weekly, look into trimming the macroalgae and you should see the nitrates droping.
i dont think you have a bio-load or overfeeding problem. unless your putting in a half a jar of flakes
. so for now just keep up with the water changes, something like 20% weekly, look into trimming the macroalgae and you should see the nitrates droping.
I don't know what to look for when Caulerpa goes asexual? I actually only wanted Cheato because I had heard about this issue with Caulerpa before. However the Cheato that I bought had a few strands of Caulerpa in it and unfortunately it now dominates. Recently I added more Chaeto and that's shifted the balance a bit. There is a lot of stuff trapped in the microalgae, I should probably trim. The light is hardly getting to the bottom of the fuge.
20% water change per week is a scary proposition for me. That's roughly 30 gallons. Problem is I have a lot of SPS up high including a pink bird's nest that become exposed to the air when I do a water change. Instead, I have started 10 gallon daily water changes, and based on some quick calcs I did I will need to do a few more 10 gallon changes compared to say 30 gallon changes to achieve the same result. Kind of daunting though, I will need to do ten 10 gallon changes to half my nitrates and that's assuming no more nitrate is being produced.
20% water change per week is a scary proposition for me. That's roughly 30 gallons. Problem is I have a lot of SPS up high including a pink bird's nest that become exposed to the air when I do a water change. Instead, I have started 10 gallon daily water changes, and based on some quick calcs I did I will need to do a few more 10 gallon changes compared to say 30 gallon changes to achieve the same result. Kind of daunting though, I will need to do ten 10 gallon changes to half my nitrates and that's assuming no more nitrate is being produced.
