Algae Issues

[Beckmola24]

I put a CPR Backpack on my 20 today. I've been having serious algae issues. I only had a hagen 200 power filter on there before. Will the Skimmer solve my algae issues? I didn't have a problem with algae until I added a bi-color blenny. Hopefully the skimmer will cut down the waste and stuff in the tank and solve the problem. Any comments about the problem?

 

[fishermann]

Are you running carbon or a resin? Are you running a phos remover [ phosban, rowaphos, phosgard]. Algae needs a food source, if you get rid of that you get rid of your problem. Is the blenny the only fish you are feeding? Do you have corals in the tank?, and are you feeding them something? A skimmer is for sure going to help. In a 20 gal. things are going to happen fast because of the size. A sump would help give you more water volumne.

 

[Fly n Reef]

Hi Becky,
The skimmer will help remove excess nutrients but you will need to find out where they are coming from to beat them.
The questions that others will ask are

1. How old is your tank?
2. What kind of bioload do you have?
3. What are your water parameters/and what are you testing for?
4. What is your SG/salinity?

We need more information to make a better plan of attack.
Good luck.
Karen

 

[Beckmola24]

My tank is about 8 months old. I have one very small clarkii and a bi-color blenny. I have an emerald crab, boxer crab, 1 red legged hermit, 3 blue legs, 8 nassarius, 3 astreas and one margarita. I have one Acropora and some yellow polyps. Oh and various Feather duster worms. I tested for nitrates nitrites ammonia and calcium. My calcium was running around 460 (last week) and my other levels are zeros. My specific gravity stays around 1.023. My temp is at 76.

 

[Fly n Reef]

Ok Becky- It sounds like most of your parameters are on track. IMO from what I have learned you need to raise your SG to about 1.025-1.026. Slowly of course. Another question...what is your photo period? And most important what kind of algae are we dealing with? What kind of lighting are we talking about?
The more info the more help we can offer.
Karen

 

[Beckmola24]

I have a 96 watt Power Compact (10000K and Actinics) as my tank is rather shallow and it works very well. I have about 20 lbs of live rock, a one inch sand bed. My photo period is roughly 12 hrs per day of light and 12 hrs of dark. Should I lessen my light? I really need to get a timer. I've been meaning to, but forget everytime I go to my LFS. I don't know what type of algae exactly. It's brownish red and sticks to my tank walls. The emerald crab took care of the little hair algae I had. I did a major water change today. Hopefully it will help. I do a water change once a week. My evapo rate is roughly 1/4 to 1/3 gallon per day.

 

[Fly n Reef]

Sounds like diatoms to me. I just had a bought with them and turned my lighting off for 24 hours and saw a very noticeable differance. You really need to get yourself a timer. Go to the local hardware store to get one. They carry all that you will need.
What kind of water are you using. RO/DI is recommended by all reefers I know. If you can buy water from a LFS or get yourself a RO/DI unit. If you are using RO/DI check your TDS. You may be getting phosphates from your water and not know it this will cause an algae issue. Try using a product like ROWA phos this has been known to help with the algae issues too.
Hope this helps. Any else out there?

Karen

 

[Beckmola24]

I am currently using RODI water. I will try and turn my light off for 24 hrs and see if it goes away. Will this be bad for my acro?

 

[fishermann]

What kind of substrate do you have? is it course enough to vac and have you been vacing? 1" is not deep enough to be a deep sand bed and work as one. If you haven't been vac' ing regularly,you just have a big detritus trap. Sounds like you have been doing everything properly, and i suspect this 1" bed. Getting a skimmer on the tank well help alot. You haven't said yet if you are running any carbon or phosphate remover????? Turning off your lite won't cure much and is hard on your acro until we find out what is causing it.

 

[Beckmola24]

I am running carbon in the tank. I vac the bed regularly (weekly) and my nassarius snails also keep it mixed up. It is a find semi-fine sand bed. Is there anything that will keep it stired up better? I bought a fighting conch last Thurs, and it's helped quite a bit. The sand bed is actually a little deeper than an inch. Any other snail that will keep the glass clean? The astreas like to hang out on my rock, same with the Margarita. Thanks for the help!

 

[fishermann]

Becky sounds like you aren,t running any phosphate remover oe\r vacuming the bed. Algae loves phosphates so that is the first order. You must be running somekind of box filter if your'e running carbon, you need to get a small prepackadged bag of phosgard made by seachem and run in your box filter. Change it out when it gets tan in color. This is probably as important as the skimmer, phosphate is algae food. The next order of bussiness is the sand bed. Sorry to tell you but you have to be able to vac that shallow of a bed when you do your water changes, so the substrate has to be course enough to not be sucked out when you vac. I would set the live rock on the bottom and put you bed out front of the rock. There are no snails or critters that well get rid of detritus, it has to be vac't out in a 1" deep bed, along with your skimmer and the phosgard. This well take sometime to get straightend out but it well happen with time. Remember we have to get this algae food source out of your tank.