Help - green algae out of control!

OK, so I've already reduced the photoperiod of my tank to around 8
hours a day (night lamps on the rest of the time)...and as those
who've read my stuff before know, this is a relatively new tank (I
think its about 2 months running now). The only animal type stuff in
the tank are about 8 turbo snails, 6 hermit crabs, and one lil' ol
clownfish (plus a small coral piece). The issue that I'm having is
that the algae growth seems to be absolutely out of control, coating
the overflow box, and walls of the tank with thick, green, hairy
algae. I've added phosphate remover in a sack to the sump, at the
recommendation of my LFS...but am somewhat at a loss as to what else
can be done. Is it, perhaps, time to add some kind of grazer, i.e. a
yellow tang? This stuff is growing UNBELIEVABLY quickly...I scrubbed
the tank sides last night, and came down this morning to new growth
springing up all over. The live rock seems to be kept pretty clean,
but it seems like the stuff is growing MUCH faster than anything the
snails can keep up with...

Thoughts?
Mitch

It was too soon to buy any fish... feeding the fish you are fueling algae.

Hold on buying other fish or any other "grazer" until you identify the alga.

Tangs do not particularly eat green hair algae - it does not taste good.
They prefer eating more ornamental macroalgae, the ones you would
not mind having in the tank...

The best grazer for hair algae I find tuxedo urchin, but the problem
with them is that they die of starvation when the algae is gone...
Other urchin - black long spine one should eat it, too but I am not
sure - never had one - they grow too big for my tank...

The best way to get rid of green hair algae is to starve the new tank
to let all the result of cycling processed to nitrogen by DSB.
To speed up starvation mechanically scrub algae from time
to time by removing rocks outside of tank - this way you do not
let scrubbed algae pieces go back to the system...
Also, make sure you have sump sock to catch all the pieces
your hermits will cut from the rock and not eat...

I would keep the tank unfed for a long time before buing a fish,
but you have already got one, so it will be tough...

What are your current levels of nitrates, phosphates, alkalinity and pH?

"Pszemol" wrote in message
...
It was too soon to buy any fish... feeding the fish you are fueling algae.

Hold on buying other fish or any other "grazer" until you identify the
alga.

Tangs do not particularly eat green hair algae - it does not taste good.

Man! You are really dedicated!

They prefer eating more ornamental macroalgae, the ones you would
not mind having in the tank...

The best grazer for hair algae I find tuxedo urchin, but the problem
with them is that they die of starvation when the algae is gone...
Other urchin - black long spine one should eat it, too but I am not
sure - never had one - they grow too big for my tank...

The best way to get rid of green hair algae is to starve the new tank
to let all the result of cycling processed to nitrogen by DSB.
To speed up starvation mechanically scrub algae from time
to time by removing rocks outside of tank - this way you do not
let scrubbed algae pieces go back to the system...
Also, make sure you have sump sock to catch all the pieces
your hermits will cut from the rock and not eat...

I would keep the tank unfed for a long time before buing a fish,
but you have already got one, so it will be tough...

What are your current levels of nitrates, phosphates, alkalinity and pH?

On Nov 5, 11:04 am, "Pszemol" wrote:
It was too soon to buy any fish... feeding the fish you are fueling algae.

Hold on buying other fish or any other "grazer" until you identify the alga.

Tangs do not particularly eat green hair algae - it does not taste good.

You tasted it? j/k

They prefer eating more ornamental macroalgae, the ones you would
not mind having in the tank...

The best grazer for hair algae I find tuxedo urchin, but the problem
with them is that they die of starvation when the algae is gone...
Other urchin - black long spine one should eat it, too but I am not
sure - never had one - they grow too big for my tank...


Definitely not ready to add any kind of urchin...trying to take this
slowly.

The best way to get rid of green hair algae is to starve the new tank
to let all the result of cycling processed to nitrogen by DSB.
To speed up starvation mechanically scrub algae from time
to time by removing rocks outside of tank - this way you do not
let scrubbed algae pieces go back to the system...
Also, make sure you have sump sock to catch all the pieces
your hermits will cut from the rock and not eat...


Yup, I have a sock on the sump.

I would keep the tank unfed for a long time before buing a fish,
but you have already got one, so it will be tough...

What are your current levels of nitrates, phosphates, alkalinity and pH?

Dont have the numbers on me unfortunately. LFS confirmed testing wiht
me and said that nitrates were at 0, phosphates were a bit high as was
alkalinity, while PH was fine.. (hence the addition of the phosphate
removing pebble thingiemabobbers)

Mitch

"Big Habeeb" wrote in message ups.com...
On Nov 5, 11:04 am, "Pszemol" wrote:
It was too soon to buy any fish... feeding the fish you are fueling algae.

Hold on buying other fish or any other "grazer" until you identify the alga.

Tangs do not particularly eat green hair algae - it does not taste good.

You tasted it? j/k

No, my fish did and did not like it :-)

They prefer eating more ornamental macroalgae, the ones you would
not mind having in the tank...

The best grazer for hair algae I find tuxedo urchin, but the problem
with them is that they die of starvation when the algae is gone...
Other urchin - black long spine one should eat it, too but I am not
sure - never had one - they grow too big for my tank...

Definitely not ready to add any kind of urchin...trying to take this
slowly.

If you took it slow you would not have any fish yet...

The best way to get rid of green hair algae is to starve the new tank
to let all the result of cycling processed to nitrogen by DSB.
To speed up starvation mechanically scrub algae from time
to time by removing rocks outside of tank - this way you do not
let scrubbed algae pieces go back to the system...
Also, make sure you have sump sock to catch all the pieces
your hermits will cut from the rock and not eat...


Yup, I have a sock on the sump.

I would keep the tank unfed for a long time before buing a fish,
but you have already got one, so it will be tough...

What are your current levels of nitrates, phosphates, alkalinity and pH?

Dont have the numbers on me unfortunately. LFS confirmed testing wiht
me and said that nitrates were at 0, phosphates were a bit high as was
alkalinity, while PH was fine.. (hence the addition of the phosphate
removing pebble thingiemabobbers)

So now what is left is just patience...
Feed only minimal quantities every couple of days noting if all food is
eaten by fish. Fish will eat some planktonic organism taking off the
live rock so it will not be that hungry anyway...

Have you read this? http://www.melevsreef.com/gha.html

I actually thought I was being patient with just the one fish...LFS
said tank was ready for it - clearly not the case.

So now what is left is just patience...
Feed only minimal quantities every couple of days noting if all food is
eaten by fish. Fish will eat some planktonic organism taking off the
live rock so it will not be that hungry anyway...

I usually drop in something like 3 flakes, and the clown grabs them
right away...dont believe there's bene more than a crumb or two of
'excess'

Have you read this?http://www.melevsreef.com/gha.html- Hide quoted text -


I hadn't read it, but I'm going to give that a whirl tonight...my reef
tank is starting to look like a grassy field.
- Show quoted text -

i have had my share of this,
sparing us having to read other posts to keep up with your new tank,
it would be better on each post if you post the pertinent info. sorry
about that, you may have posted this info already, i dont feel like
scrubbing the posts to find out. :-)

what type of lights do you have? i forgot, but may hav easked
already. are they NO's?

it may be the phosphates currently. can you buy a bunch of turbos?
its not unheard of to buy 1 snail per gallon of water, and hermits to
MINIMAL cleaning of GHA. since its on teh glass, a few good mow downs
from snails may be your best bet while you starve your nutrients which
can be a slow process. bristle worms, or may be a different species,
will decimate that hair algae if you keep it unstirred. let them lay
their eggs on it, and they will chop it all at the roots, but that is
a few week process and will get real ugly. then a slime coat covers
it and starves it. if you see the slime coat growing over, dont
disturb it, cause its almost gone, but took me weeks for that to
happen once. of course thats when i was using OLD NO's. hopefully
you wont have to go that route.

On Nov 5, 3:05 pm, wolfdogg wrote:
i have had my share of this,
sparing us having to read other posts to keep up with your new tank,
it would be better on each post if you post the pertinent info. sorry
about that, you may have posted this info already, i dont feel like
scrubbing the posts to find out. :-)

what type of lights do you have? i forgot, but may hav easked
already. are they NO's?

it may be the phosphates currently. can you buy a bunch of turbos?
its not unheard of to buy 1 snail per gallon of water, and hermits to
MINIMAL cleaning of GHA. since its on teh glass, a few good mow downs
from snails may be your best bet while you starve your nutrients which
can be a slow process. bristle worms, or may be a different species,
will decimate that hair algae if you keep it unstirred. let them lay
their eggs on it, and they will chop it all at the roots, but that is
a few week process and will get real ugly. then a slime coat covers
it and starves it. if you see the slime coat growing over, dont
disturb it, cause its almost gone, but took me weeks for that to
happen once. of course thats when i was using OLD NO's. hopefully
you wont have to go that route.

I try not to put in all the background stuff too often because I seem
to get responses from the same 3 or so people each time...but in the
future I'll try to give a basic background

Well, right now I've got about 8 turbos in there...half dozen hermits.
As for the lighting its your typical newbie aquarist stuff...nothing
fancy, day/night flourescents I believe. Have the box at home so can
clarify that later on. Clearly strong enough that it's generating a
hell of a lot of the algae.

I dont mind the tank getting scummy, as long as I know that it will
pass a 'breaking point' where it will start clearing up. My first
instinct, stemming from my freshwater days, is to get something in
there to eat the crap...and lord knows, the pleco I had in my cichlid
tank did one hell of a bangup job...I still clearly have a lot to
learn about the workings of a reef tank and the fact that the thing is
supposed to be its own ecosystem without my screwing it up!

Mitch

Big Habeeb wrote:
OK, so I've already reduced the photoperiod of my tank to around 8
hours a day (night lamps on the rest of the time)...and as those
who've read my stuff before know, this is a relatively new tank (I
think its about 2 months running now). The only animal type stuff in
the tank are about 8 turbo snails, 6 hermit crabs, and one lil' ol
clownfish (plus a small coral piece). The issue that I'm having is
that the algae growth seems to be absolutely out of control, coating
the overflow box, and walls of the tank with thick, green, hairy
algae. I've added phosphate remover in a sack to the sump, at the
recommendation of my LFS...but am somewhat at a loss as to what else
can be done. Is it, perhaps, time to add some kind of grazer, i.e. a
yellow tang? This stuff is growing UNBELIEVABLY quickly...I scrubbed
the tank sides last night, and came down this morning to new growth
springing up all over. The live rock seems to be kept pretty clean,
but it seems like the stuff is growing MUCH faster than anything the
snails can keep up with...

Sounds like hair algae. Your LFS is giving you good advice. This stuff lives off
light, phosphates, and nitrates. With the type of setup you've described having,
your nitrates will become negligible in six months to a year. Until then, water
changes will keep them down. Phosphates frequently come in in your tap water and
normal decay products add to this in the tank. A good phosphate remover can
help, but many people buy a reverse-osmosis filter to treat the tap water used
for water changes.

There are a number of animals that eat hair algae. Blue-leg hermit crabs,
Foxface Rabbitfish, some sea urchins, and one sea slug all have good
reputations. I have a hair algae problem and have had no luck with hermit crabs
or rabbitfish. Kurt G of this group had such great results from his sea slug
that the poor thing is in danger of starving, so I intend to get one of those
soon. In the meantime, I just scrub the glass and rock and filter out the debris.

George Patterson
If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess
to anything.

Big Habeeb wrote:

I dont mind the tank getting scummy, as long as I know that it will
pass a 'breaking point' where it will start clearing up. My first
instinct, stemming from my freshwater days, is to get something in
there to eat the crap...

Do that. It won't hit a breaking point, and it may smother stuff you really
would like to have. Any filter feeders are likely to be history soon.

George Patterson
If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess
to anything.