Green Hair algae

[Partsman41953]

Hi all,

I have a 28 gallon bow front salt water aquarium with the following: sand substrate, live rocks, small clean up crew, Xenia soft corals, orange mushrooms, 2 clown fish, and a yellow wrasse. The equipment I have installed is a Rena Filstar external filter, 2 power heads, Sea Clone protein skimmer, and for my lighting I use a Coral Life 2 bulb T5 which houses my actinic lights and a Coral Life power compact for my day lights.

The problem that I had before installing the protein skimmer was that I had a tank full of green hair algae no matter what I did. Since putting the protein skimmer on the tank and also purchasing an RO/DI system for my water the algae mostly has stoppled growing on my rocks and is now concentrated mostly to my power heads. Also I have noticed within the last couple of days that my protein skimmer is producing a lot more foam in the cup than it did before. The coral in the tank looks good but I thought it should be growing faster than it is. What am I doing wrong and what steps do I need to take to finally eliminate the algae for good?

Thanks,

Glenn

 

[Smitty]

Welcome to the site...while you we're using tap water, your rocks had absorbed all the bad nutrients(phosphates and nitrates), which were fueling the algae, now that you've switched over to ro water, the nutrients will slowly leach out over time until you dilute your tank with multiple water changes. Running your canister filter continuously without routine maintenance will also lead to algae problems. Most people don't use canister filters because they're nitrate factories. And then how old are your bulbs, because if they're around a year old, then they will emit the wrong wavelength, that could also be fueling your algae. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[little_fish]

+1 smitty

 

[Partsman41953]

Thanks for the information. Would you suggest that I just run the protein skimmer alone? Would that be enough to filter the tank? Also, what lighting system would you recommend for the tank? I would like to put other coral in their but was holding off until I got the algae problem situated first. I am not sure if I should go with T5 or LED lighting or what.

Sorry for all the questions but even though the tank has been up and running for around 4 years I am still sort of new at this.

Glenn

 

[little_fish]

A protein skimmer wont remove the nitrates you have, it will only prevent them from forming, so you should continue to run the skimmer. That being said, the skimmer you have is one of the crappiest on the market, but for a small tank you really dont need a skimmer so you should be able to make it work for you. And having enough live rock, doing regular water changes and having a good skimmer is the best way to filter the tank.

I would go with LEDs if you can afford a nice fixture. On your tank the marineland LEDs would work well.

 

[Partsman41953]

Sorry to keep bothering you but so I understand what you are saying, you are suggesting that I run the skimmer alone, disconnect the Rena Filstar external canister filter and put a different light on the tank. Which protein skimmer would you recommend? Also, would the reef capable LED from Marineland work good on the aquarium and give my corals enough light? One last question if you do not mind, how often do you do water changes and how much water do you change at a time?

Thanks,

Glenn

 

[Smitty]

You're not bothering us. :)
Yep, the skimmer along with the rock will be enough, so you can disconnect the canister filter and use it occasionally to run carbon or something. A good hang on tank skimmer would be the octopus brand. That light should be sufficient for that size tank. And a good schedule for water changes is 10% of the tank water volume every week or 20% every other week.