Holy Algae Batman!

[mr_X]

Hi. new to the board, and already in a bit of a pickle.
I had recently converted from fresh to saltwater, and am working towards a reef tank. i have a 75 gallon tank, and right now i am using the same Rena Filstar Xp3 cannister filter, with 2 aquaclear "50" powerheads.
About 30 pounds or so of live rock and 2 bags of live sand to get the ball rolling. 4 Damsels were doing fine until all of the sudden WHAMO! massive brown algae explosion. i had an algae problem early on in my freshwater setup and i ended up covering the whole tank with a blanket for a few days till it died off. Oh, btw, the bulbs in my hood are 2-1 year old 40watt flourescents. i have a 400watt MH setup coming and i am afraid once i add that, my tank is gonna look like Rumpelstiltskins beard in no time.
Another important fact you should know is that my saltwater setup is about 10 days old.
below is a snap of the yucky brown pesties
Any help would be greatly appreciated. X

 

[Anonymous]

mr_X
:welcome:

I'm sure this isn't what you want to hear, but the algae bloom is part of the tank's cycling and will in time burn itself out. You can cut down on your photoperiod, increase water flow and cut down on feeding until it quits.

Part of your problem could very well be your lights. While a tank is cycling, there really isn't any need to light the tank for long periods of time.

 

[mr_X]

Actually, it's good news! Like i said, i was afraid it was going to bloom out of control to no end.
I AM guilty of running those old flourescents a bit too long, but i was really liking the purples, greens, and reds on my live rock and thought i needed the light to keep those colors alive. I would have welcomed a bloom of those colors, but not this ugly brown.
So....you didn't like my "blanket over the tank" idea?

 

[SnowManSnow]

it will cycle through a few algae cycles being a new tank. Just have patience. You may consider putting a skimmer on the system. it will help with algae in the future.

Personally, I wouldnt cover the tank.

I would just wait if I were you. It shoudl clear up in a few weeks at most.

b

 

[aquarius77]

My tank is a few days older and i cant belive the alge im dealing with, I scrape it off with a razor after a day and it rolls up like a nasty green fruit rollup. im prayin for it to go away, but i have been keeping my lights on as i normally would... i dont see it dissappearing anytime soon.

 

[SnowManSnow]

keeping a marine aquarium takes a lot of patience. sometimes your tank has to go through things that doesn't nessissarlily overjoy you. Just wait. Keep up the water changes. Skim as normal, and the bloom should die off soon. Its weird, it will probably dissappear as fast as it came on. It wouldnt hurt to cut lights back to 1/2 time if you arent housing any photosynthetic animals in there.

B

 

[mr_X]

Patience it is! Meanwhile, i bought a dozen assorted snails and am probably going to pick up a few hermit crabs this weekend.
the skimmer is coming, and i am considering a wet/dry system or maybe a refugem type setup. I am hearing good and bad about the refugem setup, but i really think it's a cool idea if i can get it to work.
Anyone interested in a Rena Filstar? :wink:

 

[mr_X]

Tank seems better. I left the light off most of the day for a few days, added snails and crabs, and some rock :wink:

 

[shavo]

Hey Mr. X if I look at your first pic and your last pic I see more rock. are you an out of control new reef owning going faster than the speed of light rock addict?
you said in your first pic the tank it was a week old now 4 days later more rock, is this rock cured? you can have the same cycles of ammonia with new rock. still have the damsels? i heard they are tough i never had one though.
just a curious post watcher, or
your friendly neighborhood shavs
you can decide

 

[mr_X]

haha. hey shavs!
yeah, I'm addicted to ROCK.

 

[shavo]

you can tell your a rock addict

 

[mr_X]

what gave it away???? my bloodshot eyes?

 

[mr_X]

hey all.
just a little update. snails, crabs, new light (400watt mh) and limiting the "photo period" corrected the algae problem.
since i removed the 2 old flourescents, i have increased the photo period and it is not creating extra algae. is it possible that part of the problem was those year-old lights?

 

[Anonymous]

Yes indeedy...old lights shift spectrum and can cause algae outbreaks and global warming.





















Okay, I'm kidding about the global warming

 

[mr_X]

LOL.
global warming? i was thinking this new light was contributing to that! i need a welders mask to view it......

 

[Anonymous]

:lol:

 

[mr_X]

oops...this went to the wrong forum.