Algae Reminder/Help

kiko3300 · 01/15/2018, 10:13 AM

Ok so I had a well established 70 gal Tank for about 5 years but had to take it down due to a move, After about 7 years I'm back to the hobby in a smaller size. I'm running a 14 gal IM Nuvo I have Live sand about 15 Lbs of live rock, chemi pure elite, Purgen, a small bag of bio pellets and filter floss. The tank has been running for 4 months now. I stocked it with 3 clown fish, some hermit crabs and sand shifting snails. My chemical levels are all perfect but I have an algae problem that I though I overcame. My tank went from brown to green over night about 2 months into the process. I do a 15% water change every 2 weeks and after week 10 to my surprise the green algae all vanished and I had copepods on the walls of my tank however after about a week they all disappeared and the green algae has returned with a vengeance. Not one Fish or invert has died since I set up the tank but the algae on the glass is so disheartening. Do i go for a mini bio reactor or just keep up the scraping. I'm not over feeding, keep the temperature at 72 and I only have my 50 watt light on for 9 hours a day.

Please help, I don't remember having this problem last time around.

mcgyvr · 01/15/2018, 11:32 AM

Algae should 100% be expected on a new tank..

Are you using RO/DI water or tap water.. If tap water are you measuring it for nitrates/phosphates?

Also are you testing your tank water for both?..

You are overfiltering IMO with all that CP/purigen/biopellets,etc...
With such a small tank IMO its silly to waste money on all that when simple/small water changes are more than sufficient to keep all parameters stable/acceptable..

Uncle99 · 01/15/2018, 12:25 PM

Good advice as always by mcgyvr, sounds like a phosphate issue

kiko3300 · 01/17/2018, 08:59 AM

@mcgyvr Yes I am using RO water I have an 11 stage system that I use for drinking that even pumps up the alkalinity to 8.6ish. I know the algae is to be expected but almost full growth after a good tooth brush scrubbing in 48 hours is excessive imo. I guess I can run less filtration I wouldn't remove the floss as it needs to be changed ever other day it becomes almost black. So which one would you remove the Purgen or Chemipure. Also what do you thing about getting a small media reactor or some Cheto?

sde1500 · 01/17/2018, 09:26 AM

Are you talking about just film algae on the glass? Everyone has that. That's why they make algae scrappers.

Sorcha2 · 01/17/2018, 09:58 AM

Cheato might not be a bad idea

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

JUNBUG361 · 01/17/2018, 10:54 AM

Chaeto be cheaper

kiko3300 · 01/17/2018, 07:36 PM

It's algae on the glass and on my Live rock, Its film algae on the glass and from what I can see green hair algae on the rock. I don't want to have to scrape everyday that kills the whole purpose, once every week or 2 no problem but everyday it's going to get annoying fast.

BioNub · 01/17/2018, 09:47 PM

I have the same issue.. I have BioCube 32 and green algae everywhere, I scrape every 3 days but its all over the rock. Im curious that you guys mentioned too much filtering... can that really he an issue? I have the following filter in this order.. but I could have never guessed something as too much filtering:

Floss,
Carbon pad
Nitrate pad
Purigen
Floss Pad
Chemipure x2.

Am I over doing it? Im also having problems with my corals not opening up like they used to (hence my other post)

kiko3300 · 01/18/2018, 09:45 AM

I'm in the same boat as you Bionub, What i don't under stand is how i have been maintaining the same process of water changes and filtration and for a week all the algae was gone and i had copepods on the glass then they all disappeared and the algae came back. I just got an IM media reactor hopefully it will help bc i agree I think it's a phosphate problem.

sde1500 · 01/18/2018, 10:52 AM

New tanks are going to boom and bust with different populations. Multiple types of algaes or undesirables will go through the tank. Maintain proper parameters and keep up your maintenance and you will be fine.

jlmawp · 01/18/2018, 07:39 PM

Yeah, film algae and "the uglies" are common for pretty much everyone, just some more than others. It'll pass with good maintenance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiko3300

My chemical levels are all perfect

If you are testing them, post them here.

kiko3300 · 01/20/2018, 10:35 AM

So i'm going to continue the maintenance but im also going to try a media reactor with some phosguard. I have to get rid of one of my other medias due to lac of space. Should I keep the purgen or the Chemipure elite.

kiko3300 · 01/24/2018, 10:41 AM

My Phosphate levels are basically 0 with the API kit. Does anyone have any advice its just film algae on the glass but if i scrape it off completely in the AM its already building back up by night. Any advice at all will be appreciated.

jlmawp · 01/26/2018, 10:04 AM

I have a 9 gallon. I had similar problems, and I tried running Purigen for a bit, but that was costly and only worked for a week until it was saturated, then the film algae came back. 2 years in, I now go 2-3 weeks without having to scrape the glass at all, with only water changes and substrate siphoning. I run only carbon.

I wouldn't bother with all of that filtration, like mcgyvr said, and I would just be steady with cleaning, siphoning (and blow off the rocks), and water changes. It will get better as your tank finds its equilibrium. 4 months in is still a time that even seasoned pros have recurring film algae. Running all that stuff isn't going to solve the problem, it's going to cost you a lot of money, and it can potentially make your water conditions tougher for corals to grow.

janeyho · 01/28/2018, 11:31 AM

i did 15% water changes ever 3-4 weeks and phosphates eventually went to 0, getting rid of all algae.

01/15/2018, 10:13 AM	#1
kiko3300 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Posts: 6	Algae Reminder/Help Ok so I had a well established 70 gal Tank for about 5 years but had to take it down due to a move, After about 7 years I'm back to the hobby in a smaller size. I'm running a 14 gal IM Nuvo I have Live sand about 15 Lbs of live rock, chemi pure elite, Purgen, a small bag of bio pellets and filter floss. The tank has been running for 4 months now. I stocked it with 3 clown fish, some hermit crabs and sand shifting snails. My chemical levels are all perfect but I have an algae problem that I though I overcame. My tank went from brown to green over night about 2 months into the process. I do a 15% water change every 2 weeks and after week 10 to my surprise the green algae all vanished and I had copepods on the walls of my tank however after about a week they all disappeared and the green algae has returned with a vengeance. Not one Fish or invert has died since I set up the tank but the algae on the glass is so disheartening. Do i go for a mini bio reactor or just keep up the scraping. I'm not over feeding, keep the temperature at 72 and I only have my 50 watt light on for 9 hours a day. Please help, I don't remember having this problem last time around.

01/15/2018, 11:32 AM	#2
mcgyvr Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 20,050	Algae should 100% be expected on a new tank.. Are you using RO/DI water or tap water.. If tap water are you measuring it for nitrates/phosphates? Also are you testing your tank water for both?.. You are overfiltering IMO with all that CP/purigen/biopellets,etc... With such a small tank IMO its silly to waste money on all that when simple/small water changes are more than sufficient to keep all parameters stable/acceptable.. __________________ Who me?

01/17/2018, 09:26 AM	#5
sde1500 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Glocester, RI Posts: 3,336	Are you talking about just film algae on the glass? Everyone has that. That's why they make algae scrappers. __________________ My build thread: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2548422 Current Tank Info: 65 gallon mixed reef, Eshopps sump and HOB overflow, RO-110int skimmer, Reefbreeder 32" photons V1.

01/18/2018, 10:52 AM	#11
sde1500 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Glocester, RI Posts: 3,336	New tanks are going to boom and bust with different populations. Multiple types of algaes or undesirables will go through the tank. Maintain proper parameters and keep up your maintenance and you will be fine. __________________ My build thread: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2548422 Current Tank Info: 65 gallon mixed reef, Eshopps sump and HOB overflow, RO-110int skimmer, Reefbreeder 32" photons V1.

01/15/2018, 12:25 PM	#3
Uncle99 Crab Free Zone Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 2,906	Good advice as always by mcgyvr, sounds like a phosphate issue

01/17/2018, 08:59 AM	#4
kiko3300 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Posts: 6	@mcgyvr Yes I am using RO water I have an 11 stage system that I use for drinking that even pumps up the alkalinity to 8.6ish. I know the algae is to be expected but almost full growth after a good tooth brush scrubbing in 48 hours is excessive imo. I guess I can run less filtration I wouldn't remove the floss as it needs to be changed ever other day it becomes almost black. So which one would you remove the Purgen or Chemipure. Also what do you thing about getting a small media reactor or some Cheto?

01/17/2018, 09:58 AM	#6
Sorcha2 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2017 Posts: 69	Cheato might not be a bad idea Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

01/17/2018, 10:54 AM	#7
JUNBUG361 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Antioch,CALIFORNIA Posts: 1,091	Chaeto be cheaper

01/17/2018, 07:36 PM	#8
kiko3300 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Posts: 6	It's algae on the glass and on my Live rock, Its film algae on the glass and from what I can see green hair algae on the rock. I don't want to have to scrape everyday that kills the whole purpose, once every week or 2 no problem but everyday it's going to get annoying fast.

01/17/2018, 09:47 PM	#9
BioNub Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Posts: 13	I have the same issue.. I have BioCube 32 and green algae everywhere, I scrape every 3 days but its all over the rock. Im curious that you guys mentioned too much filtering... can that really he an issue? I have the following filter in this order.. but I could have never guessed something as too much filtering: Floss, Carbon pad Nitrate pad Purigen Floss Pad Chemipure x2. Am I over doing it? Im also having problems with my corals not opening up like they used to (hence my other post)

01/18/2018, 09:45 AM	#10
kiko3300 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Posts: 6	I'm in the same boat as you Bionub, What i don't under stand is how i have been maintaining the same process of water changes and filtration and for a week all the algae was gone and i had copepods on the glass then they all disappeared and the algae came back. I just got an IM media reactor hopefully it will help bc i agree I think it's a phosphate problem.

01/20/2018, 10:35 AM	#13
kiko3300 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Posts: 6	So i'm going to continue the maintenance but im also going to try a media reactor with some phosguard. I have to get rid of one of my other medias due to lac of space. Should I keep the purgen or the Chemipure elite.

01/24/2018, 10:41 AM	#14
kiko3300 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Posts: 6	My Phosphate levels are basically 0 with the API kit. Does anyone have any advice its just film algae on the glass but if i scrape it off completely in the AM its already building back up by night. Any advice at all will be appreciated.

01/26/2018, 10:04 AM	#15
jlmawp Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2016 Posts: 595	I have a 9 gallon. I had similar problems, and I tried running Purigen for a bit, but that was costly and only worked for a week until it was saturated, then the film algae came back. 2 years in, I now go 2-3 weeks without having to scrape the glass at all, with only water changes and substrate siphoning. I run only carbon. I wouldn't bother with all of that filtration, like mcgyvr said, and I would just be steady with cleaning, siphoning (and blow off the rocks), and water changes. It will get better as your tank finds its equilibrium. 4 months in is still a time that even seasoned pros have recurring film algae. Running all that stuff isn't going to solve the problem, it's going to cost you a lot of money, and it can potentially make your water conditions tougher for corals to grow.

01/28/2018, 11:31 AM	#16
janeyho Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2017 Posts: 11	i did 15% water changes ever 3-4 weeks and phosphates eventually went to 0, getting rid of all algae.