Huge Algae Problems that i need to resolve.

Thanks for the suggestion to start my own thread, don't want to upset anyone since i am new to the site.

this is my original post.
"I have had my tank for a little over a year, i have been keeping all my corals alive, and well...until recently, my tank has been over run by algae. All of my hermit crabs and snails were wiped out, except for about 5 or 6, and only a few fish survived...i bought some coral banded shrips and threw them in there hoping they will eat away at the algae, so far nothing. I also emptied my sump, reorganized the way my pumps were organizing, and reorganized my bio-balls. This algae problems emerged in only 3 weeks. please i am open to any suggestions."

to respond to the few questions, i have a hallogen setup, changing bulbs is expensive, and the bulbs is only a few months old. I have a yellow tailed damsel, a hippo tang, 2 coral banded shrimp, 1 percula clown (i don't think its true), and one pj cardnel (had 5, they were murdered by a "fiji" damsel which i got ride of). I don't know what has died but my yellow tang did, and so did about 40% of all my corals, snails, and crabs.

I do think i need a clean up crew, and i started with the coral banded, the store i went to had no more snails and only 2 hermits left, i took them both.

Its a 75 gallon tanks with over 75 pounds of live rock, and about 2 inches of live sand. I feed fish 2 cubes of frozen brine shrimp every 2 days. also the algae on the glass develops in about 2 days, i didn't wipe it off but i do every once in a while, also the built in overflow get "clogged" with all the algae that floats off into it, i'll take pictures of it later and show the forums.

Thank you for all suggestions.

 

Not to be too simplistic, but the algae is a result of 1) light and 2) food. Nitrates in your tank are fertilizing the algae. The bright lights used by marine enthusiasts guarantee that there will be plenty of light for the algae.

So, keep an eye on your nitrates. Change water often and try to reduce the nitrate level to less than 15ppm. Remove as much of the algae as you can by hand. Reduce feedings by 1/2 or more (2 cubes seems like a lot of food to me). As for the light, don't keep the lights on for more than 10-12 hours per day. Invest in a timer for the lights if you aren't home to turn them off and on.

And, stay calm. Almost all of us in the 3Reef forum have had bouts of algae infestation. They seem to run in cycles at the 2 month, 4 month, 6 month, 1 year and 1.5 year points. The last two are especially irksome as we assume we know what we are doing after having a tank for a year or more. I'm going through a minor infestation now (3.5 years after starting my tank!). But, I now know what is causing it: my nitrates are high because I haven't changed the water in my tank for a month, and I've been leaving the lights on too long as I've been caught up in holiday activities.
Best of luck!

 

Oh, by the way, coral banded shrimps don't eat algae. Some crabs do, as do tangs and many other fish. But they are picky and may not like the algae you have. A couple of turbo snails could help my earlier advice.

 

What is your nitrate and po4?

 

Trochus snails, tangs and new bulbs

 

+1

also try changing out any fitter pads that you may have.

 

Bio-balls are losing popularity in the hobby because they are nitrate factories. Live rock is the way to go since they harbor both aerobic detrifying bacteria and the anerobic bacteria that will convert nitrates back to nitrogen. If your nitrate level is high you may want to consider removing the bioballs. Maybe someone that has removed bioballs from their system can provide some advice to you.

Do you use RO/DI water? It's possible that the filters need to be changed.

 

I'm sure it's pretty low with the algae-fest going on.

 

I just changed the filter pads the other day, so i don't have to worry about that. I will do more frequent water changes and i am gonna go buy those dam snails right now, hopefully they have them in stock. My nitrate level appears to be at 10 ppm, I was wondering if there is any type of filtration device that helps reduce nitrates.

thanks for all the help, much appreciated.

 

i don't RO anymore since my canisters exploded on me about 3 months ago...kinda sucked.