# My tank is always covered in algea



## Mike (Jul 16, 2006)

Hi,

The sides of my tank are always covered in brown algae which becomes green and must be scraped off with a metallic edge if not addressed and recently the ornaments and sand are covered in a brownish/red looking algae.

I have a fish only 55 gallon tank. The lighting fixture has two 48" All Glass Aquarium bulbs. I have one small piece of live rock in the tank which I was told may now be dead due to lack of sufficient lighting to sustain it and now the ich treatment I've been using the past few days.

Any ideas for how to reduce the algae would be much appreciated!

Thanks,
Mike


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## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

Can you give us the water Parameters? and how long have you had the bulbs . The bulbs could be on the last leg as beable on the red side of the light spectrum that algea trive on. Also how long has the tank been setup for.


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## Mike (Jul 16, 2006)

The tank has been setup since July. The bulbs should be brand new... they came with the new fixture. I don't know the water parameters at the moment but I will test soon.

Assuming it is not the bulbs, what would you recommend?


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## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

Lets wait till we get your water para. My tank as been setup for a year and I will get algea on the glass still that I have to scrap of and my water parameters are good. Lets see what your water para. are because different types of algea feed on different nutrients. Example one algea in your tank my feed of of nitrates and another of of phosphates. So test your water for Ammon., Nitrite, Nitrates, phospates, Alk., calcuim, Ph. Since you just got the bulbs in july they should be new.


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## Daz (Sep 20, 2006)

What is the postioning of the tank?


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## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

Good one. Is it by a window?


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

So far so good here... 
How many and what kinds of fish? What kind of substrate? And, what kind of foods are you feeding? Some foods contain heavy amounts of phosphate, among other things, and decreasing a particular food can sometimes do the trick. I agree that we need to see water params before anyone can define the problem.


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## trreherd (Aug 7, 2006)

how old is the tank i here marine tanks will turn brown with algea within the first month and than it will go away.


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## White98SVT (Nov 18, 2006)

trreherd said:


> how old is the tank i here marine tanks will turn brown with algea within the first month and than it will go away.


Mine did that same thing really bad. I added a good clean up crew (snails etc.) and lessened the time my 10,000k's were on and it slowly went away. I was told it was part of the natural "cycling" process of a new tank.


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## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

It is part of the natural cycling. But in order to know were the cycle is you need to test the water.


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## Nick (Aug 2, 2006)

bettababy said:


> So far so good here...
> How many and what kinds of fish? What kind of substrate? And, what kind of foods are you feeding? Some foods contain heavy amounts of phosphate, among other things, and decreasing a particular food can sometimes do the trick. I agree that we need to see water params before anyone can define the problem.


He quoted that he has sand


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## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

Less feedings.

Nice protein skimmer. 

large sump to add water volume and a turnover to the tank. You would be surprised by how much nicer a tank can be when the water in it moves around to a sump and back. Helps to oxygenate the water which displaces toxins.

An add on refugium of 10g with a nice light.

I'm questioning the lighting. How long is it running daily? My fear is that the spectrums may promote algae growth. 14K and higher really limits the amount of growth the algae can have. Also under powering it can inhibit growth. Remember that there is zero competition in your tank. Building a fuge and stocking it correctly will remove the nutrients that the algae will need to flourish in the display. Old bulbs have the same effect.


Sea Hare. Get a sea hare. Nothing will out eat algae then a sea hare. I'll bet you my entire tank.


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## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

I also wanted to add that you should check for high levels of phosphate. Phos will really speed up algae and cyano. If you have a continuous problem with phos a phosphate reactor from 2 little fishies is only about $50 with pump. From what I've seen in person they work like magic. I've seen the same small canister on both 50g and 240g tanks.

By the way your rock did not die, it was never alive. lol. The bacteria on the rock is alive and kicking. The benefits of the rock if reduced will come back. You should plan on having about 25lbs in your FOWLR. You can add it as slowly as your budget will allow.


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## squiggles (Nov 13, 2006)

i had some algea in mine awhile ago and i found reducing the amount oftime the lights were on an giving less food while feeding helped a bunch


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## White98SVT (Nov 18, 2006)

squiggles said:


> i had some algea in mine awhile ago and i found reducing the amount oftime the lights were on an giving less food while feeding helped a bunch


I did that too. I also bought some macro algae to absorb some of the phosphate in the water and it worked well too.


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## crazie.eddie (Sep 1, 2006)

I also want to add, are you using tap water or RO water for the water changes? Tap water usually contains allot of minerals and maybe some nitrates or phosphates, which is common to cause algae in marine tanks.


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## Mike (Jul 16, 2006)

Thanks for all of the advice, guys. 

I have been using tap water for the water changes. Of course, I treat it with a dechlorinating tap water conditioner. I know it still isn't as good as RO. 

The tank has been setup since the summer and I have sand at the bottom. I forget what it was called, but it was the sand that had the beneficial bacteria already in it. At least, I'm assuming that's what I paid for, lol.

For the past few weeks we've had two 48" All Glass Aquarium 32 watt flourescent bulbs on over the tank throughout most of the day.

I'd love to bring in a clean up crew and a sea hare but our Stars and Stripes puffer would probably make quick work of them. I've seen him pick snails from their shells and even dislodge and "dismantle" a few hermit crabs. He is really a glutton and eats nearly every piece of food I put in the tank.

To answer bettababy's question, their daily diet consists of the following twice a day:

A cube of mysis shrimp.
A cube of Angel Formula I or II (Green Cube)
1.5 Silversides
5 or so pieces of brown prawn or pink krill
Some marine flakes

This is to feed 1 stars and stripes puffer fish, 1 magestic angel fish, 1 juvenille bicolor angel fish, 1 yellow box fish, 2 juvenille yellow box fish, and either 4 or 5 pink anthias. (I lost one anthias for sure when I raised the heat and lowered the salinity last week in my ongoing battle against ich and one more is mia).

As far as the tank levels, the test kit has proved inaccurate. We were convinced we could not get a new fish because the levels looked bad and two others independently confirmed that the levels were good. We need a new kit.

I'm sure things aren't looking good now, though. The protein skimmer has been off for nearly a month because I was told it had to be during the tank's treatmening with "Ich Attack" (which has yet to work ).

I've got algea. I've got ich. Help us, Obi Wan Kenobi. You're our only hope.


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## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

I'm going to say you feed way to heavily. Your fish love you. That is a problem with predator tanks. They consume a lot and produce a lot of wastes. You might want to start doing daily water changes. Especially if using tap water. With tap think of it like this. Because you are introducing byproducts into the tank with each water change you shorten the length of time you can go between changes. I've heard of great success with predator tanks getting a 1 gallon water change daily with feedings. Feed the tank and do a 1 g change about 10 minutes later. 1 gallon is so easy. Mix up a 5g jug of salt and just siphon off 1g into an old milk jug. Would take less than 5 minutes. This is why predatory tanks are advised to be of every large quantity.


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## Mike (Jul 16, 2006)

I would like to cut back the feedings to once a day, but my girlfriend can't seem to resist the puffer fish's big brown eyes or how it follows her as she walks by the tank, doing that special "mommy, i'm hungry, please feed me" wiggle. Do you think the feedings can be halved to one meal a day or would I find them eating each other? 

A sea hare is a no go with a puffer, huh? I don't even know what it is... I just assumed that if it is nice or helpful my puffer would eat it because that always seems to be the case  If only it weren't so cool I could justify getting rid of it and converting the tank to a reef. I'm kidding myself, though... it's got me wrapped around its fin


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## usmc121581 (Jul 31, 2006)

I feed my sometimes once a day. I dont mean to its because I'll work late and forget. It is all right to go with 1 feeding till you get the algea under control. But test the water to see were your water parameters are. Tell your girlfriend that they will do that. All 17 of my fish do that all do even if I do feed them. Tell her to back of. They must have her trained.


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## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

How about this? Tell her to cut the cube in half. Several daily small feedings are actually a good thing but many of us don't have that kind of time. A lost of succesful reefers and Fowlr owners I know feed every other day or even less. But cutting the cubes in half and feeding that quantity twice a day wuold satisfy your fish and your girlfriend.


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