6 Month Old Tank Lots of Algae- Suggestions?

[bayberry94]

We have a 16 Gallon BioCube that has been running since New Years Day 2022. We have a feather duster and a fire shrimp currently that have been doing well for several months, we don’t have anything else because our original clowns that we got from Petco died of Ich and we waited out the life cycle and found a new fish store. The problem is that it’s an hour away and every time I have them check my water they say the nitrites are a bit high and we shouldn’t add any new fish/inverts. When we check at home (API tests) everything looks good. We’ve got tons of algae- I scrub and do partial water changes every couple of weeks and feel like maybe some “cleaning crew” additions are in order but like I said LFS keeps saying not to add anything. Should I just not bring a water test in for them and give it a try? Order online? Any suggestions on how to reduce algae (I know it’s common in new tanks) would be greatly appreciated. Water is 78° and I’m running a cartridge filter as well as live rock in the media compartment and I have a UV Sterilizer back there as well.

 

[GK3]

We have a 16 Gallon BioCube that has been running since New Years Day 2022. We have a feather duster and a fire shrimp currently that have been doing well for several months, we don’t have anything else because our original clowns that we got from Petco died of Ich and we waited out the life cycle and found a new fish store. The problem is that it’s an hour away and every time I have them check my water they say the nitrites are a bit high and we shouldn’t add any new fish/inverts. When we check at home (API tests) everything looks good. We’ve got tons of algae- I scrub and do partial water changes every couple of weeks and feel like maybe some “cleaning crew” additions are in order but like I said LFS keeps saying not to add anything. Should I just not bring a water test in for them and give it a try? Order online? Any suggestions on how to reduce algae (I know it’s common in new tanks) would be greatly appreciated. Water is 78° and I’m running a cartridge filter as well as live rock in the media compartment and I have a UV Sterilizer back there as well.

Part of this is new tank uglies. If you have algae then you have excess nutrients, are you over feeding? The proper clean up crew will help get rid of the algae, but you also want to find the cause (excess nitrates and phosphates). Don’t add an inhabitant that will starve once the problem is fixed.

 

[laezur]

Feather duster and fire shrimp aren't going to touch your algae.

API tests are notorious for being off, so if you trust your LFS I'd trust their tests over yours.

You can get some snails, crabs etc to help clean things up but you're only 6 months in so algae is going to happen and most of the time it's best to wait it out.

If you have no corals, lower the amount of time your lights are running for a little while and just get as much of the algae out that you can manually on a regular basis with your water changes.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Looks like ulva not hair algae. That is one of the harder algae to remove from your display. Ulva will be smooth almost like a seaweed not hairlike, this advice below assumes its ulva.

Manually remove as much as absolutely possible.

Pick up some cleanup crew that eats ulva. Snails will not eat it when it's large, only fresh buds. You would need something like a sea hare, tuxedo urchin, lettuce nudibranch. Unfortunately your tank is tiny so if you get a sea hare or urchin, you will need to return it the moment the ulva is gone.


If it's actually hair and the picture is just deceptive, you can get a standard cleanup crew instead. Include 2 turbos, 4 trochus, 10 hermits, 10 cerith. These are hardy additions that will be overkill until the algae is taken care of and once it is, you can remove one of the turbos and return it to the LFS or give to a friend.

You also need to do something about your nutrients. At minimum throw a bag of GFO into the back of the cube. Nitrates also need to be addressed and that can be done through carbon dosing, adding a skimmer, purigen, lots of water changes (like 5 gal a week until they are below 10ppm), etc. Pick your poison on how you want to take the nutrients, but you either need to export it out or feed a lot less.

 

[bayberry94]

Part of this is new tank uglies. If you have algae then you have excess nutrients, are you over feeding? The proper clean up crew will help get rid of the algae, but you also want to find the cause (excess nitrates and phosphates). Don’t add an inhabitant that will starve once the problem is fixed.

It’s my daughter’s tank and she feeds just once a day- a tiny bit of the frozen shrimp. The fire shrimp eats it all up right away. Yes, I realize the feather duster and shrimp won’t touch the algae. We got them to have something interesting in the tank while we waited for the Ich cycle to run it’s course.

 

[bayberry94]

Feather duster and fire shrimp aren't going to touch your algae.

API tests are notorious for being off, so if you trust your LFS I'd trust their tests over yours.

You can get some snails, crabs etc to help clean things up but you're only 6 months in so algae is going to happen and most of the time it's best to wait it out.

If you have no corals, lower the amount of time your lights are running for a little while and just get as much of the algae out that you can manually on a regular basis with your water changes.

I do trust the LFS but it’s a 2 hour round trip for a water test, so it’s not something I’ve been doing all that often.

 

[laezur]

I do trust the LFS but it’s a 2 hour round trip for a water test, so it’s not something I’ve been doing all that often.

Get yourself some proper tests. You're going to need to be testing a lot while your tank is maturing.

 

[EricR]

I agree with post #4 -- doesn't look like hair algae, at least from the pics. (None of my clean-up crew touches hair algae anyway,,, but that's a different topic)

Quick questions:
-- Did your LFS give you numbers for nitrates/phosphates when they said "HIGH"?
-- How long are you into your fallow (fishless) period? (Just thinking if barely might be good to add some more inverts now vs if you're long into it then don't want to reset the timer by adding new stuff)

 

[Lavey29]

Get a diverse cleaner crew and stop running lights if you have no coral.

 

[bayberry94]

Get yourself some proper tests. You're going to need to be testing a lot while your tank is maturing.

What would you suggest? The LFS looks to be using the same API tests that I am using.

 

[laezur]

What would you suggest? The LFS looks to be using the same API tests that I am using.

Cheapskates Either get yourself a hanna checker or the Red Sea tests are a bit better. You need something that’s more accurate really.

 

[bayberry94]

Cheapskates Either get yourself a hanna checker or the Red Sea tests are a bit better. You need something that’s more accurate really.

Thanks! That’s why I’m so confused when we go in and they say our nitrites are a “bit” high to add any cleanup crew because their test looks just like what I have. I’ll check into the suggestions you gave!

 

[dthom]

I personally find it very hard to believe you are having high nitrites with a tank that is almost 6 months old.
Unless there is something going on with the water you are using for water changes.

Where do you get your water from for your water changes?
Are you using RO water for all water changes and for topping off?

I agree on adding cleanup crew. I would also increase water changes.

 

[The Farmer]

No lights feed less remove algea and test test as much as you can. I doubt you have any nitrites in your tank the inverts wouldn’t survive there sensitive creatures

 

[Sarlindescent]

As stated, all tanks will go through an ugly phase, ranging from the first 3 months to a year. There are elements bound in rocks and sand that need to stabilize and micro fauna that need to establish.

IME, I would make up 2 5 gallon buckets of saltwater, for a 70%ish water change (you will need to temp match this large of a change), Once the water has been mixing for enough time, start manually removing. Scrape the glass. Get a toothbrush and scrub the rocks. Once everything is scrubbed, wait 20 minutes for it to settle out and use the hose to directly pull as much of the algae from the system. Then refill the tank. Next, get some hermits of choice, I would probably do 5 blue leg or 3 scarlets, and add them. Run the lights off for a week, then reassess.

Honestly, its a small tank and you don't have coral. You have the best scenario for dealing with this.

 

[BanjoBandito]

Might wanna Flucc it at that infestation level just to get some foothold on it. Depends on the amount of work you wanna put in. Get that toothbrush out and do the work! YOU ARE THE BEST CUC.

 

[bayberry94]

I personally find it very hard to believe you are having high nitrites with a tank that is almost 6 months old.
Unless there is something going on with the water you are using for water changes.

Where do you get your water from for your water changes?
Are you using RO water for all water changes and for topping off?

I agree on adding cleanup crew. I would also increase water changes.

I’m using the water you buy in the jug/box from the pet store. I will top off with tap water (it’s a well) occasionally if the salinity starts to get high.

 

[dthom]

Well your well water would not have chloramines so that is good.
But not sure what else it could have in it.

If it was me, I would just go and buy some gallon jugs of drinking water from the grocery store to use for top off water. Just make sure the label say's it is reverse osmosis filtered water.

 

[brandon429]

Sadies Biocube 16

www.nano-reef.com

that is the same size tank getting rip cleaned just now. Read the final four pages for method, mode, questions all details and final pics.


the exact means to fix your tank in five hours of work is there, in detail. Clearly any other method would be inferior/ lack of after pics shown so far compared to Sadie’s. You don’t want to run a doser that kills off your algae. That falls down, rots in the tank.

we are actually removing the waste in the above detailed job. The only think preventing the tank here from 1 day turnaround is the length of study time required to study and copy someone who just did the turnaround job.


notice how they show pics of knife scraping all the algae off, outside the water, it’s in pics. Surgical removal of that top growth.

then apply peroxide to the scraped rock areas…rinse off in saltwater. Clean every rock this way


reassemble a force clean system, above rinsed sand, exactly as shown and do a strong sand rinse, accept no cloud.


worry about finding your algae cause after the invasion is fixed. Keep it manually clean until you get lucky and don’t have to.

 

[brandon429]

The condition the OP’s tank is in above: complete eutrophication


the condition of Sadie’s tank: oligotrophic reinstatement. The reversal of old tank syndrome, in pics. The Op’s tank above here has been hyper-aged by bright lighting, nutrients, manual allowance…we would do the reverse of all that.


the surface area of the live rock in pic at the top: plugged


condition of rock surface area after external detailing: wide open.


even light levels are detailed as preventatives in Sadie’s thread. It’s all covered. Look at her resolve to force compliance… that’s key. She’s someone who isnt going to permit further non compliance, that’s key to algae management for the long term.