Algae battle

[JetEngineMech]

I am losing the algae battle. When I do my monthly water changes, I have a LOT of algae to remove. It's like a carpet over the ENTIRE sand bed, my (non-live) rocks...even my hermit crabs have it. It's mostly dark green but there is a bit of red in some places. And it all comes back within a month. It's draping off my power filter returns, clogging my pump and filter inlets...it's everywhere! What can I do to help keep this stuff in check? My water circulation isn't the best. There are quite a few dead spots. ALso, I only have 3 or 4 snails and 3 or 4 hermit crabs. Will fixing the water flow and getting a pre-made cleanup crew help? My water params seem to be good and my lighting isn't on too long from what I've read here. The look of this thick, dark algae all over everything is really taking the fun out of things.

[amcarrig]

You using r.o. water? If so, have you always used it or did you start the tank with tap water? If using r.o. water, are you testing that for phosphates, etc.?

[JetEngineMech]

I'm using RO (always have) but I just saw another thread here that sounds like what I may have, Cyanos. I just did a search and found an article that seems to explain what to do. I tried e-mailing the author but the email is no longer valid. Below is what I said, any help would be appreciated.

"Albert,
I just came across your article because it sounds like this is the algae I
have. It is very slimy and draping out of the power filter returns. It is
basically dark green but has red within it. Mostly, it has blanketed my sand
bed and all the rocks. I can siphon it off but it returns very quickly. All
of this sounds like your description in the article on Cyanos. I haven't
looked to see if there are any feeding guides, but almost all the food I
feed them are of the frozen cube type. I feed the animals every other day. I
don't have a large cleaning crew, snails and hermit crabs, perhaps 3 or 4 of
each. I also have several dead spots as far as water movement and my skimmer
isn't of the best quality. From what I've read, until I fix some of these
problems it will be a losing battle. Besides upgrading the skimmer, how
important is water movement, feeding, and my cleanup crew size?"

I plan to fix my water flow problem anyway, but it sounds like a skimmer upgrade may be a good idea as well.

[ReefSparky]

Hey JetEngineMech. I've fought your battle for many years and have lost it until recently. Until I made the changes below, my algae was so thick the colorblind clowns used to beat down my doors thinking I had a cotton candy machine hidden in my aquarium.

I'll tell you everything I did; but out of frustration I approached this as a blitzkreig attack, and did everything within pretty much the same time frame--so I can't tell you what action was most attributable to the cure. But cure it I did. I hardly have a speck of green algae anymore. It's been since Nov. 1st, so I'm pretty confident I've licked it.

Here's what I did:

I've always used tap water, and switched to RO/DI. I got rid of my crushed coral substrate, and replaced it with aragonite sand. I invested in T5 lighting instead of the standard flourescent bulbs I used (and used to let them go over a year b/w changes). I upgraded my no name skimmer to a better brand name model. I removed the bio balls from my wet/dry to reduce nitrates. I made a DIY refugium with a 10 gal. tank, and placed a spiral 67K daylight flourescent bulb on top, running it overnight when tank lights are off. In that refugium I placed a softball-sized piece of chaeto; which competes for the same nutrients the main tank algae does. I bought a phos-reactor, which runs full time, full of seachem phophate remover, and topped off the rest of the way with activated carbon. I religiously change my water in 25% increments once monthly (which I'm considering changing to once each two weeks instead, at half the amount). I invested in a ecotech vortech pump; which moves water well with no dead spots. Finally, I purchased half a dozen each of blue legged hermits and snails (3 nassarius and 3 astrea). They do a decent job, especially on the glass.

That's about it. If I had to guess what's making the most difference, I'd say two main contributing factors are the chaeto and the phos reactor, after that probably the change in lighting; but I can't be sure.

I wish you luck!

[SAW39]

Wow. Very impressive, ReefSparky! I agree that the chaeto and the phos reactor are among the primary cures. Don't dis the positive effect of water movement, though.

In the first 18 months that I had my tank, I went through 3 cycles of cyano (blue-green algae). I believe they were all caused by excessive nitrates, and the first and third outbreak had contributing factors of poor water movement and changes in lighting. Siphoning and disposing of the slime makes the tank look better and removes the nitrates, too!

[JetEngineMech]

Well, I definately have to get better about my water changes...
I don't have a canister filter, so no bio balls. But I do have bio wheels on my power filter, is that bad? I'm also hoping to change to a lifeguard type filter soon in place of the hang-on. I'll have to look into the chaeto and the phos reactor. Can I get away with my current skimmer for the time being you think? And is it worth shortening up my light cycles at all? In the mean time, I'll keep on siphoning....thanks for all the help!

[SAW39]

JetEngineMech,
Is the skimmer doing its job? Are you getting a cup or more of dark greenish slime every week? If not, replace it.

I have no thoughts on the bio wheel. My adult daughter has them in her freshwater tank, but I don't know anyone who uses them in salt water. Like any filter, clean it regularly and keep the crud and detritus out of your water circulation.
Do light cycles make a difference? When it happened to me, the change in light was drastic -- from 15w to 96W, so that probably contributed to a cyano bloom.
However, IMHO, light quality is more to blame for hair algae blooms than for cyano blooms.

Root cause of all of this: Overfeeding? Probably.

[JetEngineMech]

I get quite a bit of VERY dark green slimy crud...when the inlet isn't blocked...

I'll have to check some of the feeding threads. I may very well be overfeeding them. I have plans for a lot more critters in the tank but I want to fix this before I do that.

[reef_guru]

PO4, NO3 and Si fuel unwanted algae. what are your Ca, dKH, Mg, pH?

[JetEngineMech]

I'll have to check. I just did a water change today before I left for work so I don't know what the numbers are right now (I'm still at work).