I need input on what to do about purple slime algae??

[Jschamber89]

well my tank has been up for maybe 9 weeks now and i had a little bit of diatom algae which is slowly going away but for some reason the right side of my tank was completely covered in Slime Algae....

I figure since I only have one Koralia on the right side blowing towards the left that everything is reflecting off the glass and settling under the Koralia... maybe i'm wrong but its what I think is causing the problem.

So today I scrubbed it off the live rock and hand scooped as much as I could and threw it away, then I turned off the Light, so right now my tank looks really really good but i need to know what I should do so that the algae doesnt come back???

 

[KidJ57]

Which Koralia do you have? I've only got 1 Koralia3 in my 58 gallon and it gives me plenty of water flow. If you want to stick with snails, like I said in your other post, get yourself some turbo snails. If that still doesn't work, you could always get a sea hare, which will clean up your tank real quick. Just make sure that once your tank is clean, you get your sea hare some sea weed strips or something else to eat.

 

[messiah023]

Jschamber,

1.) What type of water are you using. Phosphates / Nitrates FEED algae. If you are using tap water with conditioner... this is your first problem. Only use RO/DI water (from your LFS or from a machine....or buy one).

2.) Water flow. Slime algae is a direct result of not enough flow. Make sure your rocks and sandbed have plenty of flow. I have a 30g nano tank and I have (2) big water movers - A Koralia K1 & a Tunze Nanostream 6045. Everything in my tank moves.

3.) Lighting. Lights should only be on for 6-8 hours max IMO. Unless you have photosynthetic corals, lighting is purely for YOUR viewing pleasure. Get yourself a timer and set your lights for 6-8 hour viewing cycles (btw, this is fine for corals too).

4.) Nitrates. If your nitrates are too high in your tank.....you will have algae problems. Algae feeds off nitrates and "proteins" in the water. A good protein skimmer is recommended. For your (and mine) tank sizes, a nice Octopus HOB skimmer works great. I use the 100BF with much success.

5.) Feeding. Excess foods in your tank leads to algae problems. I feed my tank 2 times (sometimes 3 times) per week. I dose my tank with phyto, cyclops and copepods weekly.

6.) CUC - Clean-up crew. Get yourself some snails, crabs, etc. to help with the algae control. I have about 15 nassarius snails, 10 hermits, 10 astrea / nerite / ceriths (mixed bunch) in my tank at any given time.

Good Luck!

 

[Jschamber89]

thanks for your help, hermits have killed alot of my snails so I'll definately be getting more of those which I had planned.... but thats what I kind of figured my problem was was not enough curculation, i only have that koralia 1 on the right side of my tank so i'll probably get another or maybe 2 if needed

 

[dcantucson]

thanks for your help, hermits have killed alot of my snails so I'll definately be getting more of those which I had planned.... but thats what I kind of figured my problem was was not enough curculation, i only have that koralia 1 on the right side of my tank so i'll probably get another or maybe 2 if needed

Hermits killing snails. Unheard of!!! :mrgreen:

 

[project5k]

I'm wondering if my algae issues arent related to waterflow... and perhaps a lack of CUC.

how much total flow in the DT should i have, if its a 75gal? its 4ft long, 18 or so inches deep, and 18 or so inches front to back?

also, how many total crabs and snails should i have in there?

the tank is between 3 and 4 months old where it sits now, and was moved from its previous owners house all set up...

 

[daugherty]

water changes every week and keep up good water quality and it will go away

 

[yote]

I'm wondering if my algae issues arent related to waterflow... and perhaps a lack of CUC.

how much total flow in the DT should i have, if its a 75gal? its 4ft long, 18 or so inches deep, and 18 or so inches front to back?

also, how many total crabs and snails should i have in there?

the tank is between 3 and 4 months old where it sits now, and was moved from its previous owners house all set up...

A lot of how much flow is needed,depends on what kind of corals you want to keep.
But in a 75,I'd have at least 2 of the K4s or something close.
When I had my 75 goin,I had 4 of the K4s and 4 K3s along with a mag 5 return.
But the general rule of thumb is 10X the tank volume in flow.

 

[project5k]

ok, 10x, thats a # i understand, ok, i was reading earlier and someone was saying that for fish only its 10x and for corals it could go as high as 25x, now, a little common sence sais that at 25*75 is 1875 gallons per hour. that sounds like a lot to me...

currently i'm moving about 600 gallons per hour between the sump, the canister and the one powerhead that i have in there.. so i'm not too far below the 10x mark...

so what am i missing?

explain to me the math, cuz my #'s and whay your saying you had in your 75 isnt adding up...
if you had 4 k4's, + 4 k3's thats 1200*4 + 850*4 = 8200 gallons per hour, in a 75 thats over 100x the tank volume, and then you'd add return pump's flow...

 

[yote]

It takes a lot of flow to keep most SPS corals happy.Plus you've got to keep in mind that the rock work is going to break up the flow patterns.
The more flow,the fewer dead spots,the fewer the dead spots,the fewer places for detritus to build up.
And dont confuse turn over through the filtration with the flow rate inside the display.

If I was big into LPS corals,I'd cut the flow WAY back.

 

[daugherty]

It takes a lot of flow to keep most SPS corals happy.Plus you've got to keep in mind that the rock work is going to break up the flow patterns.
The more flow,the fewer dead spots,the fewer the dead spots,the fewer places for detritus to build up.
And dont confuse turn over through the filtration with the flow rate inside the display.

If I was big into LPS corals,I'd cut the flow WAY back.

i agree i have 2 k3's 2 k4's 3, mj 1200 and a mj 900 plus my return pump that puts out 600 but i think i am going to take the two k4's out for now.

 

[project5k]

wait, so the water movement from the sump and stuff dosent count towards the waterflow in the tank? i dont get it, i mean the sump return pump is causing some flow in the tank, why dosent that count towards the movement in the tank?

Please understand that i'm really not trying to be a jerk here, i just really dont understand.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yes, it does count.

 

[project5k]

ok, so it does count then? so then i'm really not that far below the 10x mark then.. so a couple nano's or k1's should do me then, right?

 

[yote]

Thats was my fault for not explaining.
The flow coming out of the return DOES count toward total flow.
But its recommended to have 10X turnover through the sump and closer to 30 or 40 for total flow in the display.
But IMHO,When you get the tank full of rock and corals are growing good.Then all that stuff is going to effect the flow patterns.The more flow you have,the less the patterns are effected,so the fewer dead spots there'll be.At least thats my take on it.

 

[project5k]

AH HAH! ok, now we're getting somewhere, 10x throught the sump, so thats 750gal per hour, wow, ok thats more than double what i have now, and its already moving pretty swiftly, but then again i only have a 10 gal sump right now, so...

ok, so 40*75=3000, then 3000-750=2250,
so i need to add powerheads that add up to 2250gph.
well, wait, maybe not, i wanna do stuff like xenias and zoanthids, i dont think i'm any where near ready to do any hard corals yet...
i checked my KH last night and got 8.25, i dont really know what that means tho...

 

[yote]

With Xenia,zoos,and LPS,you wont need anywhere near as much flow as do for SPS.
Just enough to keep detritus in suspension.

A KH of 8.25 means that your alkalinity is 8.25 DKH,which is about right.DKH is alkalinity in german degrees of hardness,or something like that.