Rust Colored Algea

[Jime]

I have been having a problem with a rust colored algea on my sand. The tank is a 190 gallon reef tank with a 55 gallon sump. The phosphates are zero as well as ammonia and nitrites and the only other thing I can think of is the lighting. I'm running dual 400 watt MH (65K bulbs) and 4 VHO Actinics, however recently the VHO ballast failed and I have sent it in to have it repaird. Do you think that the spectrum change might be the culprit? All the bulbs are 3 months old.
I've done a couple big water changes to correct the problem with no effect.
I have plenty of circulation; 1 amp master 3000 for the return and 1 amp master 3600 on a closed loop.

 

[grav]

How old is the tank?

I went from a crushed coral substrate, to live sand and hit a little of what you are talking about. It cycled okay, and I found conch's like the stuff.

I think this is what they call Cyano... that may be short for something.

IMHO, don't worry too much, give it time. I've heard big water changes can cause more trouble than anything.

 

[Anonymous]

I doubt that the spectrum plays much of a role. Plenty of mature reefs have occasional hints of occasional crud on the sand; if its not growing on other inhabitants you might not worry too much. A queen or fighting conch will get rid of it also. If its really bad you could step up skimming and cut back on feeding- hobbyist test kits don't always give the entire picture....

 

[Jime]

The tank is just about 5 months old. I went with cheap sand and have a feeling I'm paying the price now. I have a pretty good skimmer, a Euroreef 12-2. I guess what I'll do is sit back and watch for a couple of weeks. In the mean time I'll pick up a few conch's.

 

[Anonymous]

How's the alk?

 

[Jime]

Good question, I'll pick up a test kit tomorrow. Will the alk effect this type of algae growth? I'm using a Lifereef Calcium reactor should I turn the thing off for awhile?
Where can I pick up some conch's?

 

[grav]

"Cheap" sand is the same stuff in a diffrent bag... a little live sand to seed and you are all set. Don't worry about that part.

IMO get a conch (they are wicked cool anyway) ride it out, unless it gets really bad. My wife actually likes the stuff, claims it adds a little color.

 

[Jime]

Just ordered 10 fighting conches from etropics, and 1 queen as well. Still curious about the effects of alk level on this type of algae.

 

[grav]

I think you will like them, far more interesting than a snail. What did you pay?

I dunno about the ALK being the cause, makes me want to test mine as it has been a wile. Someone here suggested... what was it... not baking soda, 'something' soda will increase Alk only.

What was that? This is going to keep me up all night.

 

[Anonymous]

I dunno about the ALK being the cause, makes me want to test mine as it has been a wile. Someone here suggested... what was it... not baking soda, 'something' soda will increase Alk only.

Sodium bicarbonate, aka plain old baking soda, will raise your alkalinity. I suggest getting a really good Ca/Alk/pH test kit, if you don't have one already. Salifert makes very accurate test kits for Ca/Alk, and nothing beats a Pinpoint monitor for measuring pH. The one I own is comparable in accuracy to a laboratory quality pH meter we have on campus.

 

[Mogo]

Jime.
I think you have identified your problem from the start. 6500k's are relatively more toward the red end of the spectrum (algae like red light) and as you have lost your source of blue (VHO's), you could expect to see more algae growth because of the spectrum change toward red.

IMO, in this case, your algae outbreak has nothing to do with water parameters.

"The Reef Aquarium Vol. 1" Delbeek and Sprung, pp 186-187

 

[Anonymous]

But since the source of the red light (the halides) is still present at the same intensity this hypothesis seems questionable to me.

At any rate, 5 months is exactly when this kind of thing crops up; I predict your next problem will be finding enough for those conchs to eat!

 

[Anonymous]

My tank isn't much older and getting the alk up helps to keep it at bay. Mines a little 30 with a 10K 175 and I get "rust colored algea" regardless of the feeding regime.. (A heavy feed will promote it, but it'll still pop up without feeding at all..)

Does yours have bubbles trapped in it too? Stuff I had/have is listed as "unidentified" in Sprungs "Algae, A Problem Solver Guide" (don't have the page handy...) - I think it was also listed as unidentified in Bornemans "Aquarium corals : selection, husbandry, and natural history" (again, page not handy...)

I quit watching my alk and pH and probably almost crashed the tank just about a week ago. Then servers went down at work and took me a few days to straighten things out. - Now the stuff is back and I'm adding kents superbuffer dKH to raise alk and fight it off again.

Good luck.. - Get those test kits regardless whether it's the cause or not!

 

[Mogo]

Dan
I have a 140 6' long. 3x 6500K mh. 2x Actinic VHO. 2 mh bulbs are new. 3rd mh bulb is 16 months old. I have noticed the obvious shift toward red in this bulb especially on direct comparison to old vs. new bulb. I have a similar algae bloom at that end of my tank as Jime describes (it's no biggy). My water quality params are excellent and stable. alk is 3.2 meq/l Calcium 400 as a minimum. Surge tank for main circulation.

I don't have the "lighting" expertise to pose any hypothesis, except I see what I see and read what I read. Having said that, it's more than a gut feel that it is not Jime's water quality.

BTW the costs involved in replacing any $150 "lightbulb" around here are unexplainable to my credit-card-statement-interceptor (wife). I have to muster up the nerve soon to switch out that final bulb. :lol:

 

[Jime]

I ended up paying $65 (6 each and 5 for the queen) Shipping was free, they're having a special right now.
I tested the alk and calcium levels and all is good, double checked Ammonia and Nitrite and both are 0.

I don't think feeding is the problem or water quality for that matter. I guess it could be the spectrum shift because it did start about 4 days after the ballast blow. I'm hoping that DanConnor is right.

Another thought is that natural sunlight is causing the problem. My tank is built into the wall and the tank itself is in the garage. There is a side window that filtered sunlight comes through and can be seen in the tank in the morning before lights come on. No direct sunlight though, is that possible?

Mogo, the $150 would be much easier to explain if it wasn't for the other $1600 in "unexplainable" fish purchases. :wink:
btw who's charging you 150 for 65K MH bulb? Sounds high to me.

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW: My tank gets indirect sunlight. I have had this same algae through having only 30w (total) NO flourescents and now a 175w 10K MH. The only time it goes away (and stays away) is when my alk is nice and high...

Maybe there's something about having indirect (or direct) natural sunlight, and then maybe we have two different varieties with different ideal conditions.. - Who knows...

 

[Steven]

I had the same problem in my 120g. Rust colored algae (diatoms?) covering the sand and LR. It appeared more than a year after the tank was set up. I solved the problem by adding a Kole Tang to clean the rocks and an Orange Shoulder Tang to clean the sand. No more rust colored algae anywhere and the Kole Tang does a pretty good job of keeping the glass clean too. I know an Orange Shoulder Tang grows too large for a 120, but he's still young and I'll be transfering him to a new 260g tank next spring (once the renovations are complete). Depending on what you already have in your 190g, you might give these fish a try. They look great AND earn their keep!

 

[Anonymous]

Another thing that helped to get rid of mine (VERY temporary) was to remove all light for 48 hrs straight. Cleared it right up, but then it came back just as strong two days later.

 

[Jime]

Thanks for the help, looks like the problem is solved. I just let it run it's course and now it is almost completly gone.