Algae Identification and Solution (1 Viewer)

[cnmarland]

I've started to see a spread of what looks like a green hair algae or other plant material. It is spreading across the tank and now taking over corals.
I've also got areas of my live rock with a brownish algae cover.
I'm trying to get some identification of these and hopefully a solution to get rid of them, if they are a problem. I can certainly see that the green hair algae is.

For information about my tank it is a 55gal tank, with around 70lbs of live rock and a 5" live sand bed. I just use two Hydor Koralia power heads for water flow with a total turn over of 1000gph along with an Aqua C Remora protein skimmer.

I perform regular water changes and have even tried larger water changes (20%) without success.
My water tests are all very good:
Salinity: 1.023, Temp 78
pH: 8.3, Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite & Phosphate are all zero.
Alkalinity is 8-9, Calcium is around 420-440ppm.
I add essentially elements once every 2 weeks, Iodine twice per week for a total of 5ml per week, Kent Marine Calcium as needed to maintain calcium.
My tank has 2 yellow tail damseles, 2 clowns, 1 yellow tang and 1 bicolour chromis, 1 cleaner shrimp and several turbo snails and hermit crabs. I've had the tank for about 8 months now and this has only started in the last 6 weeks. My tank has been stable with fish and corals for several months.

Pictures attached for reference.
Cheers.

 

[R-BallJunkie]

dreaded GHA.

1) there is no solution in a bottle. i know someone who nuked there tank with one of those additives
2) need a better skimmer, assuming you do not have a sump. might think about getting a sump, add some chaeto.
3) not a big fan of DSB in your tank. might consider reducing amount of sand (will get differing opinions, this is just mines....trying to see what you can vary to help battle GHA)
4) you dont need to add all those supplements. normal water changes will get you by. i would cut out adding these, as you dont seem to have a high coral load.
5)might consider beefing up your clean up crew, see if you can get it under control.

 

[CBBSteve]

Hi, cnmarland.
What kind of lighting and how old are the bulbs? If you have fluorescent tubes - T5's, VHO's, or PC's - and they get older, sometimes their color can shift and cause an algae outbreak.

That said, algae outbreaks normally result from an excess of nutrients in your tank. Most folks use a combination of the following:
minimize feedings
aggressive skimming
frequent water changes
use of a refugium with macro algae
increased herbivory

Here's a good thread from someone who conquered a problem like yours. Lotsa good info in here.

http://www.marshreef.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=13875&highlight=

I've also had good luck with Marine SAT controlling hair algae in the past.

Good luck,
Steve

 

[tdmiata]

City Pets have plenty of zebra snails if u go that route..

 

[AquaNerd]

it will take a combination of things to get rid of this algae...

-massive and frequent water changes
-increased skimming or skimming "wetter"
-increased flow (mostly to remove detritus)
-increased magnesium to 1600 meg/l
-light bulb change
-use of phosphate removing media
-dosing of kalkwasser (will help bind phosphates)
-decrease in tank feeding (i normally feed every two days)
-decrease in photoperiod (length of time lights on) or complete lights out for a few days
-manual removal of algae
-use of snails or rabbitfish/foxface/tangs for algae removal

these things might not work individually, but doing all or at least a few at a time will certainly help.

prodibio/zeovit dosing is great for this too, but once you stop the algae may come back.

 

[flexrac]

i second the 1600 ppm magnesium, works like a charm, i'm doing it right now and boy is it working on my red slime. reef central has lots of wright ups on it.

 

[cnmarland]

Update

I want to thank everyone for there information.
I have T5 lights which are only 7 months old. 1 white, 1 blue actinic.

I have bought Kent Marine Tech M Magnesium. I'm just waiting for a test kit before adding so I know how much.
I did a water change on Wednesday (10%) and intend to do another next week for 20%.
I've turned down my lights to 8 hrs from the 10hr they were.
This weekend I'm going to get somemore snails and probably crabs.
I've stopped feeding right now and will only feed every 2 days for about 1 week and monitor closely the growth.
I'm going to be doing my skimming more aggressively - even wetter starting tonight when I hook-up an overflow from my skimmer.

I think my tap water is OK. I have a rainsoft home water treatment filter installed on all my entire house water. In addition I have a rainsoft RO/DI system under my kitchen sink. I'm going to use that for water top off but it will be tough for water changes. However, I've had the system in place well before I had my tank. I've tested the water and have zero nitratres or phosphates in the tap water so I'm relatively confident about that.

I think my problems may have a combination of overfeeding, overlighting and a lack of clean up crew. Although I had 4 turbo snails and now a lot of smaller snails from them, I probably need more to keep on top of it.

I'm also considering the Marine SAT but I want to see if the his dose Mg, feeding and lighting (natural way?) improves things.

 

[Llama]

Well, I have to suggest to start saving for a new light. When I had the Nova two bulb on my 46 bow my algae started. That algae came over to my 90 via the rock. Then when I upgraded to the icecap 660 I haven't had an issue since. HOWEVER, I was also boosting Mag at the same time.

Also, you really need test you tap water for TDS. I wouldn't recommend using it until you do.

 

[cnmarland]

TDS Testing

How do I go about testing for TDS? Can you recommend and decent kit.
Cheers,
Chris

 

[RR-MAN]

Your biggest problem is that you are using tap water. It's impossible to have phophate of 0 witha algae like that (what test kit did you use). Like someone said above, do not use any chemicals. It won't do any good.

You can buy a TDS meter pretty much anywhere. Just google it. You can also order one from one of the Marsh sponsors (Buckeye).

 

[crvz]

I agree, with RR-MAN. If you have algae, you definitely have phosphates in the tank. Hobby test kits for phosphate are hopeless, so don't rely on them for decision making. My first recommendation is to use only RO/DI water (that measures under 5ppm with the TDS meter, if not 0ppm). The second course of action, as already recommended, is to increase nutrient export (skimmer, water changes, etc) while decreasing nutrient import (fish load, feeding, etc).

 

[djreef]

I almost hate to say this, but the gravel vacuum is your friend. Your sandbed is not functioning correctly, for one reason or another and as a result you have a tank full of plant food. Remove the food, and the plants die. Increase the circulation, and kick up the skimming (as others have recommended). You may need to blow the crap outta your rocks as well, using a powerhead. Anything to get the solids into the water column so your skimmer can do it's job. Cut out the supplements, excluding your Ca+ and buffer. The other stuff is plant food.

DJ

 

[cnmarland]

Update and Details

OK, well thanks to everyone for the information. Here is some information on my system to date.

I bought a TDS meter and did some tests. My tapwater has around 350ppm after coming through the softener. I also have an undersink RO/DI unit that came with the softener. That give on 11ppm.

I decided to do a 10gal (20%) water change using the undersink RO/DI unit. I also reduced the feeding to once every 2 days. I increased the Mg to around 1600ppm and I used a new toothbrush to scrib the hair algae off the rocks. I also upped the skimming intensity and only use the RO/DI to topoff. I check the TDS everytime to ensure things are OK.

After 1 week the results are very good. The tank looks cleaner but importantly the hair algae has not started to return. The hair algae in place within corals has stopped increasing and actually looks to be reducing.

When my fish feed they are voracious...obviously hungry. I intend to keep this regime up until this weekend. I will perform another 10% water change and then I may increase the feeding to just once per day.

I believe my hair algae was ultimately caused by 2 factors, over-feeding while I was away on business for 2 weeks and poor water input - too high PO4 from the tapwater. That is now significantly reduced with my RO/DI unit. Fixing these two factors in the future will no doubt help elsewhere as well.
Thanks everyone for their advice as my tank is beginning to return to its previous best.

 

[karlo]

Re: Update and Details

I decided to do a 10gal (20%) water change using the undersink RO/DI unit.

Good to hear it's doing better but are you saying you were using water straight from the tap before.

 

[cnmarland]

Water

Yes I was using just tap water before. I assumed that the water softener I have installed for my whole house would be good...how wrong was I. The assumption was based on water tests I did on it. I tested for Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite and Phosphate. All were zero, however I now feel the phosphate was not an accurate enough test.

Using the undersink RO/DI system that came with the water softener shows a massive change.