Battling Brown Algae on Glass

[nath514]

Hello,

I have a 8 gallon nano that has been setup for about a year now. For the past two months I have been battling a constant buildup of brown algae that only shows up on the glass. By the end of the week if I haven't scrapped it down every day it completly covers every part of the glass. I never find it on the sand or rock only the glass.

I am running an ai prime with an 8 hour photo period. I use red sea salt and do a 1 gallon water change ever week. I run purigen and chemipure blue as well as filter floss normally. For the past month I have also been using phosban and activated carbon to try to combat the algae but that doesn't seem to have any effect. I feed very lightly ensuring my clown fish finishes what I put in. I forgot to measure my water params before I did my water change today but will measure over the next few days. I use ro water.

Here are some pictures of the algae in question and help would be greatly appreciated as it has been getting worse each week.

[SnoopyDaPimp]

What are your phosphates/nitrates?

You are doing ~12.5 % WC per week so that could potentially be increased to 20% doing 1.6 gallons (round down to 1.5 for ease). If you are not using RODI water I would suggest switching to that and doing a large WC with it.

What do you have stocked in the tank?

[nath514]

I do use RODI water, I will measure my water params tonight. The tank is stocked with one young clown fish and one neon blue goby. For corals the tank is mostly full of zoas.

[dianapickles]

+1 on the increase water change. If anything in your water is causing the algae that'll help get it out.

A 3 day blackout might help get rid of the algae. Although that's just to get rid of it not to manage the underlying cause.

Do you use a media reactor? Also, your chemi pure might not be getting enough flow through it. If it's sitting in your sump the water will go around not through and that'll hinder its efficiency at removing phosphates etc

[nath514]

I can get rid of the algae by scrapping the glass but it always comes back. The purigen and the chemipure are in a small c-80 canister filter by themselves to ensure good flow.

[Jerett83]

Try running GFO in your canister filter or even better a reactor if you can. I was at the point where I needed to clean my glass daily after running GFO in my reactor for a week Im cleaning my glass every 7-10 days now.

[thegrun]

Some algae growth is not such a bad thing. If your tank is too clean the corals will be undernourished and become dull in color. I need to clean the glass of my mixed reef every three to four days.

[nath514]

I have always had some algae that would start showing up around day 5 but now it is showing up much earlier and much thicker.

Doesn't chemipure server the same purpose as GFO?

Thanks,
Nathan

[nath514]

Another update, I am still having really bad algae problems. The algae gets longer in some parts where it actually is like gooey strings waving in the current. I just measured some water params before my water change and they all looked good see picture below.

I also had over the last week multiple zoa colonies close up and on has turned to mush and completely dissolved. This colony has been growing for months now and was one of my healthiest looking colonies.

[thegrun]

One of the issues with tests when you have strong algae growth is that the algae itself absorbs so much of the nitrates and phosphates that it makes the test results look much better than the water really is. You may need to run a phosphate /GFO reactor and make more frequent water changes to get a handle on the algae. .

[nath514]

Any idea about what might be happening to the zoas?

Also here is a video of the algae.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLHqHZeSKH0

[BigCountry74]

bad zoas = bad water.

[JMorris271]

Does it look like this now?

342233

[Jone]

Too much phosphate..Lower PO4 with GFO and run your skimmer til stops skimming on the dry side,,might take days... Also run some carbon in a reactor too..
Whats your water change schedule ??
Are you feeding the tank ,,fish and or corals regulary??

[nath514]

I don't have a skimmer, no sump and the tank is too small for a skimmer in it. I feed lightly to ensure little goes to waste. I do run carbon, purigen and chemipure blue. I change water every Sunday 1-2 gallons.

[nath514]

Does it look like this now?

342233
It does look similar to that.

[Dkuhlmann]

So your tank is one year old and you now have this algae problem. What kind of lights do you have and have you changed the bulbs since you've owned them? I'm thinking you need new light bulbs, but I do also agree with everything that's been said in relation to nitrates and phosphates. The light bulbs don't last forever and most are good for 10 months to a year before they need replacing, algae blooms are one of the signs they need to be changed.

[nath514]

So your tank is one year old and you now have this algae problem. What kind of lights do you have and have you changed the bulbs since you've owned them? I'm thinking you need new light bulbs, but I do also agree with everything that's been said in relation to nitrates and phosphates. The light bulbs don't last forever and most are good for 10 months to a year before they need replacing, algae blooms are one of the signs they need to be changed.

I have had an AI prime up and running for about 5 months without any problems.

[Dkuhlmann]

Great, then no worry about changing bulbs :D

[nath514]

I am going to try uping my water changes to twice weekly. I hesitate to do that since it seems to upset my zoas but the algae is getting out of control.

[JMorris271]

Urchins wiped the growth I had in about 4 days just in time for my display room to flood.

[whosurcaddie]

I would do a daily water change. 1 cup out 1 cup in every day. You wont get the big swings and the export will be constant.

[nath514]

I will hopefully have a sump plumbed this weekend which should double my water volume.

[bat21]

How often do you change your filter floss? I don't use a skimmer either, so my floss gets very dirty very quick. I change it every 2-3 days.

Also, what is your flow situation? Maybe you need to bump it up a bit.

[jstack]

Hello,

I have a 8 gallon nano that has been setup for about a year now. For the past two months I have been battling a constant buildup of brown algae that only shows up on the glass. By the end of the week if I haven't scrapped it down every day it completly covers every part of the glass. I never find it on the sand or rock only the glass.

I am running an ai prime with an 8 hour photo period. I use red sea salt and do a 1 gallon water change ever week. I run purigen and chemipure blue as well as filter floss normally. For the past month I have also been using phosban and activated carbon to try to combat the algae but that doesn't seem to have any effect. I feed very lightly ensuring my clown fish finishes what I put in. I forgot to measure my water params before I did my water change today but will measure over the next few days. I use ro water.

Here are some pictures of the algae in question and help would be greatly appreciated as it has been getting worse each week.
polypadspolypadspolypadspolypadspolypads polypads thank me later

[Galaxyreef]

Sounds maybe like Dino's/nutrient problem.

[nath514]

Thanks for the suggestions. I got my sump plumbed up today which I am hoping will help. It makes it much easier to change out the filter floss and to do more frequent water changes. I am hoping that the next few weeks will show improvements. Here is the sump if anyone wants to take a look

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2561356http://

[nath514]

My algae problem is much less now that I have the sump, I also built a protein skimmer last weekend and am hoping that will help as well.

[reef master 25]

Hello I'm still new to the hobby but I'm having a very bad time with either cyano bacteria or diatoms I'm not sure which it is. My tank has been running for about 8 months now so I don't think it's diatoms but my p.h keeps bottoming out but my nitrites nitrates ammonia alk. Is all fine my alk is at 8 all other levels are at 0. My p.h at the moment is just under 8 and that's where it stays most of the time. But just recently it would not even read on the test it was so low but yet everything else was ok. I have a 75 gal. With a hob reef Octo 100ss skimmer and a hob filter which I'm fixing to get rid of and get a Br gfo/ carbon reactor but I can't get rid of this bacteria/algae please help I'm going crazy.not letting me post pictures

[Ryan1190]

I have a very similar problem as this - Can't figure it out. I run carbon and GFO. If I let it go a week the glass is totally covered.

[Ejb]

I know this is an older thread but I am curious if the problem went away. I am starting to have this same issue in my tank and it is almost 5 months old. I have been running carbon and gfo for a while now and it doesn't seem to stop the problem. My test results are exactly the same as nath514. If it was dinos wouldnt it grow on the sand and rocks? Also I have heard that nothing will eat dinos but snails have been eating this but cant rid it completely. I do weekly 30% water changes since the tank cycled. So I am curious if this problem just went away after a while. My problem started when I changed my light to the kessil a360.

[Ejb]

Also since there is not much algae in the tank only on the glass could it really make the readings as low as they are? My corals are happy for the most part, I do think I should stop running the gfo since I believe it is starting to bleach one of my stylos.