Algae Bloom

[Siderjan]

For the past month my tank has gone from a nice looking tank to a tank over run by all different types of algae.  Any suggestions would be great.

 

[pulpfiction1]

yuk.......check all your parameters and post what they are,might tell us whats goin on there

 

[Krazykarl]

+1... parameters are def outta whack. Immediately po4 And no3... I had the same problem with algae, not quite so bad but same type. I've battled it with water changes and now I'm running gfo in a reactor. Post parameters... Also how old are the bulbs?

 

[Siderjan]

Ca - 420
pH - 8.2
NH3/NH4+ - 0ppm
NO2- 0ppm
NO3 - 10ppm
Phos. .04
Salitity - 1.024

Bulbs are 3-4 months old.

 

[teebone110]

Whats your water source? Are you using RODI water?  Do you know your TDS?

My recommendation is to siphon out all that nasty stuff and do some water changes. 3 days of darkness and add some GFO in a reactor. Have patience and hopefully good things will come. Your tank isn't that old right? In time with good husbandry, things should work itself out.

 

[TORX]

Could just me being a newbie somewhat, but could the algae be eating the nitrates etc, making them appear low???

 

[Siderjan]

Whats your water source? Are you using RODI water?  Do you know your TDS?

My recommendation is to siphon out all that nasty stuff and do some water changes. 3 days of darkness and add some GFO in a reactor. Have patience and hopefully good things will come. Your tank isn't that old right? In time with good husbandry, things should work itself out.

RODI.  Blob tested it at 14tds, but he said it could be that high because of the container I gave it to him in.  40lbs of rock in the tank is over 3 years old.  Everything else is as of Feb.  I have GFO running.  Been doing over 10% water changes every week.

 

[Zakk]

If there's cyano and hair.... then either something BIG died, or your light output is messed up (ballast could be going...cheap Chinese bulbs??), or your test kit is off on the phosphates.  I would do phosphate test on your makeup water...I found that my container was leaching TONS of phosphates. 

Almost always, lots of algae means parameters out of whack somewhere.  They're feeding on something. 

 

[pulpfiction1]

If there's cyano and hair.... then either something BIG died, or your light output is messed up (ballast could be going...cheap Chinese bulbs??), or your test kit is off on the phosphates.  I would do phosphate test on your makeup water...I found that my container was leaching TONS of phosphates. 

Almost always, lots of algae means parameters out of whack somewhere.  They're feeding on something.

i thinkin along same lines,test kit is either off or completely wrong,leeching from a water storage container would be a big concern with that kind of appearance in the tank,i dont care what some think but 14 tds would not be high enough on its own with the other readings posted to cause an outbreak like that over the course of a month,if something big died, there would be massive readings of something,even as long as 30 days ago,what brand of salt?you reseal that tank?if you know anyone close with a test kit i would be getting a second opinion on all those tests,in the meantime id kill the lights and feeding untill i got an idea of whats causing this

 

[Siderjan]

If there's cyano and hair.... then either something BIG died, or your light output is messed up (ballast could be going...cheap Chinese bulbs??), or your test kit is off on the phosphates.  I would do phosphate test on your makeup water...I found that my container was leaching TONS of phosphates. 

Almost always, lots of algae means parameters out of whack somewhere.  They're feeding on something.

Nothing has died that I can find.  All my livestock is accounted for.  I have had a lot of the snail I got from the swap die, but they didn't stay in the tank more then 8 hours.  I use ATI bulbs.  Ballasts could be going since I bought the fixture used and am not sure how old it was before I got it.  Blob thought my phosphate reading may be low because the algae is feeding off it.

 

[pulpfiction1]

myself i would stop feeding for 8-10 days at least,spot feeding min to corals that require it,water changes with vacuum of slime till you get it on the run,then id feed everyother day smaller amounts and get the flow high in all areas as possible

 

[Siderjan]

[quote author=Zakk link=topic=1470.msg10025#msg10025 date=1317440079]
If there's cyano and hair.... then either something BIG died, or your light output is messed up (ballast could be going...cheap Chinese bulbs??), or your test kit is off on the phosphates.  I would do phosphate test on your makeup water...I found that my container was leaching TONS of phosphates. 

Almost always, lots of algae means parameters out of whack somewhere.  They're feeding on something.

i thinkin along same lines,test kit is either off or completely wrong,leeching from a water storage container would be a big concern with that kind of appearance in the tank,i dont care what some think but 14 tds would not be high enough on its own with the other readings posted to cause an outbreak like that over the course of a month,if something big died, there would be massive readings of something,even as long as 30 days ago,what brand of salt?you reseal that tank?if you know anyone close with a test kit i would be getting a second opinion on all those tests,in the meantime id kill the lights and feeding untill i got an idea of whats causing this
[/quote]

I use Instant Oceans  Reef Crystral for salt and a rubber maid container for storage.  After my water change, I rinse it out with water and vinegar then dry it out with paper towels. The tank was bought new in February and never been resealed.  I made my sump about the same time.  Update on lights.  Fixture is 3 years olds.  Some of the bulbs in the light are 6 months old and some are 12.  I was mistaken on the age of them.  I think it's time to change them.  I'm going to have my water checked at a couple places today.  Killing the lights, nuking some rock, and hanging a sheet of knori in the tank for the tangs.

 

[Siderjan]

myself i would stop feeding for 8-10 days at least,spot feeding min to corals that require it,water changes with vacuum of slime till you get it on the run,then id feed everyother day smaller amounts and get the flow high in all areas as possible

Thanks Pulp!!!  Was wondering if I should just remove my corals to my frag tank or not.  It's a separate system all together.

 

[pulpfiction1]

if its clean i certainly would,your fish will go long time without food but being relativley new to coral i cant say

 

[Zakk]

[quote author=pulpfiction1 link=topic=1470.msg10030#msg10030 date=1317464773]
[quote author=Zakk link=topic=1470.msg10025#msg10025 date=1317440079]
If there's cyano and hair.... then either something BIG died, or your light output is messed up (ballast could be going...cheap Chinese bulbs??), or your test kit is off on the phosphates.  I would do phosphate test on your makeup water...I found that my container was leaching TONS of phosphates. 

Almost always, lots of algae means parameters out of whack somewhere.  They're feeding on something.

i thinkin along same lines,test kit is either off or completely wrong,leeching from a water storage container would be a big concern with that kind of appearance in the tank,i dont care what some think but 14 tds would not be high enough on its own with the other readings posted to cause an outbreak like that over the course of a month,if something big died, there would be massive readings of something,even as long as 30 days ago,what brand of salt?you reseal that tank?if you know anyone close with a test kit i would be getting a second opinion on all those tests,in the meantime id kill the lights and feeding untill i got an idea of whats causing this
[/quote]

I use Instant Oceans  Reef Crystral for salt and a rubber maid container for storage.  After my water change, I rinse it out with water and vinegar then dry it out with paper towels. The tank was bought new in February and never been resealed.  I made my sump about the same time.  Update on lights.  Fixture is 3 years olds.  Some of the bulbs in the light are 6 months old and some are 12.  I was mistaken on the age of them.  I think it's time to change them.  I'm going to have my water checked at a couple places today.  Killing the lights, nuking some rock, and hanging a sheet of knori in the tank for the tangs.
[/quote]

I'll say that when I switched/tried a bucket of reef crystals, I had an outbreak of dinos.  Probably not the sole culprit, but when I tested a sample of the salt, everything was good except ammonia which was crazy high....might have been a bad batch, but I ended up dumping out almost a full bucket...so no more RC for me.  I would just be careful with that salt. 

 

[Siderjan]

if its clean i certainly would,your fish will go long time without food but being relativley new to coral i cant say

Frag tank's parameters are better then my DT's.  LOL!  Might have something to do with only have 1 piece of rock, a snail and a $h!t load of pods.  Acclimating my corals now to that water.  Whoever said 2 pails is enough was definitely wrong.  LOL!