Typical Saltwater...

Hi all,
Ok this is probably a repeated question but here is goes. How the heck can I reduce my algae.

Nitrates: <20 ppm
Nitrites: 0
Phosphates: 0

I am running 42W of UV. The water I add for evaporation was only 5 ppm...now with my RO/2DI it is 0 ppm.

There is no sunlight hitting the tank. I am not overfeeding. One cube of food a day for 9 fishes.

I am running a protein skimmer. The pictures below do not look as bad as it actually is. I will scrape the algae off the rocks but 1 week later it is back. Within an additional week it is worse than this.

I do not think the natural filtering is happening when I have this much algae covering all my rocks and floor. Some of the algae is red. I do not care about it. I can remove it with algae cleaner. It will be gone in 2 days. But I cannot get a handle on the damn green algae.

Algae

What can I do?


Thanks,
Zak
P.S. I have my lighting on timers. 8 hours full, 1 hour before and after with actinic for sunset. At night 8 blue LEDs.

 

looks alot like my 10 gal only mine is the brown hair stuff... but im a newb so i cant help and good luck tank will look good once the algea goes away!!!

 

How old is tank?

Algae normal in newer tank.

Reduce feeding for while and stay away from frozen cube stuff.

:-/

 

I'm assuming this is the 55 gallon that's in you sig. Looking at the pictures I don't see any cleaning crew, but most are small so I may have missed them. Tell me about the crew you have and about how many of what. (I know that sigs aren't always up to date with those)

Also don't take this the wrong way, I just want to warn you, but if that is a 55 gallon then a tang has no reason to be there. Tangs are recommended for at least 75 gallons, and frankly most people agree that that is to small.

Also if you only have 20 pounds of live rock then that's not enough for a reef tank. You should have 55 at the least, although around 85 pounds would be better. The rock will help increase your bacteria load which will help with your bioload, which means less fuel for the algae.

What kind of powerheads are you using?

Give a reply and I'm sure there will be plenty of people to help you out.

 

Need to find out what is feeding the nitrates, Have you checked for po4?

 

Where are the Carbonates and Calcium levels setting at ? PO4's look good and the NO3's will feed them and I'd guess you feed a lot of frozen meaty foods like Brine shrimp and the likes ? all full of PO4's and NO3's

 

I have two tangs in my 55g not a problem a yellow and a hippo althou they are two of only three fish I choose to keep and both are babies.

How old are your ro filters?

 

age

My tank is about 8 months old. What else should I feed besides frozen. I many feed Mysis shrimp and brine shrimp. I have a little pellets but the fish are hogs. I cannot get any to my mandarin fish.

I do not know my calcium level or carbonates? I might have higher calcium but I do not think so. After I clean algae I try to add purple up. Because my purple on the rocks was starting to diminish.

I do not have any PO4s. If I add more rock where the heck should I put them.?? I start adding more then my sandsifting starfish has no place to go.

If I do add more LR then my tank will start the cycle again, correct?

RO filters? Brand new I just bought the system a week ago. Otherwise the water from Walmart is 5 ppm. Not bad for Walmart.

Cleaning crew. I have about 20 or so hermit crabs. I am down to 2 or 3 snails.

My filtering in my sump kinda sucks. not many bioballs, bio stars, zorb carbon filter and that is it. Not much space to do anything more. What are my other options.

Thanks,
Zak

 

water changes

I do water changes about once a week. or Once every 2 weeks and change 10 gallons.

Zak

 

OK, a couple things.

Avoid feeding frozen foods. If you're concerned that your tank doesn't have enough pods to sustain your mandarin, try distracting your other fish with just regular flakes and while they're busy consuming that, squirt a little bit of mysis near where your mandarin is.

TDS is not my main concern with store bought water. Test the Walmart water for ammonia, nitrates and phosphates before you put it into your tank. I personally wouldn't put water with a tds of 5 into my tank but I have the option of having my own r.o. unit which not everybody does.

Purple up contains iodine. Another favorite food of algae. I don't like using it because you get the same results by using cheaper calcium, magnesium and buffer supplements. You will need to pick up test kits for these elements as it is very important that you test them.

Get more snails

On another note, get rid of that sandsifting starfish if you can. It will eat all of the bugs in your tank that your mandarin relies on to live.