Help Me...

M

manissen10

Member
So I have this algae issue going on in my tank and cannot figure out where the issue is coming from. I get this greenish algae on my sand and I cant keep it away. I'll do a water change and the very next day its back and slowing taking over my sand bed. My ph is between 8.4-8.8, nitrates are at 0, and nitrites are at 0. any ideas? and how to solve the problem because its bothers me that I clean the tank and make it look good and the next day it looks bad again.

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How old is the tank? Do you have a clean up crew? how much flow do you have? Algae issues on the sandbed usually have to do with not enough flow in that area.... so if the bottom of your tank never gets water movement... then stuff will grow.. obviously you can't point a powerhead at the sand but you can play with their placement so you see movement at the bottom but not enough to stir up the sand....
 
How old is the sandbed?

Have you ever cleaned it?

Is there any other algae in the tank?

Do you combat phosphates with anything?
 
When I do the water change I clean the sand with the siphen. The tank is about 4 months old. and yes I have a clean up crew. I have about 25 red hermits and blue hermits. 5 trochus snails. 10 cerith snails and just recently added 20 Nassarius snails. and one urchin. I also currently have a Koralia 750 in the top left corner of my tank aimed towards front center of my tank. and a backpak 2 skimmer and hang on back filter also providing some flow. and no I haven't tried to combat the phosphates with anything. any ideas? And there is not other algae in the tank other than on the glass I get some green build up on there too
 
That looks like diatoms?

I think your tank is too young. Give it some more time. I'm sure it will go away.
 
I would run some GFO from bulkreefsupply.com

They have a great price on it. You can run it in a filter bag but its best in a reactor.

If you are feeding foods high in phosphates you should address that as well.

Frozen mysis should be rinsed before feeding. Flake is very high in phosphates.
 
K thanks guys ill give that a try. do you think my flow is enough and should I angle my powerhead differently? I do feed frozen mysis and Oceans nutrition's Prime Reef Flake. When you say rinse it off what do you mean exactly? because I normally put the mysis in a glass. and stir it up with saltwater from the tank. Am I doing this wrong? Here is a picture of my tank. It looks good minus the sand in some spots. Its funny though because my mom is really into photography and Ill come home and she has pics on her computer that she takes of my tank so Ill have to upload those rather than these iphone poor quality ones.

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I would stay away from frozen foods until your tank settles.

Frozen foods contain loads of phosphates which encourage algae growth. Also when you feeding frozen foods the best is to defrost the food by putting it in hot water then pour it into a net so you dont get that water into your tank.

I agree with the GFO it will help. Also get yourself a scraper and remove the algae from the back glass. Make sure the algae doesnt float around. Catch it.

How many pumps do you have in the tank and what are the ratings?
 
Thanks for answering a question that ive had for a while. I've always seen tanks that people have with the purple algae on the back glass and thought it was something that wasnt bad for the tank. but now I know it may not be all that good.

But right now I have that koralia 750 which is 750 gallons per hour and that's it. The LFS said it would be more than plenty with the flow from my Bak Pak 2 Skimmer and hang on back filter?
 
The purple stuff is Coraline. Thats good stuff. I thought i saw green algae at the back or is that just a backgroud?
 
haha yea its the coraline. but the little circles is coraline but I know its a rookie move but when I set up the tank I didn't think of painting the back of the tank. So from my FW setup I had a background sheet that has pics of corals on it so thats my background. I should have painted it :(
 
manissen10 said:
DSB? I just have the skimmer and a hang on back filter that is rated up to 60 gallons.
Click to expand...

DSB - Deep sand bed.

Usually you would have a sump at the bottom of the tank which houses your filtration Skimmer - DSB - Return.

You could put live rock and other things in here also.
 
I got the Live Rock from another person on here with the live sand. I have about 40 lbs live rock and a sand bed of about 3 inches that was all live. and its been running for 3 1/2 months now. I recently added dry rock which you can see on the left which is white to fill the tank a little more
 
manissen10 said:
BTW its a 55g tank if that helps determine how much flow I need
Click to expand...

Flow is normally 10-20 times the water volume... So 550gph to 1100 gph.... For your tank.... However I've seen tanks upwards of 65-70 times the volume.... I am a very big advocate for water flow.... I have about 60 times my water volume.... It also kinda depends on what corals you have or plan on having.... The longer food can stay suspended the better..... If it were me I'd add 2 more powerheads or koralias.... I'd place them on each end pointing towards the center front glass.... And as low as possible without making the sand bed stir up... Take the one you have bow and aim it bit higher.... The point is to have no dead spots....
 
In my opinion you are way over thinking this. Its a minor issue and your tank is very young still. Ill bet you dollars to donuts it will clear on its own. Patience, grasshopper. Its easy to create new problems by over-reacting.
 
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