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New Member
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Last Login: 8/7/2008 9:45:14 PM
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| Since I installed my 6 T-5 lights on my tank i have seen a slow growth of green algea on my live rock and base rock, I cut down the hrs of run time for the lights and introduced phosoban to the canister filter in an attempt to slow down the growth and seemingly overnight i've had an explosion of thick brown algea growing on almost every surface. I scraped and scrubbed the glass, let the filter's clean the water for an hour and then changed all the filter pads and did a partial water change. I tested the water and all was ok. where would all of this suddenly come from what can I do to fight back?
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Fishkeeping GURU
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Last Login: 12/24/2008 1:39:36 PM
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What does "OK" mean for the water parameters? Specifically we need ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, salinity, and phosphate, all in numbers. How old is this tank again? What size is it? And can you describe the algae better, or post photos? Is it soft and squishy, and easily taken off the surfaces, or is it slimy or stringy? Is it red brown or just plain brown? Also, what is your flow like in the tank (in gallons per hour or tank turnover rate)?
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Junior Member
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Last Login: 1/3/2009 11:00:52 PM
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Sounds like a diatom bloom. Almost an inevitability in a new saltwater tank and may reapear from time to time. The cleaning you're doing will help shorten the bloom to some extent but it's really just a question of time, it will go away. Diatoms rely on silicates to be able to form their structure. When the bloom exhausts the available silicates, it'll disapear. How long it will take varies but I'd say give it a week or two. Silicates are usually introduced into the tank thru the water you use for changes. I'd hold off doing water changes for a couple of weeks until the bloom dies down. Diatom algae is a good thing, just not in those quantities!! 
So many species, so little money!
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New Member
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Last Login: 8/7/2008 9:45:14 PM
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| thanks for your responses, the algea is soft and easily removed from the glass, i did notice a swirl type growth pattern in one area of the glass, but i believe it was due to the power head interrupting its normal growth pattern. it's flat and slimy and i guess its more of a light brown color. I'd be able to offer a better description if I allowed it to grow a little more. i have a 55g, established for almost 5 months now. I'm not sure of the turnover rate as far as the water is concerned. i would imagine it's fairly high since i have a wet/dry and a canister filter on at all times and two power heads continuously moving the water in random directions. The water parameters off the top of my head are as follows salinity- 1.023 ammonia- 0 nitrite- .5 Nitrate - ??? cant recall ph - 7.9 ( i havnt been able to keep my ph up and someone told me my crushed coral substrate was causing it to stay low. buffers raise it but not for more than a few days and I'd hate to rely on that method.) I'm at work right now so i cant evaluate the water, but i will test it again and post the exact numbers. As a side note, i posted the loss of my sebae anemone about two wks ago and my nitrates and nitrites were up. at that time, i did a 10g water change and used "prime" ( a chem to reduce the ammonia,nitrite,nitrate levels) the water has been getting better, but again, not perfect. i have a feeling there is probably a strong relation between the two incidents. I've continued to do three more 10g water changes since then in an attempt to bring things back to normal without overly shocking the system and causing it to cycle again. I just remembered to add that i only use Ro water, im not familiar with "diatoms and silicates" . (Diatoms meaning algea?) is this always present in all water?
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New Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/7/2008 9:45:14 PM
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| sorry for not updating earlier, its been a crazy week. so, i finally got that brown algea bloom under control and within a few days i had a hair algea problem and to go step further and rub salt in a wound, my tank and LR had bright green algea growing on it. this green algea is really hard to get off the glass. I spent about 4 hrs pulling all the LR out of the tank, scraping all the glass, doing a 15g water change ( tank is 55g) rebuilding my aqua-scape, and running the filters while i ran over to the lfs to get some new phosphate sponges and filter pads. while i was shopping, i decided to boost my cleaning crew, so i purchased 8 turbo's, 10 more hermits and 4 green emerald crabs. from what i was told, the emerald crabs love to eat hair algea. When i finally got home ( about 2 hrs later ) , the water was looking pretty clear, so i went ahead and changed my filter pads, added the new phosphate sponges and tested the water. I use an API test kit. PHOSPHATE - 0.25 AMMONIA - 0 PH - 8.0 NITRITE - 0 NITRATE - 0 SALINITY - 1.023 i've got to get those phosphates down more. all in all the tank is crystal clear this morning and thank god i didn't have an overnight bloom again after all the work i did yesterday. i think i would have had to see an anger management shrink if that had happened. It's very discouraging to put so much time and money into a hobby like this and you see everything you've done practically go to waste overnight. i wish i knew what i did that caused such a rapid growth of nearly every annoying species of algea. Thanks for keeping up with my threads and offering your suggestions!
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Fishkeeping GURU
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Last Login: 12/24/2008 1:39:36 PM
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Even if it comes back, please don't look at it as "going to waste". Algae blooms (a lot of them, sometimes very severe) are a normal part of maturing a saltwater tank. If everything is in order (including getting the phosphate down) they will pass in time, and you'll be very happy with the tank. Don't let it get you down because it will get better.
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