Alge problem or no?

[Coralreefer23]

I have had my tank cycle in July threw August . My nitrates have not dropped below 20 on the API kit but everything else reads out good. Just did a water change. I have 29g nano and did a 7 gallon change, I have a small refridguim running chaeto in the open chamber. The live rock I have was from a local user's tank just a few miles away. These rock carried in some awesome additions to my setup and a few I should say alot of aiptasias. Which I removed by with the blue vet removal kit. Now I know my light can play a big part on this alge growth, so I am going to wing it till I get a different one. So I am running a current older nova with the hand made two prong bulbs, one is full white don't know the k I'll check and the other bulb is half blue/artic. So here it goes I have purple, red, white, coraleen alge, and red haired along with green long haired, also a bit mossy. The long haired grows on the back wall and the red and mossy on the live rock. Will this alge growth keep my nitrates from dropping? Will these alge cause my clown fish and demsy to have problems?

 

[yote]

From your description,I'm guessing you have hair algae and cyano-bacteria.Both are a sign of poor water quality.Which will effect your fish.
What are your parameters?

 

[Bifferwine]

And what kind of water are you using? If you are using tap water, that is a very likely cause of the problems. Switch to RODI water. You can buy it at any grocery store or Walmart, or you can buy an RODI unit to make your own at home. If you are already using RODI water, then you can ignore this. :)

 

[Coralreefer23]

I use premix until I get a reverse osmoses home kit. The salt mix I use is oceanic salt. They premix it at the store. How do I get rid of this alge just more water changes or should I scrap it and do a full water change? Or do a half and just scrap and monitor?paremeters are nitrate 20-40 nitrite 0 ammonia 0 ph 8 had some testing strips I borrowed from a friend and the aklinity tested tested dark blue which is like 300 or safe zone. I have a whole ton of invertes 3 turbo snails, 6 nasserius snails, 3 hermit crabs,1 porcelain crab, some baby sand sifting stars, a bigger quarter size sand star, 2 pepermint shrimp, 4 snails can't remember what the name is they have the tan shell with the small spike like shell, and 1 really pretty shell snail very shiny. And two fish clown and Jack demsy. Want to add corals and more fish just want to advance this water quality first.

 

[Bifferwine]

Next time you get water from the store, test it before you do the water change. You may be buying bad water. Some stores don't change their RO membranes as often as they should...

Remove as much algae as you can by hand. You don't want it to die in the tank, because it will just release the nutrients back into the water. If I were you, I'd do a total blackout for 3 or 4 days. When you turn the lights back on, pick off as much algae as you can and do a 30% to 40% water change.

But test your new water first!

 

[Coralreefer23]

Will do starting after 12 am tonight lights will be off four dayz....I'll take pictures of the before and after

 

[Coralreefer23]

So I had this cycle running and alot has happened . So I'm going to keep lights off one full day and do a 10 gallon pull. Hopefully this does the trick do to how much growth this has worked it's way around this enviorment.
The alge on live rock this seems to
be a task of removing. I have alot cleaners so any tips on how to remove alge from my rock?

 

[yote]

The easiest way is with a hard bristled tooth brush and a couple buckets of saltwater.Just hold the rock in the bucket and scrub the algae off in one bucket,rinse in the other.

 

[the reef kid]

I thought jack dempsy's are freshwater...is there another type that lives in saltwater? Are you running any external filters?