i have another problem. algae. a lot of it! first of all i have a lot of hair algae on my sand and my live rock in my 55g tank. my mimic tang (well its something like that) usually eats all of it, but she hasn't gone near it. i looked on some sites and it said that i should check my phosphates and nitrates but should i do anything else? also i have bubble algae butits no really green...its more of a black color, or maybe its just me. i have an emerald crab so that should do it, but this is the second time its happened. and finally, the last thing wrong is that i have a TON of this brownish red algae all over my glass and when i wipe it off with my mag-float it is back within a few hours. i need help bad!

thanks.

ciara

The hair algae your tang is not eating MIGHT be Bryopsis, which a lot of animals will not touch. Some tangs will happily munch on it, others will ignore it. www.hawaii.edu/reefalgae/invasive_algae/chloro/bryopsis_pennata.htm

A way to treat the Bryopsis is to increase your magnesium levels way up into the 1500-1600ppm range. This can be very hard and expensive to do with normal additives. I'd personally look into MagFlake, super cheap and easy to dose.

Definitely sounds like your nitrate or phosphate levels are high.

Tap water is one source of nitrate and phosphate issues, along with overfeeding and inefficient nutrient export (live rock, sand, macro algae, skimming, etc).

Do you use tap water?

How many fish are you feeding? How much and often are you feeding them? What are you feeding them?

Could you give us a rundown of what your system is like again? Amount of LR, sand, filtration, etc.

There are a few solutions depending on the problem. Overfeeding is obvious. Cut down on the amount you feed and/or split feedings up into two or three times daily. Leftover food is horrible on tank parameters. If using frozen food, rinse the packaging liquid off before adding the food (like Mysis).

You could set up a refugium/sump to help export nutrients. Even a remote deep sandbed would work wonders! Macroalgae is an amazing way to remove nutrients, stabilize pH, and provide a food source for your fish and corals (pods). You might want to look into an overflow and set up a sump. This can be pretty inexpensive to do.

In addition to the sump, you could daisy chain two media reactors together (Two Little Fishies Phosban Reactors) and run GFO in one, carbon in the other. Or just run one with GFO to remove phosphate, I will be running both personally.

If the source is your water, look into a RO/DI system. Buckeye Field Supply makes a wonderful system that is very affordable. RO works great, RO/DI is even better. Drawback is the waste water.

As you can see, there are many causes and solutions to a high nitrate/phosphate level. We just have to narrow down the source and then go from there. What I put above is not for everyone. Not everyone needs a GFO reactor but it is a cheap (in this hobby, ~$50 is cheap) way to get rid of phosphate. One problem, a million answers!

Before doing anything, test test test. You don't want to be changing parameters and such without figuring out what is the problem. The phosphate test is somewhat expensive, read up on the Elos brand of kits as Salifert has been having issues. No idea how accurate the SeaChem test is so you might want to read up on that. The magnesium test is something any reef keeper should have anyways, normally runs $10-$15 for the Red Sea one.

it doesn't look like that algae..i checked my nitrate levels and they were high..areound 15 or 20.

i use tap water and i am feeding 4 fish. i also have a cleaner shrimp and an emerald crab. i feed them either mysis shrimp and formula 1 flakes. like one day mysis and another flakes. i feed them about 1/3 of a cube of mysis each day but i don't just thaw it out and throw it in there. i put some of the tank water into this little plastic container and get an eyedropper to feed them gradually over 5 or 10 minutes.

when i feed them flakes i usually get a large flake and break it up in my hand and put in a little at a time.

in my tank i have around 60lbs of LR..some of it is lace rock. i have an eheim canister filter that goes up to 180 gallons. i think i have 40lbs of live sand..not sure. around there. i use a HOB jebo skimmer for 180 gallons. and i have PC lighting.

i might be able to do a refugium with this 10 gallon tank i have, but how much would that cost? we don't have a ton on money right now....but i will have some money by saturday this week from babysitting, but i don't know how much that will be... maybe $40...

oh, what does GFO stand for? and RO/DI?

i was going to see if maybe Aqua Hobbies would trade me my eheim filter for the wet/dry they are selling...but i don't know if they would.

this just really sucks! haha

Here are some articles that will help you. Randy Holmes-Farley is an amazingly intelligent person when it comes to reef keeping.

www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/rhf/index.php

www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-11/rhf/index.php

I think your tank would do much better using a wet/dry than the Eheim (known nitrate traps). A refugium would be much easier with the wet/dry as you can just plumb them together. A 10g would work fine but if you could fine a 20g long or bigger, that'd be even better. All they need is a 6500k bulb (those spiral compacts work great), a little bit of flow, and macro. Sand is optional but preferred. Best thing is, just leave the light on 24/7 (or reverse light it, debate still rages about which is better).

ok. well i messaged Aqua Hobbies about it, but i don't know what will happen. i could maybe find a 20g tank, or maybe i could just attach my two 10 gallons together haha. i just hope everything works out :D

thanks

Burks,  Where did you hear about the Magn. method of treating for Bryso.  I have it and have had a ton of trouble keeping in under control. 

The only thing I have found that works is to manually scrub it off with the vac hose right next to the bruch to such up as much as possible.

Tangs, could you get us a picture of what you are having problems with?

I read about it on Reefcentral a few times. There was one issue with that high of a magnesium and I think it had to do with a clam not being happy.

When the search function on their works again I'll try to find the topic and post it.

Edit: Found it.

reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php

Sort of a long thread but a good read. I'll reread it and post notes about it later tonight.

i don't really think its byprosis...but my tang has started to nibble on it..here are some pics (bad ones haha) i had to use a different camera. there are also some pics of other algae that has been bothersome.

i'm talking about the red algae on the rocks..it keeps spreading. and the algae on the tank wall

this is the stuff on my tank glass. i can't get it to go away for more than hlaf a day or so..

Pretty sound advice from Craig,

Unlike bryso, the hair algae group responds well to nutrients.  So its a simple (to say) matter of getting rid of the source(s).  once that is done then tangs and other guys will be able to easily keep your slice of the reef nearly free of algae.  My group beats nearly every species of algae back so fast it makes your head spin.  but then  again two red lips,  two lawn mowers, 6 emeralds, and a 100+ snails will do the trick. 

My only beef is with wet/dry.  I hate them, this is  not a view shared by all but I could  never keep my N and P levels in check with those dumb plastic poo traps.  When  I  dumped mine which took two stages and two months  my  levels droped to trace levels.  Aim for zero but take trace levels and be very happy.  Most sps keepers will agree that trace levels are better than zero anyway. 

Once you have your sources controlled you may need to remove some of the rocks from the tank and give them a mild brush off in saltwater.  Also a good time to seek out those last remaining nutrient hiding places.

best of luck

Briney

gottaluvtangs, I recommend getting an ro/di (reverse osmosis and deionization) filter for your tap water. This will create 100% pure water. I recommend the one that's $135 plus shipping from thefilterguys.biz