Hey, thought I'd join the forum and post some pics of my ongoing algae problem and see if anyone can give me some advice! Been into SWA for about 20 years, but this tank won't stop growing the algae! No living rock, broke it down a few dozen times, don't have any fish right now... Sterilized the tank a few months ago, cycled it for 4 weeks with no bio-anything. Using all reverse-osmo bottled water, instant ocean mix. As soon as I tried to start bio-filter (used the "fresh-dead shrimp" method this time) - the algae returned within days. Can anyone look at the pics and get an idea of what kind of algae it is and any suggestions? I'd love to build this into a nice reef tank, but the cyano-algae grows so fast, it just turns into a red carpet in about 2 weeks.
Hi! Looking For Some Guidance!
- Thread starter nathan
- Start date
chichimom79
reef junkie
Welcome aboard!
Algae blooms are normal, especially in a new tank. Make sure your nutrients are low and you have good water movement. What kind of equipment are you running? What are your water parameters? What kind of rock did you use to start the tank(any rock will become live rock after being in your tank a few weeks)?
Algae blooms are normal, especially in a new tank. Make sure your nutrients are low and you have good water movement. What kind of equipment are you running? What are your water parameters? What kind of rock did you use to start the tank(any rock will become live rock after being in your tank a few weeks)?
lilmatty5dimes
Reef enthusiast
If your cycle is done go buy some CUC. grab some snails and give them a couple of days to do there job and eat that stuff up.
Smitty
Reef pro
Hello and welcome to the site...they've got you covered. What type of lighting do you have and how old are the bulbs? Old bulbs can give off the wrong color spectrum that can encourage algae growth.
kevdogg
Reefing newb
Welcome to the site! Looks like the others have some good questions. Did you use the old rock that you broke down? If so the phosphates could be leaching back into the water column. Also what type of substrate are you using?
Hey, Thanks for all of the suggestions/info!
The equipment is: the 50 Gallon Bowfront, Coralife 65W BlueLife blub (which is old), 2 powerheads (just "loose" attached to back of tank for waterflow), trickle/overflow filter. Don't have a protein skimmer or UV light. This tank has been fish only for about 5 years.
Living Rock: None yet :) Wanted to see if I could get the tank going relatively free of cyano before I started investing too much.
Substrate is Crushed Coral.
I'll see if I can find a phosphate test - I think that's the one thing I hadn't checked.
Thanks for all of the suggestions, I really appreciate it!
The equipment is: the 50 Gallon Bowfront, Coralife 65W BlueLife blub (which is old), 2 powerheads (just "loose" attached to back of tank for waterflow), trickle/overflow filter. Don't have a protein skimmer or UV light. This tank has been fish only for about 5 years.
Living Rock: None yet :) Wanted to see if I could get the tank going relatively free of cyano before I started investing too much.
Substrate is Crushed Coral.
I'll see if I can find a phosphate test - I think that's the one thing I hadn't checked.
Thanks for all of the suggestions, I really appreciate it!
