Red Algae

[dbernard]

I have a 46gal bow front tank, I have a red algae problem on my sand and on my rock. I have had the tank up and running for almost 8 months now, I have a wet/dry rated for a 125 gal tank, I also have a Sea Clone 100 protein skimmer. I have 5 fish- 2 clowns, a bicolor blenny, a coral beauty, and a hippo tang. For inverts I have a cleaner shrimp, a sand sifter star fish, and a serpent star fish, and approx 10-15 snails, and about 15 hermits mix of red and blue, I also have about 30lbs of live rock and about 1- 1 1/2 " of live sand. I had the tank cycle for almost 2 1/2 months with 4 damsles. This algae problem keeps returning even after water changes which I do almost every week approx 5 gal. Cant seem to keep up with the algae problem, my water tests all come back fine and phosphate levels a very low or even non existent. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Dave

 

[dnorton1978]

Dave,

Are your water changes done with treated tap water or do you have a ro/di unit?

Second statement, probably non related IMO, is most people will propose to you that sea clones are garbage. I believe them. Although I am running a sea clone 100 on my 55 problem free so far. There are definetly much better skimmers than the one we both share.

What about your lighting, what kind, and how long does it run each day?

Thanks,

 

[dbernard]

Thanks for the reply, I use distilled water, as far a lighting I have a 36" Orbit with 2 65 watt lights- (1)dual specturm daylight bulbs, (10,000k and 6,700k),(1)dual spectrum actinic bulbs, (460nm and 420nm), I have had the unit now almost 2 months. The actinic runs about 10 hrs and the daylight runs about 8 1/2 hrs........ Any more advice would be great......

How stocked is your tank, and do you think mine is over stocked. I just added 2 bubble tip anenomes,
thanks for the advice

 

[dnorton1978]

Sadly, my advice cant go much further because I am far from knowing enough to give advice.

I asked those couple of questions because I though others would need that.

You may want to provide all your current chemical readings as well.

As for me i have 6 fish currently. I got rid of my fox face to lower mine a bit.

I have a sailfin tang, coral beauty, 2 little damsels, flame angel, and a watchman goby. I have about 40 mixed blue and algea hermits, around 40 sand sifting snails, a sand sifting star, 3 cleaner shrimp, 1 coral banded shrimp, about 55lbs of LR.

OOps this post is not about me, my bad. lost myself there.

Did you gradually add anything over the 8 months, ie live rock?

 

[dbernard]

I added a few pounds of live rock every 2 weeks or so..... Put about 20 in a few weeks after tank was cycled.

 

[Anonymous]

I added a few pounds of live rock every 2 weeks or so..... Put about 20 in a few weeks after tank was cycled.

There might be part of your problems, every time you add new rock it can cause a mini cycle. Water are your water parameters now? FWIW, 5 gallon water changes won't do you much if any good in a 125 system. Here's a good article that explains just how much water changes impact a system.

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_ ... ll_wc.html

Another source of fuel could be overfeeding. What are you feeding your fish and how often?

 

[dnorton1978]

I agree that the rock added periodically can certainly create the problem. If everything else is testing normal that would be my uneducated guess.

TRACY..
Bernard's tank is 46 gallon.

 

[Anonymous]

Ah sorry ...the w/d is rated for 125...gotcha :lol:

 

[trido]

What kind of circulation do you have?( How many GPH?) How much do you feed? How much skim mate do you get weekly? (Guess?)




Sound to me like you have a cyano problem. The fish load you have in a 46 is likely maxed as you suspect. The seaclone I used sucked compared to a CPR BakPak. That was on my 15G. I still havent figured out why I havent thrown it out yet. Cyano looks reddish brown and will blow off with a powerhead or turkey baster. You can suck it out with your siphon tube during water changes if, in fact that is the culprit. The long term fix to the cyano is increase circulation, reduce nutrient input to tank, and skim wet.

 

[dbernard]

I have 2 power heads one in each corner in the back ofthe tank, with plenty of circulation, and the return pump from my wet dry agitating the water at the top of the tank. Should the algae problem pass on its own or am I going to have to try something else. Also any ideas on a decent in sump protein skimmer other than the sea clone I am currently using. Thanks

 

[trido]

What is enough circulation? What kind of powerheads do you have? Maxijet400s? 1200s? rio50s? Tzunze6060s? For a reef tank, you typically need 30-40X GPH turnover. From your initial post I see you have a FOWLR which can get away with less flow. For a 20X turnover you would need 920 GPH in a 46G which for cyano may not be enough direct flow to keep detritous from settling and causing problems. An abundance of excess nutrients is the next issue which you have addressed. Your skimmer. I like my ASM skimmer. Here is a link to get you started.
http://asmskimmer.com/