slime algae

[PresseA]

my 55gal aquarium is 6 weeks old has 50lbs of live rock with a prizm skimmer, an emperor 400, 40watt florecent light, and 4 damsels. for the past couple weeks there as been tons of red, green,blue, purple slime alge all over the sand and on the rocks. but not nearly as much on the rocks.
is this normal?

whats going on?

also my nitrite and ammonia are o and the nitrate is higher then o but lower then ten.temp is 80.

 

[egdevilboy]

nitrates are algae food. So is phosphate so check that too.

Algae blooms are common in newer tanks so you may have to deal with a few. Run your light for only 8-10 hours a day. Also a cleanup crew of some snails and hermits is a good idea. Make sure you do h2o changes and only feed 2-3 times a week (over feeding is a big cause of algae growth)

 

[bertoni]

New tanks often get cyanobacterial blooms. Often, they go away on their own. The tank might need more circulation or less feeding, though, or other nutrient control.

How much and what are you feeding?

 

[PresseA]

i feed twice a day with flake and sometimes frozen.

 

[PresseA]

i also hae another question.
if my nitrates are very low is it ever nesessary to do a water change?

 

[PatMayo]

Yes you need to replace at least 10 to 20% per month if you want a healthy tank. There are many other things that will cause you system to be a nutrient sink if you do not change the water. This will cause algae problems. Almost all truly successful tanks do regular water changes. I have a 90 AGA and I change 8 gallons each week without fail.

Also regarding your algae problem, do you intend this tank to be fish only with live rock or a mixed reef?

I have found that using an RO/DI system is imperative to reducing algae breakouts. As well good flow will help reduce algae as well. Do you use RO/DI water? My tank has 2 ea. Seio powerheads that pump 1100 gallons per hour, 2 ea. Maxijet 1200 powerheads plus the return pump pushes about 450 gph.

All of these things will help to reduce algae. I would also feed only every other day until the tank has aged and you see the algae reduce.

You can see my tank here.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=780206

Regards,

Pat

 

[bertoni]

Twice a day is fine, but the feeding should be very small, maybe 1/4 or less of a cube of frozen Formual 1, as a rough starting point.

The tank might just need more flow, or you might just need to wait a bit. You'd want around 600gph total flow at a minimum. If none of the animals are having problems, you could try waiting a few weeks.

 

[PresseA]

Ive got around 800gph of flow

 

[bertoni]

I would just wait at least a few weeks and see what happens.

 

[Dastank]

I had the same trouble with green hair algae when I set up a recient tank. I did my normal water changes and one day it all dissapeared Give it time.

 

[PresseA]

thanks, i think ill just hold out and see if that nasty velvet slime will go away and maybe do more water changes.

 

[jpitch]

water changes also replenishes elements consumed by organisms living in your tanks

 

[PresseA]

its been a couple weeks and its still as bad as ever

 

[bertoni]

Hmm, well, you could start considering some ideas:

1) More flow helps sometimes. You're at 800 gph, though, and that's not too bad.

2) You could cut feeding back to once a day, and do some water changes, siphoning out as much of the slime as possible.

3) Growing and harvesting a macroalga is a common tactic, and help my tanks.

4) If you get desperate, something like Chemi-Clean or UltraLife RSR will give at least a temporary break.

 

[PatMayo]

It's interesting that some tanks have this problem and other's don't. I wonder how many common denominators can be found between those that do have problems and those that don't? I used to have extreme issues with algae way back in the day when I first tried this adventure.

Today I don't have any problems. I know what equipment is different and back then live rock was not used, but folks have essentially the same set up I have and still experience algae problems.

It has to be extremely frustrating for those folks that are doing everything "by the book" and yet still suffer from the problem.

Jonathan are you aware of any indepth scientific studies that have addressed this issue?


Regards,

Pat

 

[PresseA]

i do notice that the lights feed the algae because when i wake up and the lights pop on the algae is significantly less then later in the day.

 

[bertoni]

I don't know of any studies of these types of problems.

Often, the microbes die off over night and return the next day, or the guess is that they die off. So daily visible growth is fairly common.

 

[PresseA]

i cannot really siphon the algae off the sand because the sand just gets sucked right out with the dirt because it is pretty fine sand.

 

[PresseA]

if i use a phosphate remover will that help?

 

[rem7mag]

imo, cut back a little on the light cycle if your running more than 10 hours, maybe less if you dont have any light sensitive animals like corals or an anemone, and try switching to frozen food over flake, most flakes are high in nurients that promote algae growth, but dont stop the flake completely, a well rounded diet is very good for the fish, and i agree that the algae will just go away as your tank matures, the same thing happened to me with all of my tanks. change water at least once a month, but remember that small changes more frequently are better than one large one every month. plus its less stressful on your animals. a good cleanup crew will also help, i have 3 or 4 different types of snails and 2 different types of crabs in my tank and it seems like they all eat sompthing different. when you see a snail on the glass, pick him up and put him on a rock that you want him to clean, he will.

remember, this is just what works for me, you need to find what works for you, and trying different things wont hurt.