Brown -> Green -> Red -> Purple -> Orange

Coralaholic

Coralaholic

AC Members
May 2, 2007
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My tank is about 2 months old, not too big, about 30 gallon, and the water parameters should be fine. Since I still find brown, green and a bit red algae still growing everywhere in my tank, I would like to know what exactly I need to do in order to control/get rid of the ugly algae, and only have purple or orange algae. Below is my current spec. My lamp is currently quite weak and will be upgrade to MH soon.

The type of the algae grown in the tank reflect the water quality, represented by the color of the algae, Brown (worst) -> Green -> Red (most of the case, in/on sand) -> Purple -> Orange (best)

Please correctly me if I am wrong! Thanks.


120L (about 30 gallon)
65 live rocks (20 pounds cured, 45 pounds uncured)
10 pounds aragonite live sand
Ammonia: 0ppm
NO2: 0ppm
NO3: 8ppm
PO4: Don’t have a test kit for this
Temperature: 24C
pH: 8.4
Salinity: 1.022ppt

Equipments:
30" x 18" x 14" Tank
Lighting: 2 Helium 14W fluorescent tubes, only white (16 hours/day) (Will change to 200W MH light soon)
Water filter: Tetra ExPower 60
Water Cooler: Hailea HC-150A
Protein Skimmer: Weipro SA-2014
Wave Maker: Waver 15000
Power Head: ViaAqua 3300
Salt: Reef Crystals

Diet:
Nutrafin Max Marine Flake Food (4 times/week, only small amount each time)
Kent Marine PhytoPlex (2 times/week, target feeding)

Additives:
JBL Biotopol
GroTech VitAmino (10ml/week)
Reef Booster (per month)
500g Poshban inside the filter

Corals:
1 Trachyphyllia Brain
4 Toadstool Leathers
1 Bubble Tip Anemone
1 Sand Anemone
Green Star Polyp
Zoanthids
Spaghetti branch tree, Lemnalia sp (7 Branches)
1 Flower Pot Coral
1 Chalice Coral

Fishes:
2 Dascyllus Aruanus
1 Amphiprion Ocellaris
1 Premnas Biaculeatus
1 Amphiprion Frenatus
1 Labroides Dimidiatus
2 Paraglyphidodon Melas
2 Dascyllus Trimaculatus
1 Chromis Viridis
1 Chrysiptera Hemicyanea

Inverts:
2 Rynchocinetes Durbanensis
1 Stenopus Hispidus
1 Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crab

 
I can identify three possible areas that could be contributing to your algae grief.

First, the tank is WAY under lit. You are making the right decision to upgrade to metal halide lighting and this will most likely solve some of the problem. As it sits right now, the light intensity is not sufficient for good coralline algae growth, or for coral for that matter, but the 16hr photoperiod you are using of the existing low intensity white light is ideal for the types of algae you don’t want.

Secondly, and especially for the red algae that is growing in the sand, it is a good possibility that you have some amounts of phosphate in your water. It would be a good idea to test for this and if present take steps to eliminate it. What type of water are you using for make up water and water changes?

And third, it seems to me that you have added quite a bit of stock much too rapidly for a tank that is only two months old. This can produce waste at a level that the tank cannot absorb yet, thereby providing an excellent food source for the algae you do not desire. How often do you change/clean the filter material?

HTH

[FONT=&quot]Bryce[/FONT]
 
Bryce said:
I can identify three possible areas that could be contributing to your algae grief.

First, the tank is WAY under lit. You are making the right decision to upgrade to metal halide lighting and this will most likely solve some of the problem. As it sits right now, the light intensity is not sufficient for good coralline algae growth, or for coral for that matter, but the 16hr photoperiod you are using of the existing low intensity white light is ideal for the types of algae you don’t want.

Secondly, and especially for the red algae that is growing in the sand, it is a good possibility that you have some amounts of phosphate in your water. It would be a good idea to test for this and if present take steps to eliminate it. What type of water are you using for make up water and water changes?

And third, it seems to me that you have added quite a bit of stock much too rapidly for a tank that is only two months old. This can produce waste at a level that the tank cannot absorb yet, thereby providing an excellent food source for the algae you do not desire. How often do you change/clean the filter material?

HTH

[FONT=&quot]Bryce[/FONT]
Click to expand...

Yep - definately test for phosphates!!!
 
I only have brown, green, red and some purple, I had orange when I just put new LR to my tank, few days later they all gone =p

Pics of every color algae will be great!

I wanna see pink, blue and yellow!!
 
your SG is way low, i freak if mine drops below 1.024. 1.025-.026 is ideal.

also you dont have enough sand for a functioning DSB, so that could cause some extra chemicals to be hangin around.

also, do you really have 12 fish in a 30gal? thats a lot of poop dude.

do you have a clean up crew? that one hermit ain't gonna dent nothin algae wise. you need like 15-20.

you have so much algae in your tank because you have more poop in your tank than your nitrogen cycle can handle. adding one fish to a tank that size substantially changes the bio-load. you shouldnt add more untin you nitrogen cycle can catch up. with 12 fish in 2 months, your nitrogen cycle is so overloaded, im suprised you only show readings for NO3.

slow down.:coffee2:
 
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