Help with Algae problem

[SoonerFan732]

I need some help with my algae problem. Below are some pictures of the algae that is growing in my main display. The first three pictures are what it looks like from about lights on until 7 PM then from 7 until lights off if looks like the last two pictures. It has gradually been getting worse over the past 2 weeks. You may recall a month or so ago I was having problems with brown algae blooming. Now I have this instead.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Some info to help:
75 gallon with a Euroreef CS8-3 skimmer (hasn't been collecting much skimmate past 4 months, maybe 1/4" every 3-4 days), mag 9.5 in the sump and 3 maxi-jet 1200's in the main display. The actinics are on from 9 AM - 10:30 PM (x2 65W power compact) the rest of the lights are on from 10:30 AM - 9 PM(x2 65W 10000K/6500K PC and 2 65W SmartPaq PC). The 10000K/6500K bulbs are 8 months old, the SmartPaqs are 2 months old, 1 Actinic is 1 week old and 1 is 8 months old. I have been using RO/DI water from the start and the tank has been set up for 8 months.

Temperature (F) 78-80
pH 8-8.3
Calcium (PPM) 400
Salinity 1.024
Ammonia (PPM) 0
Nitrite (PPM) 0
Nitrate (PPM) 0
Phosphates (PPM) 0.1

Rock 1 in the afternoon

Rock 2 in the afternoon

Rock 3 in the afternoon

Rock 1 in the evening

Rock 3 in the evening

 

[pwhitby]

I would strip the ER down and clean the venturis. I would also add some detrivores and snails/hermits.

The algae you have there is a prime food for hermits. If you can, get red, since they dont kill snails like the blues.

I would also get a toothbrush and scrub the rock while siphoning out the algae.

P.

 

[VCoo71]

is that red algae a slime or more of a turf? i cant tell from the pics

charlie

 

[pwhitby]

looks like a mix of red and turf type to me.

 

[scott0615]

Cowries are awesome at eating cyano. We've had great luck clearing it up quite quickly. Have you every double checked your test kits???? Do you find the algae is growing in a lower flow rate area????

 

[SoonerFan732]

I broke the Euroreef down a couple of weeks ago. I have another thread going in the Euroreef message board. They recommend several things and I have tried them all (cleaning the pump, skimmer, reducing flow through the skimmer compartment, etc...) It still works as well as it did before I did all that stuff.

Seems to be more of a turf, but I am not sure...

All the test kits are Salifert except my phosphate (Red Sea or something like that). I use a refractometer for Salinity and a Pinpoint pH meter for pH. I just calibrated the pH meter today. I was just a bit off. I bought the test kits about 6-7 months ago. I do wonder about the Nitrate Test kit, as I have never been able to get it change color at all (nitrate has always read the lowest reading).

I have a quite a few hermits and snails. I have to have over 40-50 hermits and 40-50 snails of one sort or another.

Thanks for the help!

 

[VCoo71]

the red turf is a PIA and will still grow in even a very low phosphate environment!!!! as low as 0.02 on a hanna colorimeter

i have yet to see anything really eat it!!!

charlie

 

[scott0615]

I would double check your kits with a local store or anyone with different / newer / different kits. How about flow rate in the areas the algae is growing?

 

[djc1026]

It looks like red slime to me as well. I concur with the above recommendations and add that PC lighting typically has an effective age of 6-8 months and could also be a factor.

I would also just give a warning about the cowries. I was very intrigued by them when I got into SW about a year ago and did a lot of research on them. It is a very interesting animal and there are literally hundreds of species. Most are omnivores that tend to specialize with one sort of prey in the wild ranging from corals and sponges to other inverts. In the home aquarium they generally are documented as algae grazers, which they do very well, this however, is typically noted by biologists as opportunistic feeding as they are searching for a more suitable food source. Because there are so many species and they often look similar, it is difficult to accurately identify them to know exactly what their preferred food source is. Many people report never experiencing any problems, others report no problems until an addition to the tank is made after the cowrie, and still others report problems with them right off the bat. Another drawback is depending on the species, for example the tiger cowrie (cypraea tigris) can reach 4 inches in diameter, making it quite the bulldozer. From everything I read and could find the best recommendations of cowries for the reef tank are the money cowrie (cypraea moneta) and the ringed cowrie (cypraea annulus)...of course this is if you can accurately identify them and understand they may still be opportunistic feeders at times, their size though stays realtive small coming in at around an 1.5" full grown. One to stay away from for sure is the Flamingo Tongue Cowrie (Cyphoma gibbosum) as it primarily eats several species of soft corals. Also cowries' health in the home aquarium is often debated due to in the wild their mantle envelops the shell and this is not always seen in captivity. My personal opinion about this debate is sort of like the inflated bubbles debate on BTAs.

Sorry for the long post, just one of those topics that I found a lot of info on and never had the opportunity to share it with anyone.

Dave

 

[scott0615]

We have a vendor selling "algae eating cowries". Based on info from other people I was skeptical as well. I was told "algae only" from this vendor and this specie would not grow to more than 1" in size. I need to attempt to properly identify this animal when time permits. I have had great results over the last couple of months.

 

[djc1026]

The tiger cowrie is often advertised as an algae eater, but even if they are and that's all they ever eat, what are you going to do with a baseball size snail in your tank? The problem is finding the right one to do the job. My brother had a cowrie, can't remember if that's how it was sold or if it had a common name, anyway he found it one day consuming his hammer coral.

Sorry to hijack the thread SoonerFan.

 

[SoonerFan732]

Thanks guys!

Charlie, What is PIA?

Scott, Some if the stuff is growing in the lower flow areas, but the most of it grows in the highest flow area of my tank.

 

[VCoo71]

pain in the ***

are you able to blow it off with a powerhead? if so i would say redslime
if not and its more like a brillo pad i would try some emerald crabs

charlie

 

[luvabunny]

Ever tried chemi-clean?
Oh, and my sailfin tang eats red turf algae.
Because of the bubbles in yours, it appears more cyano to me. Chemi-clean will get rid of it promptly and not hurt anything else in your tank.

 

[SoonerFan732]

What's Chemi-clean and how do you apply it?

Charlie, I will see if it comes off with a power head this evening when I get home.

Thanks!

Kevin

 

[ReeferRyan]

You can get Chemi-Clean at almost all LFS. It is a white powder that you mix in water then pour in your aquarium. From personal experience, make sure it dissolves before you pour it in, because it will just float on the top then end up in the sump. After applying, you need to do a water change.

I have the same algae problem as you and Chemi-Clean didn't touch it. This could be because I didn't do something right, but I figure it is because its turf algae, not cyano.

 

[TimV]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6915814#post6915814 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SoonerFan732
What's Chemi-clean and how do you apply it?

Charlie, I will see if it comes off with a power head this evening when I get home.

Thanks!

Kevin

Chemi-clean is an aquarium additive you can get online or at fish stores. I'm not sure exactly how it works though. You can also use a product called Red Slime Remover. It will work on exactly what you have (I know, I'll occasionally get that too). RSR is simply erythromycin, so you can save money by going to Petsmart or the LFS and buying Maracyn (not Maracyn II which is tetracycline). I've used both RSR and Maracyn and both worked just fine to remove red slime. Erythromycin is not going to have any major effect on the critical bacteria in a salt water tank as they are already naturally resistant to it.

T

 

[SoonerFan732]

Does Chemi-Clean, Red Slime Remover, or Maracyn have any side-effects on the inverts, corals, or fish?

What could be possible source(s) of this algae?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[mskohl]

If it is red slime (cyano) bacteria, I would suggest that your lights have worn out. I had a cyano problem and after I added more flow, reduced feeding (even though my nitrates and phosphates were 0), I tried the lights and basically overnight the problem was gone. I used chemi-clean several times and it would generally give a good reduction, but it always came back.

If you just blow off the cyano and don't suction it out, it will spread to anywhere it lands. The air bubbles in your picture indicate to me that it is cyano. If you can peel it off in sections, that would also indicate cyano, but I don't have any experience with red turf.

Hope this helped - it's just my experience. Let me know if I can add anything else. I battled cyano for a couple of months before I figured it out.
Stephanie

 

[SoonerFan732]

I do have two spare bulbs to replace to oldest bulbs (6500K/10000K) perhaps I will switch them out and see how that goes.

I have also added some attachments to my maxi-jets that rotate (driven by the flow output of the powerhead) to alternate the flow a few weeks ago. Maybe those things reduced the flow in the tank quite a bit more than I thought (Doesn't cyano like lower flow?)

So why does the algae appear to recede in the evening? After about 7 PM it is hardly noticable (however the green algae under the red shows up more, but the red is hardly noticable). Those pictures don't really show the difference as well as seeing it in person. If it looked like it did later in the evening it really wouldn't bother me, but in the afternoon it looks like a forest waving around.

Thansk!

Kevin