Algae is killing me!

[reeflover]

Hey everyone,
So i was pretty optimistic starting out with a new reef tank and I enjoyed it for a while, it was quite beautiful, then I had a hair algae outbreak. I scrubbed, water changed, the whole lot, and eventually it started to go away only to be replaced with Red Slime Algae. I am getting ready to throw in the towel because the tank is starting to loose its visual appeal. Is this normal?

I am going to list my complete setup in hopes that someone can pinpoint what is wrong and what is causing the algae to spiral out of control.

Equipment
20 Gallon Tall Tank (Not near a window)
Lighthouse Light by Catalina Aquariums (Dual 35 Watt I believe?) - On a timer from 8-6
Marine Land Bio-Wheel Power Filter 150 w/ Chemi Pure and Filter Floss
Whisper 5 Gallon Internal Filter with Poly Filter Cartridge
Aquatech Power Head 170 GPH
75W ViaAqua Glass Heater

Livestock -
2 Clowns
1 Green Mandarin
1 Yellow Watchman Goby
2 Emerald Crabs
20 Nassarius Snails
6 Turbo Snails
1 Red Starfish
I had a sea haire who ate quite a bit of algae and died a couple days later - Cause unknown

Corals -
Galaxia Coral
2 Kenya Trees
1 Medium Red Sponge Tree (Becoming covered in hair algae)
Medium GSP Frag
1 Toadstool Coral
1 Small Zoa Frag (Keep having to clean the red algae off of it)
1 Medium Mushroom
1 Small Mushroom

I am doing a roughly 20 - 30% water change once a week with RO Water and IO Seasalt and Kent Osmo-Prep and Calcium supplements.

My current water conditions are
20 Nitrate
0 Nitrite
120 Alkalinity
8.4 PH

Please someone tell me there is hope! :(

[Lamprongulos]

Two things right away ditch the filter floss and the poly filter they hold LOTS of nutrients,which leads To HIGH NITRATES AND HIGH PHOS. and that is what is FEEDING your alage .Also you should get a HOB Skimmer.JM2CENTS

[reeflover]

Originally Posted by Lamprongulos

Two things right away ditch the filter floss and the poly filter they hold LOTS of nutrients,which leads To HIGH NITRATES AND HIGH PHOS. and that is what is FEEDING your alage .Also you should get a HOB Skimmer.JM2CENTS

I thought that a poly filter was supposed to remove nitrates and phosphates? Also what do I use for mechanical filtration if I get rid of the filter floss? Thanks!

[Terry64]

algae hates strong water current so a power head might be a good idea, i had a red slime outbreak and i treated it with red slime remover and pointed a power head at the sand where it was, it disappeared in a week and has never returned.

Terry.

[Terry64]

Originally Posted by Lamprongulos

Two things right away ditch the filter floss and the poly filter they hold LOTS of nutrients,which leads To HIGH NITRATES AND HIGH PHOS. and that is what is FEEDING your alage .Also you should get a HOB Skimmer.JM2CENTS

Polybags actually reduce nitrates so would be a good addition to your system.

The filter floss is ok for mechanical filtration but either change them every week or maybe you can rinse them in salt water when you do your water changes like i do.


Terry.

[Fiji Live Rock]

The red slime is Cyanobacteria & it is natures way of fixing a problem with your tank. If you are seeing this then you need to get a couple of things done. Some water changes and more water flow.

Hair algae (unlike the statement above) will grow even on the output hole of a return pump. It has no problems living in high flow areas. Cyanobacteria, howver is different. It is bacteria and not an algae, so it doesn't like water flow...it like areas with little or no flow.

Take out any filter media that is able to trap detritus as it just adds nitartes to the system to help throw off things even more.

[swhobbie1]

IMO ...

The right way ... from what I've learned from the experienced reefers hear and from my own observations in my tanks or the last 2 years is .. use a skimmer that can handle the nutirient load, change min 10% weekly, etc

In my 40g ... had a brief nutirient HA problem but a good Deltec MCE600 skimmer immediately fixed it and continued with the weekly 10% WC etc

In my 12g ... had a brief HA and even less cyano problem but it stopped after a couple of months and has not returned ... I change 50% of the water weelky... BUT I am a "closet" user of a external power filter - I like it, its removes particles from the water, I change the filter insert each week during the WC. It does have more nitrates that the 40g but does not seem to have affected the soft, LPS, SPS corals in the tank although I only have a couple of the latter two because I'm worried about killing the expensive corals with too much nutrients.

In my 10g FOWLR .. has been a cyano factory almost as soon as it cycled after alot of sponges on the fiji LR died off. I do have a external filter on this one for the same reason as the 12g - and change the filter insert weekly. 50% WC didnt cure the cyano but in the last week I tried the Tropical Science phosphage filter (sponge & powder) because its been months and was tired of it.

Before you empty your reef tank and give up ... try the "right way" or the "tropical Science". I do not want to use the stuff but in this little 10g it is the last straw before I empty it out. So far it has eliminated the cyano in a couple of days and I could not be happier. ( dont sell the stuff or know anyone who does ...just picked it up in the LFS when I passed by it one day).

Good luck and keep trying!

[Terry64]

i have long strings of brown algae hanging off my rocks, the tank is relatively new though, so i am hoping it's just a bloom phase and will pass naturally.

Terry.

[Fiji Live Rock]

Terry, are the strings you speak of filiments or kind of mushy...like if you grab it, it just "melts" away?

[ReefHead92]

Originally Posted by Fiji Live Rock

Terry, are the strings you speak of filiments or kind of mushy...like if you grab it, it just "melts" away?

i have the mushy kind.... rock has watermelon zoos so i cant exactly scrub it... how can i get rid of it?
~Brandon