Algae problem

T

Turbo

Im going crazy
Dec 1, 2002
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Minnesota, USA
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I have been having some trouble with algae lately. Its goldish brown in color and it covers everything but the live rock. My blenny doesnt eat it and it comes back a few hours after I clean the tank. I seems that when the light is out it subsides because in the morning when the light comes back on you can barely see it on the sand, but is quickly covered within an hour. I have no idea what it is or what I can get to eat it. I have a ten gallon nano reef with an algae blenny, a coral banded shrimp, one clown, and about eight hermits. I do weekly one-two gallon water changes and use rigid tubing to clean the rock and the little bits of red-slime I cant seem to get rid of. I dont have a protein skimmer but Im starting to think I dont have a choice but it will have to wait until I can get a stand because most skimmers are too long and will hang lower then the height of the tank. Any ideas on how to get my tank looking clean once again?

As a note; the reason this is confusing to me is that my roommate has the EXACT same setup except he has two domino damsels instead of a clown and he has barely a speck of algae. The only other difference is the lighting. He has a 10000k actinic white flourescent bulb and I have a 32watt 50/50 pc kit. You can see his blenny cleaning all the time. Maybe I just have a 'bum' blenny? I am going to take a picture of my horrific tank and my roomates and post it later today.
 
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Sounds like diatoms. If this is a fairly new setup, it's common and should wear itself out, as long as your water source doesn't have lots of silicates in it. If you're not already, try using RO water for topoff and water changes and see if it starts reducing.
 
Wow...I barely had it posted and you had already responded...amazing, thankx.

The tank has been up for almost three months and I only use RO water.
 
Hmmm. What's the consistancy of the algae? Doesn't seem likely to be diatoms, though I suppose they silicates could be introduced from something other than the water. Got any pics?
 
I cant get any of the pictures to attach...there all around 350kb. Is there any other way that I can get them too you?
 
Okay, that does look like diatoms.

Algae1.jpg


Not attractive, but easily cleaned up. Hermit crabs would normally work, but the CBS might go after them, or other inverts. Guess I'd try a few hermits and maybe a emerald crab--but watch the CBS closely to make sure it doesn't kill your other inverts.
 
Hey, what did you use to get the picture small enought to go on the forum?

I have eight hermits, three zebra, three red, one blue, and a big green one I dont remember putting in my tank. Dont ask! :rolleyes: But I never see any of them eating any of it. I havent seen the CBS bother any of them yet.
 
Get some Mexican turbo snails they'll clean that right up. When my tank went through this phase I could see little trails where the hermits had been but they quickly grew over, the turbos knocked the diatoms out almost over night. I also cut my "Lights on" time down to a minimum and that helped too.
 
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