Algae problems

[NathanMI]

What kind of algae is this? I've never seen it with bubbles on it like this. Is it a flow issue. It's hard to have enough flow in my tank without causing issues with my seahorses.

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

Bubble algae! Leave it and get an emarld crab. It wont hurt anything to remove it too i guess. Just make sure you turn off your powerheads and dont pop them. Good luck

 

[NathanMI]

Unfortunately I can't have emerald crabs with my seahorses. I thought bubble algae was green? I've never seen it green...

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

Thats bubble algae, nothing to worry about, just ugly.

 

[NathanMI]

Yeah it's very ugly!

 

[salt_for_brains]

Some of it looks green in the pics. What color is it? Is it always bubbly or does it become more bubbly during daytime lights? If it is a brown slime looking algae it could be Dino's.

 

[NathanMI]

I think it's always bubbly. It's brown in area and brown in others

 

[chichimom79]

It looks like either cyanobacteria or dinoflagellates

 

[ErinCahir]

+1 chichi. What are your parameters?

 

[NathanMI]

I hope it's not Dino's... My lvl are .5 for ammonia and nitrites and 5 nitrates. I think I had a mini cycle that just started.

 

[ErinCahir]

How often are you doing water changes? How often and what are you feeding?

 

[NathanMI]

I do ten gallons every week (11%)

I feed mysis but I try to put it in a bowl and remove whatever they don't eat. Some gets free but not very much.

I am using tap water. I need to get a RO/DI. I'm going to in a few weeks.

Ill have to check my lvls when I get home from work I haven't tested since yesterday.

 

[ErinCahir]

Switching to RODI will help a lot. In the meantime I'd start buying it from a LFS or gettingdistilled (not drinking/mineral/spring) from a grocery store. A couple weeks is more than enough time for this to get a stranglehold on your tank.

 

[NathanMI]

It's tuff I don't trust the lfs at all I have to drive too far to go to a good one. Ill have to look into distiller but that's expensive at $1/gallon. I go through at least 140 gallons a month. Can I not use my lights until I get my ro? No coral in my tank yet. Will that kill it? Will it grow off the sunlight in the room?

I may be able to get my ro unit in a week but I doubt it.

 

[ErinCahir]

You could do a blackout. Keep up with the water changes, though.

 

[NathanMI]

I think it may be Calothrix Cyano Algae.

It has green hairs in some parts. Are Dino's green sometimes too? I'm going to scrub my rocks in a bucket when I do my water change today. Hopefully that will help. Ill buy some more macro algae next week too.

 

[ErinCahir]

Suck as much of it off the rocks as you can with a turkey baster.

If you scrub them, keep them submerged to limit die-off. If you're going through a mini-cycle you need every bit of bacteria you can get.

 

[emmett0122]

if you have to use tap water test the tap water to make sure u dont have nitrates or phosphates in it

 

[NathanMI]

Well I did some research and I have to buy an RO/DI and upgrade my overflow... But I've been cleaning the tank the past few days and the algae problem has gotten much better! I'm pretty sure it's cyano it looks more and more like it every day.