unwanted algae growth

[saferyancaine]

I have unwanted algae growth towards the top of the tank. It is brown in color and hairy a water test shows no phosphates and I just bought a uv sterilizer that I hoped would help does any one have and ideas for me.

 

[nait002]

I'm sure Jeffgp will chime in....

 

[nait002]

If not how old are your lights?. What kind of lights do you run? How long has the tank been setup? Whats your bioload? What skimmer do you run or if no skimmer what is your filtration method? What do you feed, flake or frozen? What do you have for flow? Sump or no sump? What substrate do you have?

 

[Thorium]

Hey
Ok, so you have eliminated phosphates. Now, what about silicate matter, DOM, nutrient levels, old bulbs, unfiltered H2O, poor skimming -which can all contribute to what you are observing. To improve your situation, and ensure a better and more helpful response perhaps list more about your system. Get as detailed as you can, your bio load, feeding schedule, filtration status, lighting regiment, water change maintenance, anything you do to the tank would help nail down your problem. Hopefully others will chime in and give you their OWN FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE, and help you out.
Regards
Thorium

 

[prugs]

UV sterilizers only help with green water/killing algae in the water column.
If sized correctly they can help with ich.

Algae is sometimes part of the new tank cycle.

 

[jeffgp]

thanks nait002 i never had it that bad .. even when my water Q was way less then par ... i know a bad set of lights will do it . what K are the bulbs ....low flow will create dead spots in the tank as well ...but the main thing is .. tell us what you have for a system .....

 

[srlumaye1]

Do you have any creatures that will eat the algae? If there is nothing to eat the algae, it will probably grow in ANY tank eventually.

 

[jeffgp]

well there are several belnny's that will do and same with snales ... get some star fish and crabs ...

having a good clean-up crew is a good idea

 

[nait002]

Well I've said this time and time again. Buying animals to eat your algae is hit and miss and not recommended as an algae control method. The animal may or may not eat the algae. Now you've added another animal to your bioload. I've had a few blennies and have never once seen them crawling or cleaning the glass. Also what the heck are starfish and crabs going to do? Hermits seem to eat uneaten food. If your feeding the right amount of food, there should really be nothing left for the crabs. I just had a cleanup crew discussion with a fellow reefer on whether it was beneficial or not. I had a cleanup crew once and now it has dwindled down to about 5 hermits and 5 snails. I really don't think that they are keeping my 200 gallon system clean by themselves. Good husbandry goes along way and is often under looked. I am also giving a link to starfish diets. No where in the link do they talk about them eating algae.
http://www.vsf.cape.com/~jdale/science/ecology.htm

 

[srlumaye1]

Call it bad housekeeping if you will, but I tend to feed the fish and they can't possibly eat everything. Stuff blows around and settles in nooks and crannies. The starfish or shrimp scoot out and grab what they can off the bottom, and reach their arms into the crannies. They DO help keep the place clean.

I've been traveling a lot lately, and instead of having someone come over every day to feed the fish a little at a time, I feed a little bit more every third day. Unfortunately my cleanup crew had dwindled over the last 1.5 years and once the extra food settled into the cracks, algae took hold, and that just provided more space to catch more detritus, and the algea started taking off in spots.

I've now got a bunch of mithrax crabs (and others) to help clean up the problem again. The cucumbers help keep the gravel clean. Urchins and tangs help keep the exposed areas clean. I also have a bunch of the spaghetti type worms that stretch their tentacles across the top of the rock/gravel scooping stuff up. Do all these creatures eat beneficial things also? Sure they do. Everything balances out though if you have great enough diversity in your system. Just like in nature, you should have all different kinds of things.

My Opinion at least...

Steve

 

[srlumaye1]

Forgot to make the point that while the starfish may not EAT the algae, they may eat the stuff that collects in crannies that allow algae to grow in the first place.

Steve

 

[steve414]

I think the brown is coming from his lights..But we dont no what lights he has. I had a nano upstairs with a cf jebo fixture and had nothing but poo brown.Never had that poo brown problem in the main tank

 

[Thorium]

saferyancaine paging saferyancaine, the help desk is open..........
I didn't know you had a nano with a jaybow Steve.

 

[steve414]

Up stairs in Olivia's room That black sump downstairs was for a 10gallon tank and that jaybow skimmer and overflow check my pics

 

[saferyancaine]

unwanted brown crap in my tank

unwanted brown crap in my tank

The tank is a 90gallon with a 30 gallon radium below total amount of water moving in tank is about 4660 gph My lighting is 500w of hqi actinic 14k bulbs I also have t12 2 white bulbs and 2 actinic 420w no nitrates show up on a test or ammonia I use rodi water water changes about ounce every 3 weeks I add iodine, essential elements, coral-vite, every week and phito plankton every 3 days

 

[saferyancaine]

pic

pic

i will email pics to anyone who asks i cant find out how to get them on this web page

 

[prugs]

Phytoplankton? That's what happens when I clean my glass.
How long has your tank been up & running?
Unwanted brown crap? Diatoms or cyanobacteria

 

[steve414]

How much iodine do you use??

 

[saferyancaine]

unwanted brown crap

unwanted brown crap

the tank is 6 mounts old I add 15ml of iodine per week

 

[steve414]

Do you test for iodine if not cut the dosage in half,I would cut the essential elements, coral-vite