[ssky]

I have nuisance algae growth on my sand bed. Its hair algae. I have been trying several methods to control it but with little success. I got the water tested at my local LFS but everything came out normal. My LFS has suggested to get either a lawn mower blenny or a kole tang. What do you guys suggest. My tank is 46 gallon no sump. Bio load is

2 clownfish
1 chromis
1 corris wrasse
1 bi color blenny.

I do have some soft corals as well.

The blenny just sits on top of the rocks and has never come down to the sand bed so I think there would no conflict of interest if I go for another blenny.

Any advice will be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[on the spot]

...Its hair algae.
I have been trying several methods to control it but with little success.

You are probably right, but a picture or two would really help.

What have you already tried? and how did it help?

Normal is not a test parameter I'm familiar with. Real numbers are more helpful.

and I wouldn't suggest adding another fish.

 

[ssky]

Got the water tested at my LFS and Nitrate is 0, Ammonia is 0, Nitrite is 0, Salinity is at 1.024. Mg is a bit low at 430. Calcium is 1370.

I have tried changing the light intensity from 100 to 70 percent. Right now I have put my lights on the coral acclimation setting meaning both white and actnic are at 50%. I have tried manually pulls.

Another reefer friend has suggested the following.
1. Water change every week (I do once every two weeks)
2. Increase flow at the bottom (My algae primarily is on the snad bed)
3. Siphon sand bed during water change to manually remove some algae.
4. Plan on buying a HOB skimmer if possible otherwise keep up on the water changes.
5. No new fish.

Thanks.

 

[on the spot]

Got the water tested at my LFS and Nitrate is 0...

Mg is a bit low at 1370.

I'm always skeptical of the zero nitrate and phosphate in the face of unbridled algae growth.

The first thing I'd do is raise magnesium to 1500, ± 10%.

The second thing I'd do is run a small reactor with GFO. Carbon wouldn't hurt while you are at it.

The third thing I'd do is post a picture of this hairy monster. Then do a manual removal, and take another picture. In one week, take another picture. manual removal. another picture.
Do this three weeks, the last week just a picture before removing anything. I would expect three weeks of GFO and carbon to make a visual difference.

HTH, and GL.

 

[ssky]

Thanks for the suggestion. Will do as suggested.

 

[weimers75]

A pic would really help - different algaes require different approaches. Hair algae usually forms all over the rocks, so its unusual to have it just on your sand bed.

Lawnmower blennies really do not eat hair algae....they do a better job of algae on the glass...somehow pet stores have jumped on the "they love hair algae" bandwagon lol.

 

[lifeoffaith]

+1 on hair algae growth usually being on the rocks. If it is hair algae, your bristletooths will do a better job than a lawn mower blenny. That being said, I'd be concerned with adding more nutrients from the new fish into the system. If it is a fish only system, I'd actually suggest a dwarf angel. All of that being said, I don't know your tank size or other fish in the system, so suggesting fish is kinda a toss up. I'd probably siphon the sand bed really well after manual removal.

 

[ssky]

Well my bioload and fish stats are in the original post. I will try to get a picture. Never posted a picture before on the forums so can someone guide me how to do it?

for the time being I have reduced the photoperiod of the tank. Will do a water change and siphon sand bed this weekend.

And yes the algae is only on the sand bed. little bit on the power heads as well but the rocks seems very clean.

Thanks

 

[jduck]

Where are you getting the water for the water changes? If mixing yourself are you using RODI? Have you tested phosphate?

 

[weimers75]

I will try to get a picture. Never posted a picture before on the forums so can someone guide me how to do it?
Thanks

Look in the photography forum on this site - it has a sticky that will tell you how to do it

 

[ssky]

Where are you getting the water for the water changes? If mixing yourself are you using RODI? Have you tested phosphate?

I have a RODI unit and mix my salt at home. I also have an inline TDS meter. The unit is just a few months old so don't think the filter have gone bad. The TDS meter shows zero reading.

 

[lifeoffaith]

Oops, sorry, missed that in your original post. Personally I would avoid another fish if I were you. I did that many fish in a 46 and wouldn't do it again. I honestly think that having as many fish as I had was adding to my problem. Mine was hair algae though, and we still haven't identified yours. Mine looked like a lawn all over my rocks. I'm sure I was overfeeding, or my fish were giving off more ammonia than my tank could take. I would also avoid tangs completely in that size tank. IMO, the bristletooth tangs you asked about should have a minimum of 75 gallons and lots of swimming room. You'd be better off with a dwarf angel, but then again, they may nibble on your corals.

 

[ssky]

umm..good point. I am not planning to add any more fish. What is confusing that my LFS always offers solutions that can add to his business. In this hobby I thought they would give me an honest opinion but I think that's not the case here.

 

[ssky]

I am attaching some pictures of the Algae that I think is hair algae but some folks asked to see it. So here it is. Is it hair algae? If it is then I will start working on the suggestions given earlier.

 

[FamilyTank]

Definitely not a expert here, but what about using a gravel siphon? Are you feeding pellets that sink before the fish eat?

 

[ssky]

No, mainly flakes and once a week mysis shrimp (washed and drained). By the way I added a diamond goby few weeks ago to keep my sand bed stirred (whao what a stirring job she does!!!).

So far nothing can stay on the sand bed. I do see a bit of algae on the rocks.

Hence now my question is: how much algae i nthe tank is considered okay? Many people say that when you have water in a container with light over it you are going to have algae no matter what.

 

[weimers75]

Ideally you shouldn't have nuisance algae provided that you are exporting the nutrients before the algae can feed off of it. My old tank only had coralline algae on the glass and macro algae in the sump - neither of which are nuisance algae. If you're doing 10% weekly or 20% biweekly water changes with r/o water and aren't overstocked you shouldn't have any.

 

[Dad]

I've had really good luck with a multi pronged approach. I reecently battled dinoflagellates and wound up trying a method I read on another forum. I went 72 hours lights out while dosing 1ml/10gl of 3% hyrdogen peroxide and did a 20% water change after the blackout. I put fresh Purigen, Phosgard and matrix Carbon in my sump and the results have been outstanding. I'm still dosing the peroxide every other day with no ill effects to any of my livestock including SPS and nems (although my nems get a little cranky for about 3 min after I dose but quickly go back to normal). My bio filter is solid with no sign of Ammonia or Nitrite and my Nitrate and Phosphate are now undetectable. I don't know how it would work against hair algae, but it's worth a shot. I have spot treated HA with peroxide in the past on rocks that I could pull out and it kills the HA immediately, but I've never dosed it until now. I've been doing this now for about a month. Hope this helps.

 

[jay13]

I skimmed through some of your old posts to glean some info. First off did you buy your sand new or did you reuse sand from someone elses old system? Second you mention a nitrate/nitrite and ammonia test result. I see mention of a master test kit in another post. If this is an api test kit your numbers are not trustworthy, at least for nitrate.

 

[Dad]

No, my sand bed was all brand new when I set up my new system a couple of years ago. I haven't used the API test kit in a few years. I agree, I don't think they were very accurate. I started using Salifert kits a few years ago.