I'm confused-Algae-3reef Forums

smitty65 · 04-14-2008, 03:27 AM

2 tanks...210 fowlr & 75g reef. 210 has HA from heck and the 75 is pristine. I don't use ro/di water on either tank. Why would one be affected and not the other if ( like I have been scolded for on another site) I don't use ro/di water? It would seem to me that, if the culprit is my water supply, that I would have trouble with BOTH tanks. 210 has 55g sump/fuge with cheato/LR and the 75 has a 110 aquaclear fuge mod with cheato/LR. The amount of cheato in the 210 is massive. It has grown into a mat rather than a ball and I turn it every other day. There is a maxi jet 1200 in it for flow along with the tank overflow. I have it turned down with a ball valve as it creates too many bubbles in the display. The sump wasn't made the way I wanted with baffles between the fuge and the return so I have to turn it down. I tried adding phosban in a sock but it did nothing. Do I need to get more filtration? It's just aggravating me to the point to where I am about to yank my hair out.

On a side note...I only run my lights about 4 to 6 hours on the display and 24/7 on the fuge. Any suggestions will be GREATLY appreciated !

Otty · 04-14-2008, 03:37 AM

Lights on the fuge need to be off when tank lights are on, never run them 24/7 they need a rest just like you.

What are you feeding the big tank, frozen food?? If so then it is full of PO₄s from the food.

tazzy695 · 04-14-2008, 04:57 AM

lot of corals in your reef tank consume extra nutrients and could be a big cause of the lack of nutrients in that tank

also you may have several fish or inverts that consume the algae before it gets the chance to realy grow

mr_X · 04-15-2008, 04:57 PM

hi. i don't have a suggestion, but i'd like to share an interesting story about algae.

i have a big display with a sump w/refugium, and not too long ago tied in a 30 breeder as a frag tank. the display has no algae anywhere except a 2 or 3 tiny tufts of hair algae in the overflows that never really grow anymore. i leave them alone because a ton of tiny snails have made those tufts their home.

the 30 breeder on the other hand- it was tied into the same water supply, same nutrient levels, and the same refugium. this was loaded with hair algae and cyano almost overnight after i hooked it up. flow is pretty good in both tanks, so i'm not sure it's a flow issue.

since i have disconnected the 30 breeder, and connected it to it's own sump.

now, some have told me it's not just water supplies, and such...it's also the introduction of "new surfaces"...eggcrate was mentioned. i don't know how accurate that is...but i guess anything's possible. how old is the afflicted tank compared to the pristine one?

also, the lighting. is the lighting the same in both tanks?
my big tank has halides with t-5 suppliment.
the breeder has only t-5's.

i don't know if any of that will help....

mr_X · 04-15-2008, 05:02 PM

oh..one more thing....is one tank near a window? getting natural sunlight at some part of the day?

nemo1991 · 04-15-2008, 05:23 PM

well i could be that the larger tank is near a window or someplace with excess light on it, also what is in your reef tank can be helping with teh algae while the other doesnt have that, so it wont help

Executivelevel · 04-15-2008, 05:24 PM

im not really sure how HA works, but it only seems to affect certain tanks!!! i dont have any of it, but my buddy has a TON of it?? get some very large sea hares and some more hermits!! oh, what K lights are you running, 10k, 12, 14?? i think it may have some thing to do with the spectrum of light. everyone i know who has over a 14k or under a 10k has hair. not sure if the K makes a diff, just a thought.

SmittyCoco · 04-15-2008, 06:16 PM

I also Had a small cyano problem in a micro nano I started. There was plenty of flow so I didn't believe that to be the culprit. I " insta " cycled it with nsw , and well establised ls and lr. I noticed it getting a great deal of natural sunlight , so I blocked that off and did lots of water changes and it went completly away. I found it strange since cyano is a bacteria and all. Hope that helps. Down with cyano.

lunatik_69 · 04-15-2008, 06:59 PM

Mr. X
My first Q is, did the breeder have a chance to cycle BEFORE you connected it to the main tank? Or did you just set it up and connected it?

Smitty65
I would have to agree with the direct/indirect sunlight. My tank has no algae what so ever, except in the overflow chamber, which gets indirect sunlight.

mr_X · 04-16-2008, 02:38 AM

no. i didn't cycle it. i expected it to simply be an extention of the large system once i hooked it into established, rock, water, and refugium.
wouldn't the bacteria from the big system immediately sustain it?

so...hypothetically, if i was to add an inch of height to my overflows....and the top inch of the tank was now submerged...there would be algae issues at the very top of the tank because i didn't cycle the last inch of glass?