Need help with getting rid of algae?

V

Ven0m

New member
I always see peoples tanks with practically no string/hair algae anywhere.
I have tried everything but it keeps sticking around. Though not as bad as before.

I have a 90G Tank,

3 Power heads and a cannister filter with only carbon in it for extra water flow.
The filter does shoot pockets of water that I have tried to find a leak etc letting in air. It doesnt happen often but atleast 5x a day. Just a quick shoot of small bubbles.

I have a skimmer that is suited for 90G (I know ill probably get a new one soon)
I don't over feed.
For a cleanup crew I have 35 snails
3 hermit crabs
2 cleaner shrimp
1 goby.

My lighting is on for 8h and is 2x250 MH 15000k.

I use RO/DI water I get.
Each week I do a 10% water change. Nitrates 0 PH 8.2

270Lbs of live rock.

For fish I have a chromis/coral beauty/clown fish/cardinal/blue mandarin

All are thriving and are really healthy.

I also seem to have quite a bit of bristle worms. Probably a symptom from algae. If I can figure out the algae problem, I think they will go away slowly. Or atleast reduce population. I do have some colt/toadstool/candy cane corals mushrooms etc.
 
off topic, but do you have all your LR in the DT? I've always followed 1 lb per gallon for LR, is there room for 3lb per gallon in a tank? (just curious, I don't mean to sound snarky)
 
phosphates seem normal and all the Liverock is in the DT. I dunno I didn't buy all the rock. I thought more rock wouldn't be a bad thing.
 
Its your rock. 1 to 1.5 lbs or rock per gallon. I say no more then 1 lb per gallon as you add more with coral frags.
If you do have that much rock then you have many areas of low to no flow areas the uneatin food and fish waste collect. This creates excess food for algea to thrive on.
You want the rock setup so water flow can get around and through it.
 
Could depend on the quality of the live rock. How old are the bulbs? I have a million bristle worms in my tanks and never thought of them as a problem just a security measure for over feeding. I also use the standard clean up crew
 
I had a 45G before and upgraded to a 90G. I had 70lbs of liverock and had more algae before then I do now. why is that? I thought the liverock helped because of that reason haha.
 
I am not sure on the bulbs. I have new ones. I could try changing them. The girl I got the lighting system from said she changed them recent. and that was 4 months ago. So I could replace them. How do I know if the quality of the liverock is good or not?
 
70 lbs in a 45 is almost as bad; thats still almost 2 lb per gallon... +1 on having too much rock that slows (or blocks) good water flow
 
Ven0m said:
0.04
Click to expand...


How old is the test kit and what brand is it.
Might have to reduce the lighting period from 8hrs to 6 and see if that works for about 2 wks. Then you gradually carry it back up. Another option is running phosbhan media
 
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Have you considered adding a sump/refugium with a nice in sump skimmer? This could really help with your algae problems. It wouldn't be a hard thing to add to a non drilled tank, you just need some space under the tank.
 
I agree with adding a sump and an oversized skimmer as well as a reaction chamber for GFO. Neither the occassional bubbles nor the bristle worms are related (although the latter usually only bloom when there is more food to consume that should be: consider changing to every other day feeding only).
 
You need to run GFO if you want to get your PO down -- and ime lots of it. For the first few weeks at least change it out twice a week and you'll see rapid improvement.
 
yea last night I took out 160lbs of live rock and did a nice clean. I will sell off this liverock. I am going to go buy a phosphate reactor to run GFO. Then I will use the money from the liverock and buy a oversized protein skimmer. That should be a good start. I also changed my bulb lights. Lot's more flow in the tank. Guess we will see in a bit how it all works out.

I also am buying a sump in a week and a half. A friend is building me a custom one. So itll take some time before it gets done.
 
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