Help algae problems!

jsnide925 · Mar 29, 2016

My tank is about 5months old and I'm battling algae at the moment. Everything looked fine up until a few days ago. I had to have hip surgery last Wednesday so I did a quick water change and used a new bag of reef crystals the day before surgery. The salt was hard and clumpy like it was old or like moisture got to it but I had no choice but to use it because I was going to be down for at least a month not able to do a water change. All my parameters were perfect and now I have green hair, bubble algae, and cyano out of nowhere! Haven't been able to check my parameters since my surgery so not positive if it is still in check. Could the reef crystals be the problem? How do I get rid of this nasty stuff! I'm worried because I can't do much maintenance on it at the moment. I think I'm going to switch salts and see if that helps because my old tank had this issue using reef crystals as well. I have an RO/DI that I use for water changes. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

CodyRVA · Mar 29, 2016

Was someone else watching your tank? If so, did they over feed it? To my knowledge your excess nutrients couldn't have come from the salt.

Salty1962 · Mar 29, 2016

Lawnmower Blenny will clean most of it up in no time. I got a blenny and Flame Tang and in 2 weeks most of algae is gone and their fat and happy:)
I've been using RC for years and haven't had it cause algae out breaks. Your at that stage of your tank where this typically occurs.

VTek · Mar 29, 2016

Do you have a refugium? With the addition of something like chaeto, maybe itll help soak up all the extra NO3's. Also might recommend a media reactor and run GFO to help control PO4's. Lastly, water changes. If you are able to, i might suggest a large water change, 50% or so. Larger water changes will help cut excess nutrients. Although smaller, more frequent water changes may keep parameters more stable, at this point you want to take as much excess nutrients out as you can. Depending on the type of algae that is giving you problems, there is also livestock that can help control the algae outbreak.