Algae War..

[emily120289]

This algae bloomed about a week ago.. I've done numerous water changes.. But it doesnt seem to go away.. Any suggestions on what it may be?

 

[Waddi]

Whats your lighting, flow? How much livestock do you have, how much are you feeding? What are your tests reading?

 

[emily120289]

Tank: 37g
Lighting: LEDs (Radion)
Flow: x1 Vortech MP10
Livestock: x2 Tomato Clowns (Mated Pair)
Feeding: Once a day ; Prime Reef, Live Brine Shrimp, Mysis Shrimp, Pellets/flakes.

Temp: 79.2
Salinity: 1.025-6
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10
pH: 8.2
Calcium:450
dKH: 7
Mag: 1250

 

[Ted]

Thats a lot of food for two fish. I feed my three fish every other day and mainly feed frozen. Alternate between mysis, enriched brine, emerald entree and some angle/ butterfly fish blend, cut less then 1/4 of a cube off and let it melt in tank water. Pellets/flake foods can introduce phosphates into your tank. The main job of a reef keeper is to limit nutrients into the tank via good methods of removal and not over feeding. :twocents:

 

[chichimom79]

Just looks like normal hair algae and diatoms to me. Try increasing your water changes a bit until you get a reading of zero nitrates and the algae starts to dissipate. You might also try eliminating the flakes/pellets and feed every other day instead of every day.

 

[fastrd400]

Increase your Mag level. A level above 1500 will kill off the algae as well.

 

[salt_for_brains]

The frozen food will contain a lot of phosphate as well. I put the cube in a cup with tank water to thaw, then pour it through a small net. This does two things eliminates most of the water the food was frozen in and also gets rid of some of the very small pieces that nothing eats any way (which reduces nutrients and more nitrates). Then I feed with the net.

 

[little_fish]

Are you manually removing the algae when you do a water change?

 

[emily120289]

Thanks everyone, this really helped. Can always count on the people here:D.