Underwater Forest Control

[saknick16]

WOW. I just came home to my parents' 55 gal and it has been overpopulated with green hair algae and vine looking plants and lets not forget the aiptasia. What could possibly be the problem? Is the bubble curtain in the back allowing the 'greens' to flourish or is it a certain chemical imbalance?

Thank you

[Rock Anemone]

Gotta' give us more info on the tank to be sure. How long has it been up? What filtration is being run? What is being kept in the tank? What are the water parims? What other equipment is on the tank? What type of tank is it?

[saknick16]

Its been up for about 5 months
Filtration is 2 hang on tank 50 gallon Aquaclear filters
There are 4 chromis, 2 sand sifting gobies, 1 filamented flasher wrasse, and an algae blenny along with brown polyp, yellow polyp, and fuzzy mushroom rocks
There is also a turbo-venturi hang on tank protein skimmer, a bubble curtain in the back and no sump on the tank
I am going to check all the chemicals tomorrow and try to post a picture

[SaltyDr]

Most likely a nitrate and or phosphate problem. The phosphate reading may be low, however, if you have that much algae it's just sucking it up and it is indeed still high. Lighting could also be part of the problem. How old are the bulbs and what is the lighting period? How much live rock do you have. How frequent are the water changes and do you use RO/DI water?

[saknick16]

Ammonia was 0
Nitrite was 0
Nitrate was about 2.5 mg/L
pH was 8.0
SG was 1.026
dKH was 7
Temp is kept pretty constant at 80
There is 50 pounds of live rock
Lighting is 265w PC and has been up for about 6 months with original bulbs
25% water changes usually happen once a month
Water is 'drinking water' bought at the local walmart

Thank you once again

[saknick16]

oh yea,
they do not have a test kit for phosphates so i could not test for that

[WaterKeeper]

How often do they do water changes and how much?

[saknick16]

Not very often. I try to remind them at least once a month but I usually end up doing it when I come home which is once every two months and when I do it I usually do 20-25%

[61scout80]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9409335#post9409335 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by saknick16
Water is 'drinking water' bought at the local walmart



bottled drinking water? or reverse osmosis water?

drinking water could be fueling the algea, try switching to reverse osmosis water (RO)

[saknick16]

well its bottled drinking water but it says 'Processed by: Reverse Osmosis'

[WaterKeeper]

Switch to bottled distilled.