algae advise

[new2saltwater]

hello. I finally have my first saltwater tank. it is 100 gallon. it has been running for 5 weeks now and i have been having alot of green algae form on the glass which i assume is normal for a new tank. i noticed a little green in my substrate about 3 in long at the front of the tank towards the surface of the sand. now it appears that some round bubbles are forming below the surface of the substrate against the glass. im guessing some sort of bubble algae. they look like little air bubbles in the sand. i have 12 turbo snails, 12 astrea snails, and 24 hermit crabs. they dont seem to be turning the substrate much. any input as to what if anything i should do about the algae and what other tank janitors am i needing to sift through the sand?

 

[akunochi]

What are you using to cycle???? It sounds like you are having a major nutrient problem. From your post it sounds like you have both hair algae and bubble algae. You need to find the source of your nutrients. Now with that said your tank is new so you are going through algae cycles.


Cut back your lighting, increase flow, do a water change...

As far as janitors for your sand..

Nassarius snails do well, cerith snails I believe help, sand sifting stars, sand sifting gobies etc etc. I would advise you to contact Reef cleaners who is a sponsor here and tell him your issues. He is a good guy and will build a package to suit you. I believe there is even a group buy in progress for him.

 

[new2saltwater]

tank has about 180lbs of live rock and 100lbs of sand. waited a month then added a clown fish and an open brain coral. after another week i added a six line wrasse. been changing about 20% water every 2 weeks and monitoring levels with test kits. the fish and coral look very healthy. no other problems other than the algae. using rodi water. didnt know if i should get too worked up about it or not being a new tank.

 

[akunochi]

Well let's take a step back what did you use to put a load on the rock while you were cycling????

If nothing then you are probably just now cycling to be honest. Also how much are you feeding. Hair algae and bubble algae are both caused by excess nutrients. Feed less, how old are your bulbs?

 

[new2saltwater]

i didnt do anything to put a load on the rocks. i just assumed that the rock would cycle the tank eventually. my bulbs are new, same age as the tank. im sure that i am overfeeding. im using frozen brine and mysis shrimp. i feed once a day but it is hard to determine how much 2 little fish will eat. i was hoping the protien skimmer would collect the leftovers.

 

[akunochi]

That depends on the rating of the skimmer and your flows ability to keep it in the water column. Stop feeding everyday. Feed every 2-3 days. Get a Lawnmower blenny and emerald crab to help with your algae problem and cust your lighting back to 4 hours a day until it is under control.

 

[new2saltwater]

ok. thanks alot for the help.

 

[akunochi]

no worries...good luck

 

[Mr. Limpid]

Sorry akunochi, I don't recommend buy critters to solve problems in tanks unless you want them in there, because after they have eaten all the problem they will need to be feed the proper food or they will starve to death. As for your algae problem I do agree with akunochi, cut back on feeding, reduce the amount of time your tank is lite. If you have a sump you can add cheato (it will need a lite) this reduces algae growing in your tank. Or you can scrape it off and siphon it out when you do water changes.

 

[akunochi]

Sorry akunochi, I don't recommend buy critters to solve problems in tanks unless you want them in there, because after they have eaten all the problem they will need to be feed the proper food or they will starve to death. As for your algae problem I do agree with akunochi, cut back on feeding, reduce the amount of time your tank is lite. If you have a sump you can add cheato (it will need a lite) this reduces algae growing in your tank. Or you can scrape it off and siphon it out when you do water changes.

Sorry Mr Limpid, But I still disagree with you. Both of the animals I recommended will assist him with his current problems and also help maintain the tank in future. They are not single purpose animals. The Lawnmower blenny will eat premade foods and clean the rocks of excess dropped food. The Emerald crab will do the same thing. Neither will die from starvation after he gets his algae bloom under control.

Also on the Cheato you missed a key point it doesn't remove the phosphates or nitrates. It uses them to grow just like any algae which will lead to false readings on test kits. (IE you test 0 because it is all being used to grow your problem in the first place). The Cheato only works when you trim it and remove it from your system, thus exporting it.

As for your final point. DO NOT scrape the bubble algae if you pop it in your tank it releases seeds and then your problem will be worse than before exponentially.

 

[steven11]

New2salt, air bubbles in the substrate are perfectly normal and not an algea problem. Nassarious snails are very active and a great addition to any tank for moving around substrate. Too much food is usually the fuel to any algea bloom.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

 

[akunochi]

New2salt, air bubbles in the substrate are perfectly normal and not an algea problem. Nassarious snails are very active and a great addition to any tank for moving around substrate. Too much food is usually the fuel to any algea bloom.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

I'm glad you posted this. For some reason I read it as bubbles above the substrate. Yes bubbles below the substrate are good. It is Nitrates being converted to nitrogen gas.

 

[new2saltwater]

wow, thanks for all the good input. i cut back the lighting and havent added food for 2 days and the green spot on the substrate already looks smaller. hopefully im headed in the right direction. how long should i leave the lights cut back and how slowly should i be adding time back to the lights? Is feeding every 2-3 days gonna be satisfactory to my fish?

 

[lmannan]

Once you get rid of the algae it will depend on the type of lights you have. I have MH's and I only leave them on for about 5.5 hours a day. I have t 5/actinic lights that come on about one hour before the MH. The t 5 goes off two hours after the MH and the actinic stays on another hour after that. This has worked very well for me. When I started I was leaving the MH on too long and it caused so much algae that I was having a hard time keeping up with the tank. Now with that light cycle I may have algae on the side of my glass but takes about 2 weeks for me to really notice. Hope that helps I have only been doing this for about 10 months.

MH on: 12:00 Off: 5:30
T5 On: 11:00 Off: 7:00
Act On: 11:00 Off 8:30

The times are schedualed around me I want to see my tank and since I get up late I set up my times to suite me. I have good growth and nothing seems to be unhappy.

 

[TJL]

I agree to most of the above statements, where I differ is #1 bubbles on the substrate below a green algae film is probably a bacterial algae along the lines of Cyano (red slime) and is just part of your cycling proccess along with diatom blooms until the needed bacteria has colonized to a balanced level. #2 continue to feed daily, just in smaller quantity. #3 if you already have light demanding livestock ie; corals I wouldn't run minimal light hours for very long having 8-9 hours of lighting now and gradually increasing towards 12. IME & IMO you should have a minimum of 8-10 hours of primary lighting and Actinics or Dawn/Dusk lighting on either side for a total of 12-14 hours. Having a refugium will remove Nitrates and Phosphates in your system how much will depend on the ratio of fuge area to DT and bio-load in it. The macro algae consume and utilize these nutrients in order to grow (contrary to many beliefs they do not store up these nutrients indefinately or are able to release it all back into system if they die) by pruning these macros it just promotes better growth (like grass in your yard) and part of thier waste bi-product they do release is oxygen.

For my 75g DT I am utilizing a std 40g fully as a fuge (3.75 s/f of fuge for less than 6 s/f of display) It houses 3 varieties of Caulerpa, Chaeto, Red turf algae and a bazillion pods, snails & stars lit 24/7. This I believe is probably a minimal ratio to really being considered a primary filtration source rather than just a boost to the LR and place for pod production. I have ran this type of setup for well over 20 years, almost always on high bioload systems and current system for 17+.

Anyway, some more food for thought.

 

[akunochi]

I agree to most of the above statements, where I differ is #1 bubbles on the substrate below a green algae film is probably a bacterial algae along the lines of Cyano (red slime) and is just part of your cycling proccess along with diatom blooms until the needed bacteria has colonized to a balanced level. #2 continue to feed daily, just in smaller quantity. #3 if you already have light demanding livestock ie; corals I wouldn't run minimal light hours for very long having 8-9 hours of lighting now and gradually increasing towards 12. IME & IMO you should have a minimum of 8-10 hours of primary lighting and Actinics or Dawn/Dusk lighting on either side for a total of 12-14 hours. Having a refugium will remove Nitrates and Phosphates in your system how much will depend on the ratio of fuge area to DT and bio-load in it. The macro algae consume and utilize these nutrients in order to grow (contrary to many beliefs they do not store up these nutrients indefinately or are able to release it all back into system if they die) by pruning these macros it just promotes better growth (like grass in your yard) and part of thier waste bi-product they do release is oxygen.

For my 75g DT I am utilizing a std 40g fully as a fuge (3.75 s/f of fuge for less than 6 s/f of display) It houses 3 varieties of Caulerpa, Chaeto, Red turf algae and a bazillion pods, snails & stars lit 24/7. This I believe is probably a minimal ratio to really being considered a primary filtration source rather than just a boost to the LR and place for pod production. I have ran this type of setup for well over 20 years, almost always on high bioload systems and current system for 17+.

Anyway, some more food for thought.

Hey Todd,

Great post. I have to ask where you came up with 12-14 hours of light? Almost all large coral propagators agree that 6 hours of good lighting is MORE than sufficient for any coral to max the chemical process and after that it is all just a waste. Just curious on your thoughts?

 

[Scampy]

Also what is the source of your water. If not RO/DI, the water may be adding to the nutrients fueling the algae.

 

[new2saltwater]

water is from an ro/di setup purchased from air water and ice. i placed an order with reef cleaners for additional snails. should be here the middle of the week. ceriths and nassarius. thx for all the advise people.

 

[NC2WA]

water is from an ro/di setup purchased from air water and ice.

Using a TDS meter, what is the TDS reading of the RO water ?
What is the TDS reading from the tap water that is making the RO water?
If RO unit is not new, then when was the last time the sediment, carbon, and membrane filters were changed?

Ideally, you want the TDS reading to be 0 (zero) from the RO water, but anything up to 10ppm is sufficient.

 

[new2saltwater]

i didnt measure my tap water but the built in tds meter is reading 0ppm output. The ro/di unit is brand new. it has made a total of about 200 gallons of water at this point.