Algae issues...

[jamesd523]

Hey guys,

For the past few weeks (more like a month or two), I have been battling this nasty algae. I feel like it's different than that diatoms I had when the tank first went up... although it is brownish red. This stuff forms into a thick, kinda slimey film all over the sand and climes up the glass. I have been doing a LOT of water changes (between 2-3) a week (5 gallon changes - 36 gallon tank). Yesterday I cut my lights back from 9 to 6 hours to see if that would help. I came home today after doing a water change last night and I already have this much growth. Also, my finger leathers aren't expanding as much as they used to and my frogspawn was taking a turn for the worse. Two of it's branches have cleared out.

It only grows in the light, under my rocks is clean.

Any ideas? I need to take my water to get tested... but I did a nitrate test last week and it was totally in the clear. Should I just be doing MORE water changes? Are there supplements or something I can try?

[dustin_P74]

it looks like cyano

[Bifferwine]

That's slime algae -- cyanobacteria is another name for it.

One big cause of cyanobacteria is a lack of proper flow. Do you have enough powerheads in your tank? Aiming the powerheads and the slimy areas will help, because cyano has a hard time establishing itself in moving water.

The other big cause is poor water quality. You are doing lots of water changes, but are you using RODI water? If you are changing out bad water for more bad water (like tap water), water changes won't make a difference. You say you have zero nitrates, so you may be having phosphate problems, which also contribute to algae. There are phosphate test kits, but they often read 0 when really you do have a phosphate problem. The algae is just taking up the phosphate so quickly it doesn't have time to stay in the water column and register on the test kit. I recommend trying some sort of phosphate removal media like PhosBan or PhosGuard.

[yote]

What you have is cyanobacteria.It feeds off of phosphates and nitrates.
To help get rid of it,siphon out as much as you can.Then leave the lights off for 3 or 4 days and cover the tank with something to keep any other light out.
Where are you getting your water?Is it tap,distilled,RO,or RO/DI?
How many and what kind of fish do you have in there?
How often and with type of foods are you feeding?

[yote]

Dang it Biff.

[Bifferwine]

Oooh Yote brought something good up -- avoid flake and pellet foods. Those lead to excess phosphates in your tank. Use frozen foods only.

[jamesd523]

Thanks for the help guys. To answer the questions - I am using RO water and feeding frozen mysis. I'm going to try to suck some out and pick up some phosphate remover. If that doesn't work, I'll try the "lights out" method.

[Bifferwine]

Alsok, if your tank is less than a year old, it's still considered "new". Algae outbreaks will be inevitable regardless of how well you take care of your tank. It's just something you need to get through, and it sucks.

[jamesd523]

2 powerheads, pointed up... maybe I should point them down into the tank?

Fish count:
-1 clown
-1 chromis
-2 Blennys

Feeding 1/2 cube per day, thinking about cutting that back too.

I hate algae!

[dustin_P74]

for four fish i wouldnt feed anything less then half a cube, i would even think about bumping it up a little bit