Seriously algae problem

[Octupus]

Serious algae problem

i have set up a 180gallon reef tank (softies) with few fish (purple tang a goby and shrimps)... i have a serious green algae on the glass of the tank... really thick and on the sand i see red hair like algae.. what could be the cause of htis? is it over feeding? i feed once a day one or two praws that i smash and through into the tank (not that big) or could it be too much light? i have my lights on for about 6 hrs (ballast).. i am not using any tap water. Your advise is greatly appreciated!
Andy

 

[warforged]

The basic questions from our expert members will be.

What are your Test readings?
What salt mix are you using?
What Top off water do you use?
Filtration and photo periods?

Algae fertilizer is Phosphate. Phosphate sources are from food (prawns). Poor water sources. There may be other sources of phosphate i have not read up on.

My algae blooms after establishing my tank were all because Im an idiot... I let my phosphates get out of control. Excess nutrients also is a food source.

If your test results show an abundance of Nitrates and Phosphates you need to bring them down...I suspect Phosphates are high..

My other concern is the red hair like algae... It may be Cyanobacteria .. Google that and read up about it. There are some pretty good lengthy threads on it in here to.

Please test and post results and answer the questions above... so the advanced members here can assist you thoroughly.

Good luck.

 

[returnofsid]

To begin with, am I understanding that you're feeding 1 or 2 prawns/day? If so, STOP. With the listed tank inhabitants, the only thing you need to be feeding is your Purple Tang and it's mostly a herbivore. It eats Algae not meat. It will eat the prawns however, without a highly algae diet, it could come down with HLLE.

Next, how long has the tank been set up? How much live rock? How much sand? How did you cycle the tank?

Next, yes we need all your tank parameters and maintenance schedule.

What are the test results for the following:
Ammonia
Nitrates
Phosphates
Ca
Alk
Mg
pH
S.G. level
What kinds of test kits are you using?

Are you useing RO/DI water? I see that you aren't using Tap water, are you buying or making your own Ro/Di water?
How often are you doing water changes and how much are you changing?
What type of lighting do you have?
Do you have a skimmer? What kind?
How much flow is the tank getting and how is the flow created?

Yes, I'd say you are WAY overfeeding AND feeding an innapropriate food for the one fish you have.

Remove as much algae as you can manually. Do major water changes with quality water and skim heavy!! Stop feeding anything to the tank for awhile. The Tang has plenty of algae to eat. Also, if you don't have any corals, anemones or clams, turn the lights out and leave them out for a few days. I'd imagine you have nitrates and phosphates through the roof. Your phosphates probably will test zero because the algae is absorbing it as fast as it's created.

 

[Pentagona]

One third thing to consider is water flow. Cyano in particular loves to grow in areas of low flow. Increasing flow along the substrate won't "cure" the cyano problem, but it will inhibit it's desire to regrow once manually removed. Same holds true for algae on the glass. Do you feed Phytoplankton to any of your corals? As a lot of people (myself included) have run into phyto outbreaks that will appear on the glass endlessly with lower flow by simply overfeeding phyto. I've cut back to about half the dose recomended on the bottle and only a few times a week, and all of my phyto loving corals are still happy with no green algae problems.