Algae problem

[Chris444]

Hi, any ideas how to control the green algae in my aquarium? As it is slowly taking over the tank. I have noticed that most of it is coming off at night when only blue light is on.
I run my lights for 10-12 hours and this is the time it all builds up then after switching to blue it starts to die off so it is almost completly clear in the morning. This happens for over a week now.

The aquarium is 360 litres running for 2 months.

My clean up crew is:
3 Nassarius Snails
2 Turbo snails
2 Mexican Snails
3 Astrea snails
1 emerald crab
2 rock red/blue leg hermit crab
Also Any advice on cuc?

Nitrates 0
Phsosphate 0.1

Thanks all in advance!

 

[Hemmdog]

Seems like your tank is to sterile. You only have 2 clowns? You should always have detectable nitrate in there. That growth looks more like a bacteria than algae to me.

 

[KrisReef]

Slow down on your fish feeding and reduce the hours on your main lights to 8hrs.

 

[Chris444]

Seems like your tank is to sterile. You only have 2 clowns? You should always have detectable nitrate in there. That growth looks more like a bacteria than algae to me.

I have 2 clownfish and a firefish in there. Do you know what types of bateria it could be if it is one?

 

[Crustaceon]

It’s better to combat the causes of algae when nutrients are too high and dinoflagellates /cyanobacteria (what you have) when they are too low then to get more CC or increase corrective actions in response. Right now your tank is going through what’s called “The uglies”. It’s extremely common and pretty normal actually. This typically starts off with a tank that either has too much or too little nitrates and phosphates. Eventually and with the proper maintenance routine, your tank will reach an equilibrium point and will start looking better. I’m guessing you do a 10-20% weekly water change because that’s what the “internets” tell us to do? That’s great if you have high nutrient issues. The problem is, many of us actually don’t, especially on this forum, yet we do the maintenance anyways and get issues that we try to fix with even more maintenance. The truth is, no reasonable amount of cleanup crew/water changes is going to keep up with dino/bacteria/algae growth when it has ideal conditions to grow in. So here’s what I would do in this situation: Don’t do a water change until your nitrates read 10ppm and at that point, do a 5% water change once a week by siphoning the sandbed. Continue feeding your fish and that’s it. If you start getting hair algae, feed slightly less or increase the water change amount by a % or two. Not feeding enough and overly maintaining the tank are two of the worst things people do in this hobby.

 

[RJ F.]

I agree with what's been said. Bring up the nutrients a little and stop water changes. My tank has been running for 5 months and so far I have successfully battled GHA and dinos. Just by the pics we can see this is a very "clean" tank. Let the water dirty a bit. From my experience it's better to have nitrates and phosphate than it isnt. Remember patience is key and no changes happen over night.

Happy reefing!

 

[Chris444]

@Hemmdog
I have actually done about 10-15% water change 4 days ago as my nitrate was I believe high(35ppm)

 

[RJ F.]

@Hemmdog
I have actually done about 10-15% water change 4 days ago as my nitrate was I believe high(35ppm)

It's hard to believe that only a 10 - 15% waterchange would lower your nitrates to 0. Are you sure your readings are correct?

 

[Crustaceon]

Second batch of questions: How was this tank cycled? Was it started with dry rock/sand? And did you use a starter culture of beneficial bacteria like Seachem Pristine or similar? If you were having these issues before, which prompted you to reduce nitrates from 35ppm, it makes me think the bacteria in the tank post-cycling would’ve only allowed more typical algae to grow and not what looks like cyano.

 

[Chris444]

It's hard to believe that only a 10 - 15% waterchange would lower your nitrates to 0. Are you sure your readings are correct?

I am pretty sure it was correct, however it was done day before. I have just done another test and the nitrates are 10ppm

 

[Chris444]

Second batch of questions: How was this tank cycled? Was it started with dry rock/sand? And did you use a starter culture of beneficial bacteria like Seachem Pristine or similar? If you were having these issues before, which prompted you to reduce nitrates from 35ppm, it makes me think the bacteria in the tank post-cycling would’ve only allowed more typical algae to grow and not what looks like cyano.

I have added a Red Sea Live Reef base sand, a live rock and a Pure reef balance(advised from my LFS)

 

[Crustaceon]

How long did you give it before adding the snails/fish and did you add any fish food to jump start things? Did the water get cloudy for a day or two and clear up?

 

[Chris444]

How long did you give it before adding the snails/fish and did you add any fish food to jump start things? Did the water get cloudy for a day or two and clear up?

I have added only a little bit of fish food.
The snails I added 2 weeks ago, and the fish about 5 days ago.
The water was cloudy just like you said for 1-2 days and it all cleared

 

[Crustaceon]

So your beneficial bacteria level is fine. Honestly, I would just feed as normal, cut out the water changes for a few weeks and look for any changes on the sand. Make very small adjustments if needed. Patience and a bit of laziness may actually be the remedy here. Your rocks are going to turn lots of ugly colors first and then eventually reds and purples. That’s normal for everyone. Sand on the other hand shouldn’t be growing stuff hours or even minutes after the lights turn on. That’ll be your progress indicator. Clean sand and no hair algae on your rocks = fine in most circumstances. Most importantly, don’t worry if your nitrates creep up. There’s the saying “don’t chase numbers”. It’s very true and it’s generally better to gauge your tank visually vs. shooting for water parameters that might be good for one system, but not for yours.

 

[Chris444]

So your beneficial bacteria level is fine. Honestly, I would just feed as normal, cut out the water changes for a few weeks and look for any changes on the sand. Make very small adjustments if needed. Patience and a bit of laziness may actually be the remedy here. Your rocks are going to turn lots of ugly colors first and then eventually reds and purples. That’s normal for everyone. Sand on the other hand shouldn’t be growing stuff hours or even minutes after the lights turn on. That’ll be your progress indicator. Clean sand and no hair algae on your rocks = fine in most circumstances. Most importantly, don’t worry if your nitrates creep up. There’s the saying “don’t chase numbers”. It’s very true and it’s generally better to gauge your tank visually vs. shooting for water parameters that might be good for one system, but not for yours.

That's great thank you for this amount of help and information!