red/brown algae that i need help with!!!

gkaquatic

gkaquatic

New member
So im not new to the hobby but i have a algae in my tank that wont go away!The 29g tank has been up and running for almost 5 years. I work at a all saltwater fish store and have had a few people come in with this, what it sounds to be, same problem algae. and neither me or my fellow employees or boss know what it really is. The algae, from what i narrowed it down to, came from some new live rock I added about 2 months ago. it looks like a red slim algae BUT NOT more brown. I lost all my snails right after this algae started and have tried to put more in but they died a few days later. ive checked all my levels (I'll list them below) and have done many water changes 1/3 to 1/2 the tank each time. Over the last 2 weeks. Doesn't seem to be affecting all my corals just the mushrooms and sps. the hammer, leather and stars polyps seem fine. tried removing the algae as well, but it returns a few days later. One last thing is when the lights first come on the algae is almost unseen but after a few hour it starts to appear. PLEASE HELP. The only thing ive thought of doing is raising Alk or Mag in the tank im open to ideas! im sick of this stuff!

*ill post some pics tomorrow

LEVELS

P04-0
N03-10
Alk- 3.0
Nitrites- 0
Amn- 0
PH- ?
Cal- 350

tank has a phosphate reactor, some carbon in a hang-on filter with poly filter and running the skimmer- making dark tea skimmate.

temp-78-80F (its hot in Ohio right now)
 
Need more info on your set up and parameters. PH-?
What kind of skimmer?

"tank has a phosphate reactor, some carbon in a hang-on filter with poly filter and running the skimmer- making dark tea skimmate."

How long have the reactor, carbon and poly filter been in use?
Do you use RD/DI water?
Sounds like diatoms from tap water, but without a pic that is just a guess.
 
Yeah I use tape water and table salt! NO! Not trying to be a dick but like I stated I haven't I'm not newbie and I work at the largest saltwater store in ohio, and know more then enough not to use tap water! I use rodi water and ill check the PH asap! Ill get a picture up later today and I know its not diatoms.
 
Uncle Salty 05 said:
"Not trying to be a dick"
Missed your mark just a bit.
Was only trying to help there Chief.
AGAIN: How long have the reactor, carbon and poly filter been in use.
Click to expand...

+1 You may have some detritus built up in the body of your mechanical filtration. If that is the case, the cyano is being fueld by excess nitrates and phosphates which is why you are seeing negligible readings from your tests.

From your description it sounds like it's cyano. Cyano comes in all sorts of colors - red, maroon, brown, green... it's aka is blue-green algae.

Clean all equipment thouroughly, run some GFO and some Chemi-pure, add extra flow and syphon off all visible algae daily.
Click to expand...
 
Running the reactor for a week and a half and the media hasn't been changed yet plan on doing it today. As for the poly and carbon they get changed once a week. Lastlt the filters and skimmer was torn apart and cleaned a week ago
 
The reason I asked was to see if these were in response to the algae or were in use and the algae appeared despite their use.
It sounds like the latter.
If they had been in response I would have suggested more time.

Check your TDS and do lots of water changes is the best advice I can offer.
Good luck! (sorry if I came off as condescending, not my intention)
 
Uncle Salty 05 said:
Check your TDS and do lots of water changes is the best advice I can offer.
Good luck! (sorry if I came off as condescending, not my intention)
Click to expand...

Hey I'm sorry too! I jumped on ur case because I thought u were one of those people that just post to post not to accually help! I'm sure u know how the forum is sometimes and it can get really annoying when ur really looking for answers?

I did add the reactor in response to the algae. I had just bought it for my new tank build I thought it be worth a shot to run while I'm building up my tank. I will keep up with water changes and see what happens. Sorry and THANKS AGAINS
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

pinnatus
Fluffy loose brown growth
Replies
9
Views
369
pinnatus
pinnatus
R
some random questions
Replies
1
Views
222
SantaMonica
S
A
Please help reef tank
Replies
9
Views
850
wvned
wvned
J
Algae
2
Replies
23
Views
5K
griss
griss
griss
Mystery Solved
Replies
12
Views
517
Sugar Magnolia
Sugar Magnolia
Back
Top