Black algae?

[reefmum]

Hi everyone! My tank has been set up now about 3 months, all my water parameters are bang on and all the crew seem happy! I have 2 clowns, 3 blue legged hermits, 2 nessarius snails, a peppermint shrimp and a turbo. Over the last few weeks I’ve been battling a green algae bloom, for which I’ve ordered a UV steriliser to try and help get it under control. However in the last few days the algae has turned very dark green, almost black? Just wondering if there is something to be concerned about or is this normal? I haven’t yet seen it here or on other forums so figured I’d ask!

Thanks
And yes, I know the glass needs cleaning, I’ve done it every single day for a week now and I just needed a break this evening

 

[Pod_01]

I have not seen anything like that…

Out of curiosity what are your parameters? NO3, PO4, salinity…

For example if you don’t have corals and plan to keep fish mainly you can turn down the lights and the algae problem may disappear…

Is there a wave maker in the tank? If not that may help, reefs have constant water movement.

 

[Subsea]

I see you posted this thread twice. Post parameters please.

Coral reefs would be algae dominated if it were not for herbivores. Get some more janitors in your clean up crew.

 

[reefmum]

I do have a wave maker in it. I’ve just done a full set of tests and my nitrates are actually at zero..how could this have happened, it’s been cycling perfectly for the first 2 months

 

[Mark82]

It’s the tank being hit with sunlight? Might be the cause for the algae

 

[reefmum]

It’s the tank being hit with sunlight? Might be the cause for the algae

It is beside the window but it’s completely out of direct sunlight, is there a way to manage this if this is the cause, outside of relocating the tank obviously

 

[Subsea]

I see nothing unusual with a 3 month new tank showing nuisance algae. Get more janitors in your clean up crew.

Not knowing how you cycled your tank I will guess dry sand and dry rock.

The purpose of using diver collected live rock is to bring in competitors & consumers off nuisance algae.

PS: I just saw your listed parameters. Is phosphate above 3ppm? Also, zero nitrate is never good.

 

[reefmum]

I have not seen anything like that…

Out of curiosity what are your parameters? NO3, PO4, salinity…

For example if you don’t have corals and plan to keep fish mainly you can turn down the lights and the algae problem may disappear…

Is there a wave maker in the tank? If not that may help, reefs have constant water movement.

 

[reefmum]

I do have a wave maker in it. I’ve just done a full set of tests and my nitrates are actually at zero..how could this have happened, it’s been cycling perfectly for the first 2 months

Salinity is 1.026 and temp is 25.9C

 

[Subsea]

I do have a wave maker in it. I’ve just done a full set of tests and my nitrates are actually at zero..how could this have happened, it’s been cycling perfectly for the first 2 months

Nitrate bottoms out when consumers of nitrogen exceed input.

Many in the Reefing community say high input with high export. In my 25 year mature tank, I feed heavy yet still dose ammonia for nitrogen demand of ecosystem.

 

[reefmum]

Nitrate bottoms out when consumers of nitrogen exceed input.

Many in the Reefing community say high input with high export. In my 25 year mature tank, I feed heavy yet still dose ammonia for nitrogen demand of ecosystem.

Great thank you, I will try this

 

[Pod_01]

Out of curiosity the phosphate what units is it in ppm/ppb?
What test kit is used?

I prefer to keep phosphate at 0.1-0.3 ppm, also I like to keep NO3 at least at 1ppm.
For N (nitrogen/NO3) deficiency I like to use Tropic Marin Amino Organic, there are other options as well.

Any time PO4 or NO3 get to zero certain algae types and other pest can take over.

Also I am believer in trace elements, so I do dose them daily and I use Tropic Marin A and K.
If trace elements are lacking the beneficial bacteria etc… may die out and pests can take over.

Some of my corals:

 

[slingfox]

How is the tank doing. I also have a similar outbreak in my 2 year old tank. I have tangs, snails, urchins and crabs and nothing seems to eat the algae.

 

[reefmum]

It’s slightly better! The UV steriliser helped reduce the algae in the tank and then I moved the powerhead so it’s agitates the surface to introduce more oxygen which I think is helping too! It’s been slow going though. Phosphates remain high but I hadn’t attempted to reduce these just yet as I was reluctant to change too much too quickly. All tank inhabitants doing fine so it’s just visual for now thankfully! I did also remove one piece of rock to see how it coped in open air, most of it died off but the rock seems stained black.

Hoping to get some emerald crabs soon and see if they will eat what remains on the rock, but now it has reduced and what is in the tank is happy I’m not too bothered by it anymore!

This will change of course when I decide next week I hate the look of it