need algae advise......again

[Melonbob]

I'm still battling this green algae...The best I can describe it is it looks like red slime, all over my rocks and sandbed now.....but it's lime green. no hair, just looks like red slime on the rocks and sand and looks like green dust on the glass. I have been running phosguard and charcoal for about two months now, I've only used RO/DI water since October. I was very low in alk and calcium, but have been dosing and my numbers are headed back up. I just want this algae gone. I can't even suck it up, it stirs up when I try to vaccuum the sandbed, but I don't believe its actually making it out the other end. I even ran a full bottle of Marine SAT, but the stuff just won't go away. should I change out the phosguard more often?? Use more of it? Or try something like chemi-clean or whatever it's called. Thanks guys

 

[cthegame]

I believe you have cyano algae which is very common and most new tanks go thru the normal algae phase (brown, green, red).

The best solution for me was increasing my water changes from once per week to twice per week. I did this for about 2 weeks and algae was gone.

How much livestock do you currently have? The more you have the more water quality issues you will have so increasing your water changes will ensure you get good quality water and less algae.

 

[RyanG]

You might need more flow too just a thought

 

[Ironman]

can you post some test results? Phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, amonnia, temps, how long are your lights on. that kinda stuff.

 

[Melonbob]

yeah, I've done this all with the regulars too, testing is normal amm, trites, phos, all at zero. Trates less than 5, calcium is averaging 400, alk was very low, less than 2. Turned out I had a bad test kit. I've been dosing since I found out and numbers are coming back up mow. Lights are on about 8 hrs a day, and have been since I cycled about 5 mths ago. I'm really wondering if its a flow thing, it's always seemed confined to the front of the tank....

 

[Bifferwine]

Slime algae has a hard time establishing itself in areas of high flow. It will help if you aim a powerhead in that direction.

 

[ccCapt]

Cyano thrives on high nutrients.....silicates and phosphates. Testing will show low readings because it's being used up, but it's there. How are you using that phosguard? Do you have a reactor for it? Phosguard is an aluminum based phosphate remover. Once it reaches it's capacity, it will start to leach the phosphate back out into the tank. How often do you cahnge it? Iron based phosphate removers (GFO) are much better as they do not release anything once they reach capacity.

 

[reefer2b]

I had slime algae growing on top of my upper rocks, right were the flow is highest. I guess my tank doesn't like to follow protocol. Figures - LOL it hasn't done it yet. Does cyano grow on the sand too?

 

[Doc]

Cyano comes in a variety of different colors. Green is one of them. cut down your lighting cycle to 4-5 hours, reduce feedings to once every other day, increase flow, add an additional 10% to your water changes, run a phosphate remover and be patient. Good luck.

-Doc

 

[Bifferwine]

I had slime algae growing on top of my upper rocks, right were the flow is highest. I guess my tank doesn't like to follow protocol. Figures - LOL it hasn't done it yet. Does cyano grow on the sand too?

Yep, it sure does. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to siphon off of sand.

 

[fatman]

If you have actinic supplemental lighting , run only it for around a week to 10 days and make a couple of water changes in that period of time (especially one just before the end of that period). Actic light wave length does not support the growth of cyano algae. The cyano will die with just actinic lighting but everything else will do just fine. Unless your replacement water is high in silicaites and nutrients both the cyano problem should go away after week without the light it needs and the removal of the nutrients and silicates should prevent it from growing again once you resume normal lighting. People use to put quartz rocks in their tanks and not be able to figureout why they had cyano algae. Pure quartz rock is pure silica. Duh!