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jmw 
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 Topic: algae
Posted: January 13 2010 at 9:34pm |
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I'm getting a film of what appears to be coraline algae that covers my sand and side of my tank. What am I doing wrong and how do I get rid of it?
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Scott Walsh
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Posted: January 14 2010 at 10:33am |
Do you have any pictures?
As far as algae goes, coraline is a kind that you actually want to have. Of course, getting it off unwanted surfaces is a bit of a pain.
Assuming that what you have is indeed coraline, a razor scraper should do the trick for the glass, though.
As for the sand, I'm not sure. I've never had coraline grow on my sand. I would think just doing a water change and vacuuming the sand would be enough, but that's just a guess.
As to what caused it? My guess is just neglect. Regular cleaning with a Magfloat will prevent coraline growing on the glass and regular vacuuming of the sand will prevent it growing there. Hope I'm not being too harsh. 
Good news is that it doesn't sound like a very serious problem. Good luck!
Scott
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: January 14 2010 at 4:00pm |
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A photo would be a great help to us here. If it's growing on your sand it really sounds more like cyanobacteria to me.
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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jmw
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Posted: January 14 2010 at 4:58pm |
i checked water conditions and everything checked good. if i scrape this off it only takes a day or two to return.
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Luckedout
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Posted: January 14 2010 at 5:10pm |
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Looks more like cyanobacteria than coralline. It even has some air bubbles on it. I don't think you get that with coralline. You could change up your circulation or increase it and add some more snails and cleaners. That should help.
Edited by Luckedout - January 14 2010 at 5:10pm
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-Ben
90g Mixed reef
www.body-balancechiropractic.com
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: January 14 2010 at 5:12pm |
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The algae on the sand is cyanobacteria. It's pretty easy to get rid of, but before we can tell you how to fix it, we'll need the answers to these questions: What are your water parameters (especially nitrates), and how much flow is in the tank now? How much do you usually feed the tank, and how often?
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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Jake Pehrson
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Posted: January 14 2010 at 5:17pm |
Cyano is common in aquariums that:
*Overfeed
*Underfilter
*Don't use RO water (or use RO water from a bad RO unit)
*Don't do water changes
*Have old lights
*Don't have enough water flow
One of more of these issue could be causing the algae.
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kody72
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Posted: January 14 2010 at 5:20pm |
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throw like 30 cerith snails in there
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Scott Walsh
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Posted: January 14 2010 at 5:58pm |
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I'm with everyone else. After seeing pictures, it's definitely not coraline.
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jmw
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Posted: January 14 2010 at 6:01pm |
Ph - 7.8
Ammonia - right around 0
Nitrate - 10-20 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Calcium - 650 ppm
I recently replaced the lights, it is a rsm 130 and i'm sure i let them go way too long before replacing them. the one thing i can't be sure of is my ro-di unit. so i just ordered a tds unit to test the water. i really appreciate all the input.
thanks
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: January 14 2010 at 8:51pm |
The reason the Nitrate and Nitrite numbers look good is because all extra N is being eaten up by the Cyano.
Jake's list is the best. From our experience helping hobbyists here, I have placed it in order of most common cause with an explanation of what I would suggest:
*Overfeed Stop feeding for 4 days and feed half as much from then on.
*Don't have enough water flow When possible, if other things here don't do the job, consider trading the rotating powerhead for a stronger non rotating one placed down in a corner shooting up at the top of the water. This also improves pH which is connected to a lot of other water conditions that improve the general health of the tank.
*Underfiltered The two most important parts of a reef aquarium, LS and LR, make up 80% of filtration. The rock looks good but it is covering too much of the sand bed. This is restricting the Live Sand's ability to do it's job. Move some of those frags and small rocks off the sand and also try to reposition the bottom rock on their edge or sitting on a tripod of small rocks to lift the large rocks off the sand.
*Don't use RO water (or use RO water from a bad RO unit) In process of checking
*Don't do water changes We can assume by the Calcium of 650ppm that you have been doing plenty of water changes with a salt mix high in Ca such as Oceanic. This Ca number is way out of range (350-450ppm) and needs to come down. We need to know the Alkalinity number and you need to stop doing water changes until the Ca number comes down. If I have assumed correctly here, let us know and we can help you with this. The Alk can be improved inexpensively with Baking Soda.
*Have old lights Already changed.
Edited by Mark Peterson - January 14 2010 at 9:00pm
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