Skum on water + other things HELP

[CC-Star]

What I HAVE:
I have a 55 live rock and fish only aquarium it has been running for 2 months. It has a canister filter, and a Red Sea Protein Skimmer, as well as a Power Sweep 228 (Powerhead). I just have regular flourcent lights

I have about 15 lbs of live rock, 2 blue damsels.
The Ph is 8.2, the Salt is the right salt level, the ammonium levels are high, the nitrate/nitrite levels are fine if not nil.

My Routine:
1)Feed fish once a day
2)Turn lights on for 8 hours
3)Change 10-15% of the water every week from the bottom
4)Clean the sides of the tank
5)Have tested the tank three times in the last 2 months

My PROBLEMS:
1)The water on the top of the tank is a white skum
2)There is a green alage the turns some of the sand at the bottom green. (also on some of the live rock)
3)There is a brown alage that turns the sides of the tank and the powerhead and thermometer brown (also on some of the live rock)

Is there a way to get rid of the above by canister filter changes, powerhead position change (its at the top hand corner), shrimps, or crabs, or starfish etc...????

 

[randy holmes-farley]

The scum on the water surface is best dealt with by having the skimmer take water from an overflow of some sort. If you already have an overflow, then more water motion breaking the surface is the ticket.

The algae is best dealt with by limiting or reducing nutrients, and by adding organisms that consume it (snails, etc).

Here are two articles that may help:

Phosphate Issues
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2002/chem.htm

Nitrate Issues
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/august2003/chem.htm

 

[CC-Star]

Thanks

Is shrimps and starfish good for algae?? Are they compatible?

I do not have an overflow :/ Only the protein skimmer or the powerhead. Which obviously is not doing the job unfortunetly.

I will read over those articles tonight thanks for replying

 

[randy holmes-farley]

No, I don't think that most shrimp or starfish do much for algae.

 

[brandonberry]

First of all the brown algae is likely diatoms caused by silicates in the water. This is likely caused by silicates in the water or the salt that you are using to mix your seawater. Even if you use RO/DI water, silicates are the hardest elements to remove. There are several types of filter media put out by Seachem, Kent, etc. that absorb silicates. You just want to make sure that what you get doesn't leach anything else back into the water. I personally use Phosguard by Seachem. It removes both phosphates and silicates and is not suppose to leach. The greenish algae sounds like blue-green algae, properly known as cynobacteria. Chemi-clean will get rid of this. For the scum, Aquaclear makes a new kind of surface skimmer for there power filters which is relatively cheap and may be able to be rigged up for use with your protein skimmer. I assume you are talking about the small air driven skimmers that Red Sea makes. I have one of these also on my 35 gallon tank and am also considering trying this project. I'd recommend drilling a small hole in the side of the surface skimmer tube to run you air line through. Then you should be able to plug the tube right into the bottom of your protein skimmer. I'll try it tonight and let you know how it works. All of this stuff can be purchased from www.thatfishplace.com if your local fish store does not have it.