Algae- Good Bad or Ugly

[PSU21Reef]

I agree, i'd try feeding a little less. I only feed every other day. Do you have a skimmer?

Another thing you should try if you aren't already is soaking the blocks in ro water and rinsing a couple times. Frozen cubes usually contain phosphates and other things that can be reduced by rinsing first.

 

[PSU21Reef]

I guess I made a little assumption there.

Are you using ro/di water to begin with? If not, that could be the problem.

 

[TMartinez]

Every other day? My fish eat everytime i put food in the tank. should I reduce it that much?

I don't have a skimmer, it's on my list lol

I usually just hold the food in my hand and rub it between my fingers until it breaks up...

 

[TMartinez]

Yes I buy RODI from the lfs

 

[PSU21Reef]

Assuming you use ro water, i'd say it's probably due to being fed twice a day by unrinsed frozen cubes. That would be enough to do it.

I'd rinse the cubes first, and either increase water changes or reduce feedings, or both. Once you get a skimmer it might not be an issue. My skimmer helped out a lot, but I still only feed every other day. You could also look into getting some chaeto. That took care of my hair algae problem within 3 days. It simply takes in the excess nutrients and starves the hair algae. If you got chaeto you probably wouldn't have to change anything else.

 

[TMartinez]

I check my water parameters regularly and I end up changing about 15-20% every 7-10 days...

Everything I've read says feed twice aday. I'm curious to know how other people feed theirs... Maybe i'm grossly overfeeding them...

I'll try rinsing it out before putting it in.

 

[FLESHY]

I feed NLS pellets two times daily.

I then usually feed a variety of different frozen foods and vitamin enriched algaes during the day:

Purple, green, red algaes
shrimp
fleshy/nonstop's special frozen reef food awesome
rodgers reef food (no, not rods)
hikari mega marine angel
pe mysis
silversides

None of this food is washed and most of it is very greasy. It makes a huge mess.

This is why I do 20g h2o changes once a week on this tank, BUT since I added my aquac EV400 h2o quality has gone up considerably, and Im thinking now that I could cut that in half.

Many small feedings throughout the day is what is best for your fish, so is getting an awesome, oversized skimmer.

 

[TMartinez]

Well nitrates have never been over 5ppm so I doubt it's from excess nitrates... phosphates may be an issue, I dunno...

Also, this stuff is chaetomorpha, correct? Isn't this stuff what they house in refugiums? And i thought chaeto was a firm "spaghetti-like" algae? This stuff is soft

 

[nonstophoops]

Well nitrates have never been over 5ppm so I doubt it's from excess nitrates... phosphates may be an issue, I dunno...

Also, this stuff is chaetomorpha, correct? Isn't this stuff what they house in refugiums? And i thought chaeto was a firm "spaghetti-like" algae? This stuff is soft

The algae would be harboring the nitrates so that you haven't gone over 5. So don't disregard the nitrates, they are definitely contributing even though you are doing a good maintenance schedule.

I feed almost identically to what Fleshy does and with about the same frequency. Subtract the rodgers and the silversides and add Ocean Nutrition Angel Formula and you have the same as me. I rinse everything that is rinsable before using it. I also soak something almost everyday in Selcon(80%) or Zoe(20%).

PSU is recommending you get Chaetomorpha to use in a sump/refugium, not saying that the stuff in your tank is what that is.

 

[Otherone]

Chaeto - Spaghetti -Green Hair Algae whichever you choose to call it lives on Phosphates, Nitrates, trace metals, and Light. It can be bought or grown and will need some type of filtration to keep it in the refrigium. This stuff spreads like the plague in freshwater tanks with the use of carbon. Dealing with it in Saltwater is a new one on me.