ph low and constant redish algea on glass

H

HkySk8r187

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Oct 18, 2004
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My tank how has constant redish algea on the glass and I can't seem to get the ph up past 7.8 even though I put buffer in every week and do water changes ever week. My ammonia and nitrite are both 0, and my nitrate is always 20 (which wasn't a problem before and suddenly became one). Like I said I do 50% water change just about every week or every other week but it doesn't seem to help, everything stays the same. I have a protein skimmer running, some live rock (which is just all dead now pretty much), and a sand substrate which is pretty much covered red like algea but it's not too out of hand. Also have one pigmy angel, 1 cleaner shrimp, 4 turbo snails, and 2 hermit crabs.

What can I do to help this situation?
 
The pH low may be a result of the dying live rock. If you don't have very strong lighting, the algae and other plants on the rock will slowly die and decay. This can cause some pH problems. My tank didn't stabilize until a couple of months after setup. Now I have nearly no pH swings (due to a huge 24/7 lit fuge) and water is stable. Gotta love it.

The red algae sounds to me like cyanobacteria (b/c you mention it on the glass and on the substrate). Plenty of info here on the site to rid yourself of it. Beware that it's a long, hard road, and we all face it now and then (I am right now!).
 
The algea I have is a red/maroonish color but is more of a powder kind of algea, whereas I read about cyanobacteria just now and it seems that's a more flaky/slime type?

My tank has been set up for a while but was infected with ich and I lost 3 fish and my only coral...now just have the small cleanup crew and 1 fish (the one who had ich in the first place).

Will using a RO/DI unit help this type of algea?

I think I have 2 - 65 watt Coralife 50/50 for my lighting on my 29gal tank. Is that too little lighting? I have no idea why all my rocks just seem either white have algea on them. Everything seems to be going badly with the tank right now and I'm not really sure how to fix it.
 
Your low pH is probably due to one of two things:
1. Low alkalinity, maybe from the breakdon of uneaten foods, or detritus trapped in low flow areas. What is your alkalinity right now?
-or-
2. High CO2, from too little circulation or too much CO2 in the room. If you take a sample of your water and put it into another room and aerate it like crazy for a few hours, does the pH change?

RO/DI will probably help with the nitrate. What's the nitrate in your freshly mixed SW?

The light sounds fine for coralline and macroalgae, so I
 
1) I dont know what my Alk is, I'll have to test that when I get home and find out.

2) I will have to try circulating the water in another room. Should I try creating more water flow in the tank? Right now I have 2 power heads creating a whirlpool type of current. I'm not sure how much current I should have, right now it just seems that particles in the water flow around and around at a decent speed but maybe I need another powerhead or two.

Nitrates on fresh mixed SW is 0, but I'm using tap water so I suspect there might be some phosphates in the water that can help algea growth? This algea I have has made it down into the sand. There is about 1.5 inches of sand bed that can be seen through the glass, and the algea made it way almost to the bottom. Will this eventually die off?

Also I've heard that a blackout can help get rid of the algea? Although this would probably just be a temp solution if it works, I'd still like to find the real reason for getting this.
 
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