# algae problems



## mvp (Nov 2, 2010)

i was gone for a week letting my brother take care of my three reefs, 90 55 and 30. i came home 2 days ago and now my 30 gallon has a huge algae break out like there are so many different kinds of algae in my tank...but my other two reef aquariums are perfectly fine...i checked my water parameters and everything was fine.
ph: 8.2
salinity: 1.23
ammonia: 0
nitrites: 0
nitrates: 20
Kh: 8-9
mag: 1250
cal: 400
phos: 0
i dont understand what he could of done to have this huge out break of algae. from what i can see there are diatoms,green slime, red slime, hair algae, Bryopsis pennata, bubble algae, red bubble algae, Centroceras clavulatum algae, and some weird neon green stalks. is there anyway that i can get rid of these algae safely without harming my corals(i can relocate them to my other reefs), i have mushrooms, colony polyps, kenya tree, goniopora, and toadstool. also i have about 4-5 watts per gallon using T5 lighting for 9-11 hours, tank is roughly 7 months old.

so is there anyway i can get rid of these algae safely and what can i do to prevent this from happening in the future because i have never had a algae breakout in any of many reef tanks until now.


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## reefsahoy (Jul 16, 2010)

is this your oldest tank? what kind of water are you using for topping off and making of salt water? typically the biggest algae issue is caused by the type of water you are using, over feeding, along with intense lighting and photoperiod. it is also said that if your bulbs are old that can cause algae issues because of spectrum shift of the bulbs. Normally it's recommended to change bulbs every 12 months for MH and possibly 24 months for T5's.

knowing all this the question now becomes how to get rid of algae? Normally bad things happen fast and good takes time and patients. This is what i'd recommend.
1. change bulbs if they are old
2. make sure you use quality waterfrom here out for topoff and SW making (RO/DI or at least distilled water from a grocery store. This will also help prevent this from happening again)
3. lower you photo period until you control the algae.
4. Use Rowa Phos or some type of GFO or Granular Ferric Oxide base type phosphate removal material
5. Patients, lots of it because you won't see improvements for quite awhile.
6. Hope you are using a quality skimmer.
7. feed fish and corals very little (most people overfeed and this is where alot of problems can come from)
8. CUC you can also put in a sea urchin and he will go to town bigtime! if you do please return him back to a LFS otherwise when all algae is gone he will starve to death (this is one way to see rather quick results but you must do all of the above to prevent this algae issue again)

good luck


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

Its a shame we didn't get more follow up from the original post on this. These topics are always very helpful. I did notice that the same member posted this http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/saltwater-aquariums/reef-lighting-question-54752/, asking about a lighting upgrade on his other reef. Makes me wonder if he recently upgraded the lighting on this 30 gallon as well?


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