how to eliminate algae
- Thread starter xmenx2dad
- Start date
Oddly enough, I've read that can happen from an NO3-/PO43- imbalance.
Which type? cyano?
Are you feeding more?
Paul
Soulsanctu
New member
Few things that helped me was to rinse frozen foods out and drain the excess water.,,, keeping my PH in the 8.3 ish range...and a few sally lightfoots help too....
lacosta28
Premium Member
I had a problem with cyano recently. To get rid of it I left the lights off for 3 days. The fish don't care and it didn't bother my corals. Remember, it's not a bright sunny day everday in nature. I think the best way to go about it is not to worry about taking care of what you have in the tank with snails or anything else, but to find the source of what is causing it to grow in the first place. This will be the only way to really get rid of it completely.
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xmenx2dad
New member
Not sure of the cause, thought it was phosphates, that is why i added the gfo/carbon reactor. Also added a di canister to my ro water to remove the excess tds. it is now at 0. lights are on from 1-9pm all 6 bulbs and 11-11 for t bulbs. Light schedule has been the same for several months. Running a 6 bulb t5 setup. I do feed frozen food. Guess i will start rinsing it and see if that helps. Any other thoughts or suggestions? thanks
lacosta28
Premium Member
Do you know if you have any dead spots in your tank? That may be an issue. If I remember correctly you should have about 20x water volume for your flow. So with a 55 you would need around 1100 gph. I don't know the flow rate of your pumps, especially with head loss on the mag 7.
I've been thawing frozen foods in ~50mL RO (sometimes RO/DI), then rinsing with a second volume of RO/DI. I guess it is helping, as the cyano seems to drop off every once-in-a-while. But I'm still cursing the bio pellets...
Paul
lacosta28
Premium Member
This is what SK8r has to say about Cyano. She is a mod with a lot of great advice.
"NON-ALGAES that look like algaes. The red blush on your sand (browner in some lighting) is cyanobacteria, one of the oldest lifeforms on earth, and the origin of the chloroplasts in every green plant on earth---so it's darned near impossible to dodge it. It probably floats in from nearby lakes and rivers, not to mention demised houseplants, who knows? Look it up. It's a read. Some varieties even crawl.
To get rid of it, first have a really good skimmer; then turn the lights out on your tank 3 days a month (1 day of actinic only, if you have MH lighting, total of 4 days.) It won't hurt your reef. But it will kill this stuff, which has only 3 life requirements: water, oxygen, and sunlight. Sunlight is all you can rob it of safely. Since it is also the origin of chloroplasts in all living green plants, forget trying to avoid it getting into your tank---just deal with it as it shows up.
And avoid having slanted sunlight hitting your tank: this stuff had its heyday in the era of the Permian Extinction, when weird-spectrum sunlight was getting through the clouds. It loves that situation. Keep sunlight from your tank in all seasons, or expect to have a little of this show up. Do NOT use Red Slime remedy as a beginner: that rides beginner's luck to the max, and you can can crash your tank with it if you make a mistake or if your skimmer isn't what it ought to be. A cyano outbreak is soooo minor, and does no real harm, bad as it looks: don't panic. Take the long route, and you'll beat it within a few months.
Then there are diatoms: animacules, as cyano is sorta plant/sorta animal, this stuff is little microscopic animals. A baby-poop-brown fluff or sheet or stain on the sand. Treat it much the same as cyano, but this stuff DOES like phosphate particularly well, so a fuge will help.
"
"NON-ALGAES that look like algaes. The red blush on your sand (browner in some lighting) is cyanobacteria, one of the oldest lifeforms on earth, and the origin of the chloroplasts in every green plant on earth---so it's darned near impossible to dodge it. It probably floats in from nearby lakes and rivers, not to mention demised houseplants, who knows? Look it up. It's a read. Some varieties even crawl.
To get rid of it, first have a really good skimmer; then turn the lights out on your tank 3 days a month (1 day of actinic only, if you have MH lighting, total of 4 days.) It won't hurt your reef. But it will kill this stuff, which has only 3 life requirements: water, oxygen, and sunlight. Sunlight is all you can rob it of safely. Since it is also the origin of chloroplasts in all living green plants, forget trying to avoid it getting into your tank---just deal with it as it shows up.
And avoid having slanted sunlight hitting your tank: this stuff had its heyday in the era of the Permian Extinction, when weird-spectrum sunlight was getting through the clouds. It loves that situation. Keep sunlight from your tank in all seasons, or expect to have a little of this show up. Do NOT use Red Slime remedy as a beginner: that rides beginner's luck to the max, and you can can crash your tank with it if you make a mistake or if your skimmer isn't what it ought to be. A cyano outbreak is soooo minor, and does no real harm, bad as it looks: don't panic. Take the long route, and you'll beat it within a few months.
Then there are diatoms: animacules, as cyano is sorta plant/sorta animal, this stuff is little microscopic animals. A baby-poop-brown fluff or sheet or stain on the sand. Treat it much the same as cyano, but this stuff DOES like phosphate particularly well, so a fuge will help.
"
pmgaudio
In Memoriam
I started seeing a bunch of those little green hairy type algea, like in your pic but way smaller on the inside glass on the sides.??? *** is it? I am 2 months in and level are fantastic. TOO MUCH LIGHT?? Running 8hs a day whie, and two to three blue
Ntvper
New member
well on lighting i run 12 on with the obvious 12 off when i have an outbreak due to frozen food i normally just wait it out and it eventually browns and is eaten by snails. do you have a big enough CC? im needing some more and may throw in an order with lacosta when he orders. its an idea, I would worry more about feeding, water input, and skimmer capacity way before talking about lighting schedule. though a day or two with no lights on can help. also direct or indirect sunlight can throw in an algae boost too. and the bio pellets with a better rinsing of once a week frozen did help with my hair algae problem which is now gone woohoo. I think on my part was that I was overfeeding and the upgrade of the skimmer helped with the algae blooms. (havent had to clean the glass since new skimmer)
