green algae

[Robin Alv]

What do I do? Should I let it be? I am developing green algae in my tank. It is on he tubes too the powerheads,the tube to the filter and the sponge to the skimmer. A bit on the glass but I've goten rid of that (temporary I assume). Here are the water parameters (RO/DI water):

ammonia zero
nitrites zero
nitrates small trace
ph 8.3 - 8.4

37 gallon
2 clowns
1 fire fish
5 snails
1 blood shrimp
1 skunk shrimp

Do I need more cleaners?

[Robin Alv]

Sorry---I forgot to add - it is a beginning reef tank with approx. 40 lbs of live rock.

[nycsicktank]

its normal, as tank matures you will see different kinds of algae. my tank is 4 months and i have some back of tank.

what kind of snails?
what kind of water?
how long do you have lights on?

[scootrnerd]

also a picture would help:grinyes:

[nycsicktank]

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b221/fkyounggs/DSCN1649.jpg
is it bad as mines? :D
i never cleaned my back

[Robin Alv]

I have conehead and turbo snails and RO/DI water. The act. lights are on approx 8 hrs and the daylight lights are on for 6-7 hours. Luna nightlites on for the remainder of the night.

Sorry, I don't have a better picture and this one tells you nothing. It hasn't taken over the tank - I just needed info. I'll just wait it out. Having a SW tank teaches us a bit about patience doesn't it?

[Robin Alv]

The picture is better than I thought -- It shows the algae on the skimmer motor and foam. I cleaned the glass already and will do it again tomorrow.

[saltydunc]

looks fine to me......some algae isn't such a bad thing in the aquarium.....i don't clean the back of my tank at all so that my tangs can browse on the algae,,,,plus it feeds on nasty nitrates.

[Robin Alv]

Good to know - I wondered if it was going to harm something but I guess not.

[scootrnerd]

you call that an algae problem? LMAO i got this green crusty crap all over my tank lol

[Grins]

Different kinds of green algae. Green film algae is dusty and can be easily cleaned from the glass with a MagFloat or a clean sponge. Green coraline is hard and has to be scraped off. Green hair or bryopsis algae is a pain in the tush generally. Which kind do you have?

And yes, I'd get more cleaners for a 37g.

[Robin Alv]

Seems a bit on the hairy side to me. I did send a photo - don't know if it helps or not. Are there any "cleaners" for the green hairy kind?

[Grins]

Probably hair or bryopsis algae in that case. Best cleaner is actually prevention by not encouraging high phosphates (good water source, not overfeeding, rinsing frozen food, etc.). If you want something to eat it, snails like turbos will dine on the hair algae, as will herbivore fish like tangs and lawnmower blennies. I'd certainly not get either of the fish unless you actually want them as part of your stock. The bryopsis has less things that will eat it, although some have success with sea hares and lettuce nudibranches.

From what I saw in the photo you don't have that big of a problem with it. I'd recommend getting the water quality up and pulling out what you see by hand.

[Robin Alv]

Thanks - I've been using RO/DI water. Does that get rid of phosphates if my tap has it to begin with?? I thought it would. I originally filled the tank with tap water and am slowly using the RO with changes (6 weeks so far) and maybe that's it. What do you think? The other parameters are:
ph 8.3
ammonia 0
nitrites 0
nitrates trace
calcium 480

I've only got 5 snails (2 conehead and 3 turbos)
1 blood shrimp
1 skunk cleaner
1 firefish
2 clowns

Should I purchase more snails?

[Grins]

The RO/DI will get rid of the phosphates in the water that goes through it. However, if the phosphates in your tap are high that could certainly be a factor at the moment since you're slowly replacing the original fill with pure water. I'd definitely get more snails, but I'd look at issues with feeding as well. Do you use frozen?

[Robin Alv]

I use pellets some days 9I feed every other day) but I do usually use glassworms, bloodworms and yes they are frozen. I defrost them in a bit of RO water. I used to just defrost them at a slower rate without any water since I finish the cube each time (I have freshwater fish also in other tanks that love them) but read I should do it with water. Is that true?

[Grins]

Defrosting them that way is fine, but after you do that you want to rinse them as the gel binder that is typically used is full of phosphates.

[i_limantara]

it same problem with me.... i also has green algae on my glass...
and i need to clean this once a week.... sob sob

[Robin Alv]

I'd be happy if it were just once a week!!! (although I might still sob)

[SC_Gamecocks]

I found that lighting the tank a little less(9hrs) than I had been doing (12hrs) drastically reduced my algae growth. It won't affect your fish and it makes you tank look alot better ;)

[Robin Alv]

What about corals though? I have the act. blue light set for 10 hours and the daylight set for 8 hours. Can I cut back anymore than that with corals?

[Grins]

The time you have it now is fine. I'd not cut back more than that. That amount of ligh is not the cause of nuisance algae and in my opinion if you cut lights off now, you'll only have the same problem again later when you start using lights again. If it isn't typical new tank algae there is a problem that you need to discover and fix.

[Robin Alv]

probably new tank stuff. I've only had this tank for close to two months.

[Grins]

I'd look at some of the other factors about feeding, giving water changes a chance to replace the original tap water, and manual removal.

[Robin Alv]

Slowly doing manual removal as you suggested the other day. It hasn't been quite one week since the last water change, but I am going to do 10% tonight anyway just to kick start getting rid of whatever is left of the original tap water. I feed every other day and I think it is a fair amount - not an overabundant one. For example, one cube of blood worms feeds the tank, and my 20 gallon fresh and 10 gallon fresh (plus algae tabs for my corys in the fresh). The fish look healthy and not fat like my dogs. Sound abut right?

[Grins]

I don't think you answered before if you were rinsing the frozen after it thaws.

[Robin Alv]

Nope - not rinsing - Is it a high amount in that small cube? I defrost it in RO water - does that help?

[Grins]

The gel binder that is typically used in frozen foods is very high in phosphates. If you are only thawing you're not getting rid of most of that. You should thaw and then rinse.

[Robin Alv]

Will do -- Also got an emerald crab (little guy) tonight since they eat green algae at times.