How long for algae to slow down after nitrates and phosphates are OK?

daddy2kids

Reefing newb
I recently bought an established 46g tank ~3 years old. Came with fish and tree coral. We added xenias (pulsing pom pom xenias?), which are really growing. Musrooms (green button polyps?) sprouted from one of the pieces of live rock and are quickly growing to cover the rock.
The tank just finished cycling; about four weeks ago one of the kids did major over-feeding and no one removed it from the tank. Now we have a serious algae on the glass problem. Nitrates got as high as 40ish. Xenias and tree coral and musrooms (polyps?) survived. Anyway, as of a week ago nitrates are finally zero again and phosphates are near zero. I know from Bifferwine that the 0 phasphate tests can be misleading (thanks!). That said, assuming nitrates stay at around zero, any idea how long before the algae will slow down? We still have to clean the glass every few days.
Thanks in advance!
 
Hi and welcome! It will take some time before the algae dies off. Keep in mind that if it dies in your tank, it re-releases all those nutrients back into the water, so you want to manually remove as much of it from the tank as possible.

Unfortunately, cleaning the glass is a part of this hobby. Even in "perfect" tanks, the glass still needs to be cleaned every few days. There's no way around it. You can minimize your work by getting a cleaning crew -- astraea snails are great for the glass. You could get a dozen or so of those guys.

Do you still have algae on the rocks?
 
Thanks everyone.

You go by "Biff"? I really appreciate your posts! You asked, "Do you still have algae on the rocks?" I believe I do. I can see some and our "turbo" snails hang out on the rocks. I was told they would help with the glass, but so far they are rock lovers. If we put them on the glass, they clean a trail as they head back for the rocks.

Biff: "You want to manually remove as much [algae] from the tank as possible." I'm not sure how to do that. Algae seems to dissolve immediately when we use the Mag-Float glass cleaners. My protein skimmer foams a lot when se do that, so I assume I'm getting some of it out. Maybe let the algae grow thicker and then it comes off like a film that I can net out...?

Guy at the fish store gave me some API brand Marine Algaefix. Any thoughts...?

Thanks!
 
I have used that in the past didnt really do anything

A good way to get rid of the algea on the rocks is to turn the lights off for a week. The lack of light will cause the algea to die off. Then every few days, you need to do a partial water change. This will remove the nutrients that the algea releases back into the water. I would say probably three water changes that week the lights are off. I cant stress how important the waterchanges are while you are doing a tank black out. You can also take the rocks out of the tank and scrub them with an old toothbrush when you do water changes. Unfortunantly, algea is part of the game when it comes to our tanks but with a bit of elbow grease, you can keep it under control

Brian
 
Turbo snails do prefer rocks. I've never seen mine on the glass willingly. Get the astraea snails instead for glass.

By manual removal, I meant if you had algae on your rocks. Pulling it off by hand. You can't really do that for algae on the glass.

I would avoid using the algaecide. You only want to use chemicals as a last resort. Rarely are they reef safe, and chances are they could hurt the animals in your tank.
 
I woulndt add anything chemical wise to the water to get rid of algae, it will have some side-effect somewhere you can bet. Cut the lights seems to work when I get too much. And I too clean the glass like daily or else it builds up fast. My snails just seem to like knocking my coral off the rocks!
 
Welcome to the site.
Biff and Bj have you covered pretty good.
That dusty looking green algae on the glass,is just phytoplankton.Every time you clean it off,your corals and filter feeders are getting a good meal.:D
 
Back
Top