Green Algae

[the1x1factor]

Hi.... I had recently setup a marine tank which is now 3 months old... recently my tank is showing green algae growth... and i think its spreading fast.... am attaching snapshots so that you can have a better look at it... I also have some brown algae in other parts of the tank.

Is this outbreak a general one in new tanks and will it stop.. ( http://books.google.com/books?id=lS...7-A0&sig=DRt_1xc8NL8QgI1L_JOCSlY5RO4#PPA40,M1) here it says that after the brown algae growth the green algae and is good. Is my tank undergoing this process.

I live in India... and here its hard to get any thing related to marine tanks... especially water quality testers.. so i have no idea how to check the phosphate levels. Is there any way i can stop this growth and completely prevent it...

I was thinking of stopping th filters and try scraping the algae along with the coral sand( without spilling it). Will this help in anyway. I keep the lights on for 8hrs.

 

[dilbert]

At first, you could find out if phosphate comes with your water for water changes. Is it tap water (water company might know it) or do you use RO water, bought or self-produced?

Scraping of the algae helps for the moment a little. If the tank gets some sunlight during the day that lets grow more nuissance algae. You could cover the tank with a blanket for about 3 days. You can switch off lighting, too, for that period. Healthy corals may survive 3 days without light.

But all this is only a temporary measure. The buzzword is "nutrients export". All food that enters the tank gets converted at the end into phosphate and nitrogen and has to be removed by:
- skimmer
- phosban tablets or reactor
- water changes
- beneficial algae like Chaetomorpha

One or two of these methods are sufficient. Chaetomorpha algae don't attach easily to anything in your tank and could even float free or I have a small ball attached to a cable from a powerhead.

The stuff you got at the moment could also go away with more water flow. I had a cyanobacteria outbreak looking similar only in red and it went away magically after a week. I installed a third powerhead but I don't believe that this made it go away.

The red slime algae sat very near to the rock with my soft corals but it didn't enter that rock. As long as those algae stay away from your corals I wouldn't much worry about it and go ahead with the long term measures instead.

Chaetomorpha and other algae grow very slow, so water changes, skimming or phoshor removal tablets or the like might be the first choice.

 

[blasterman_]

This is classic hair algae, with some cyanobacter (red slime) thrown in. Without testing your water I can already tell you that it's likely high in nitrates. I've consequently had many hair algae outbreaks in tanks that tested '0' for phosphates and R/O water filled. However, I've never had the stuff grow without some nitrates on the meter.

Gravel vac what you can, and use common steps to reduce nitrate build-up.

Yes, new tanks are prone to this as the ecology in the tank learns to compete with the algae.

 

[scootrnerd]

This is classic hair algae, with some cyanobacter (red slime) thrown in. Without testing your water I can already tell you that it's likely high in nitrates. I've consequently had many hair algae outbreaks in tanks that tested '0' for phosphates and R/O water filled. However, I've never had the stuff grow without some nitrates on the meter.

Gravel vac what you can, and use common steps to reduce nitrate build-up.

Yes, new tanks are prone to this as the ecology in the tank learns to compete with the algae.

agreed might want to cut back on feeding also i had a similar problem with a ten gallon setup a while back and it was due to overfeeding!

 

[bdavis27701]

I would say it is cyanobacteria. Whats your water flow like?

 

[the1x1factor]

I am having a 200gal tank. I am using 2 power heads (500gal/hr). Also i just searched and found this link http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_searc...m_Supplies_Medications_Bacterial__Fungal.html will any of these products help me.. i think i might be able to ship them to India.

 

[dilbert]

I have never used such a product. Some people say they used it with success, some discourage the use of them.

At least, it looks like that if the conditions that led to the cyanobacteria outbreak wouldn't change, you would need to use this product every month or so.

The flow is realtively low. It should be at least 20x in a reef, 10x in a fish only tank. So, for a reef you should have 200 x 20 = 4000 gal/hr. Four times more than you have now.

 

[the1x1factor]

Your are right... my flow is way too low... been thinking about it. I came across this pump http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewI..._Powerheads_Fixed_Flowrate_Pumps~vendor~.html

http://www.reefbuilders.com/images/videos/hydor/hydorpump.html


It seemed cost effective... i was thinking of ordering 4 of these (3600gals/hr).


Also coming back to the algae problem... would it be wise to scrapeof the layer including some sand.... I was thinking of doing a water change and thought i would do this at that time. Will manual removal like this.. slow down the process....


I will upload some more photos tomor of a brown alage like growth on my tank walls... i want to know if its ordianry or i should do somethign about it....

Thanks for all the help guys..

 

[dilbert]

Will manual removal like this.. slow down the process....

It helps a little or better said it is better than doing nothing. I did this, too. Only you have to watch out to catch it properly altogether.

When something of that slime gets lost and disappears it will contribute to the dead matter in the tank.

Normally, the slime forms some sort of contiguous sheets. So, try to collect them as a whole.

 

[blasterman_]

I stand corrected. After looking at the images closer it is indeed mostly if not all cyanobacter.

Normally I take anything on Foster and Smith's sight with a grain of sea salt, but they do have a brief blog on it that hits most of the key points (ignore their attempt to sell phospahte removers):

http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=65

The most important comment made is that corraline algae and other 'good' things will out-compete cyanobacter *if* nitrate levels are low enough. This is why tanks you see that are 1/4 thick with corraline algae from top to bottom never show the stuff.

I've never used chemical warfare on cyanobacteria and can't comment on it's effectiveness. Cyano is otherwise harmless (one of the oldest living organisms on the plaent as a matter of fact), but if it gets thick on your LR it will inhibit water flow to good bacteria. Which is a point of interest because cyano bacteria tends to want to grow in areas of close proximity to ammo/nitrite reducing bacteria so it can goble up nitrate. This tends to be the middle of the tank on gravel and areas of LR not directly exposed to light.

I like the powerhead you listed - good idea. Try to install it similiar to the video so you get some top/down current flow.