Hozer21 Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 I have had my tank set up for a while (8 months or so)now since I had to move it again for the last and finale time to where everyone could see it all the time and enjoy it like your supose to and now the only thing that's been really bugging (flame) is that some of the rock have green alge on them and some of my rock have allot green tint to them . What causes that and what can I do to fix it ?? I'll post pics tomorrow when I get a chance . It just really bugs me that my tank has green rock and hardly any coral line alge. I really don't know what I'm doing wrong all my corals are doing great and growing and the colors are great. I talk to a LFS owner and he said he didn't know . I use RO h2o all the chemicals (cal,buff,mag,& coral vital) and I have had the LFS check my H2O and he said everything was fine (ph,nit,nit,cal,am,) so the only that I can think of is that the h2o that I'm getting has a lot of phos. But I really don't know I thought I would ask u guys and hopefully u can help me with this problem because I would like my tank to look allot better color wise(u know the coral line alge & what not ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicarious Cynic Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 Good question. My tanks been up four months, phosphates test out at zero - but the thin green film.... It's not choking. My zoas are doing great, my torch and my candy are splitting, ricordea looks beautiful, cloves and green stars are waving - but the thin green film.... Do I cut the lights back? (I'm only at a 5 hour photo cycle with full lights since I upgraded to the 6 bulb t5). Is there an algae loving critter I can add? Do I just keep scraping and changing the water (ten percent once a week). Do I throw a firecracker in the tank (too redneck, my bad). What does a new tank meister do to fight the power of green? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 You can have phosphates at 0 and have algae. The algae are keeping them at 0. The problem is where you have algae. Are you running a refugium with macro algae? Do you use any kind of phosphates removal system? How is your water change schedule? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 And also, what is less or more the flow in your tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicarious Cynic Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 No refugium. No phospate removal system. Once a week on Saturday. Flow is two powerhead (one koralia one and one penguin something or other) and a canister filter (fluval 305). Fairly vigorous, circular flow. What do you mean by phosphate removal system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 No refugium. No phospate removal system. Once a week on Saturday. Flow is two powerhead (one koralia one and one penguin something or other) and a canister filter (fluval 305). Fairly vigorous, circular flow. What do you mean by phosphate removal system? Any kind of way to reduce the phosphates. A denitrator unit, a media reactor filled with granular ferric oxide, dsb, macro algae refugium... If your tank is small, just a good amount of flow and frequent water changes should be enough, unless you are not introducing phosphates somewhere else (fish food for instance or a high feeding regimen compared to your filtration). Also old bulbs can cause algae blooms. There are many causes, you have to try to narrow them down, one by one. Also in new tanks some algae bloom is frequent, usually a few months after the tank was started. For new I mean tanks that are less than one year old. Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USCG CWO Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 Your tanks are still fairly young and I am not saying that you couldn't possibly have some underlying issue but tanks go through cycles not like cycling but maturing. You're going to get algea outbreaks, cyano and other things as your tank matures and settles down. It has happened to me everytime I set a tank up. I get diatom outbreaks and all kinds of crazy things in the first year but water reads fine. Usually in a couple weeks it works itself out. Just thought I'd throw that out there before you go pulling your hair trying to find out what's going on. Shane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USCG CWO Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 Dang Alex you beat me to it!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hozer21 Posted September 28, 2010 Author Share Posted September 28, 2010 No refugium. No phospate removal system. Change the water Once a month & filter sock as well . Flow is two powerhead (Koralia 1) and a quite one pump (about 1000per hr) Fairly vigorous I have my lights all for a total of 6.5 hr an day(compacts ) (metal only 4.5 hr) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 These are all good possible solutions! i would recommend getting some turbo snails and astria snails to help with the algae. its normal to have to clean your glass of your tank at least once a week for what i know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 No refugium. No phospate removal system. Change the water Once a month & filter sock as well . Flow is two powerhead (Koralia 1) and a quite one pump (about 1000per hr) Fairly vigorous I have my lights all for a total of 6.5 hr an day(compacts ) (metal only 4.5 hr) i dont know how often you change your filter sock but from what you said once a month is not good. you should be changing it at least once a week depending if you shut off your return when you feed your tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 Good question. My tanks been up four months, phosphates test out at zero - but the thin green film.... It's not choking. My zoas are doing great, my torch and my candy are splitting, ricordea looks beautiful, cloves and green stars are waving - but the thin green film.... Do I cut the lights back? (I'm only at a 5 hour photo cycle with full lights since I upgraded to the 6 bulb t5). Is there an algae loving critter I can add? Do I just keep scraping and changing the water (ten percent once a week). Do I throw a firecracker in the tank (too redneck, my bad). What does a new tank meister do to fight the power of green? if you up graded your lights you will go thru an algae bloom as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hozer21 Posted September 28, 2010 Author Share Posted September 28, 2010 Ok so I did a 20 gallon water change today and changed the filter sock & if I'm to understand this correctly now I should do a water change every week ?? and if so how many Gallons should I take out ?? I also was talking to one of LFS owners and he suggested Phos-buster pro. Has anyone ever used it & if so does it work ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 You can add a phosban reactor, which is an easy addition and runs off of a small power head- I know a lot of people that have them and a lot of tanks I see are using them. I know when I first set up mine I asked Travis at Upscales what he uses to dose, feed and equipment and copied him as best I could-I did this because IMO his was the best tank I had seen and why not copy something that seems to work. You can buy those reactors used for about 20.00 or so or new for 40ish. Kent makes one Two Little Fishes makes one and you run GFO through them. I run one on both my tanks and am pretty sure I got a used reactor laying around if you cant find one and think you want to add one. PM me. Google Phosban reactors, do some reading and see what you think, also ask the LFS you are talking about and see what they think- Myself, I like the Internet, more opinions at the click of a mouse and form your own opinion based on pure numbers. What you are describing, like Shane mentioned just happens, it did to me and I have grown to expect it in a new (yes even 8 months) system as far as water changes, I go against the grain-its not a blanket answer and the 10-15% is a safe reply for most-It does not hurt doing it more often then less often but can depend on husbandry, supplements bio load and A LOT of varibles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 Do you have some pictures? I haven't seen anyone mention the possibility that what you have may actually be coraline. While most of us associate it with red and purple colors it can also be green. Also do you ever scrape the coraline off anything? If not then you might give that a shot. (Scraping it helps it to spread) Keep in mind though that a lot of coraline has it's drawbacks. I.E. The more you have the more time you will spend keeping it off the glass and as a result it will grow on the glass even faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hozer21 Posted September 28, 2010 Author Share Posted September 28, 2010 http://www.pnwmas.org/forums/showthread.php?t=22032 Here is my pics for now since I can't get to my computer right now my wife is working right and my laptop doesn't have any pics on it . I have tried to scape it off and it's harder than hell to take off in some spots and other its just fine . Let me know Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 I see a bit of Cyano but otherwise no big outbreaks in the pictures. The harder stuff could actually just be green coraline. Perhaps put some sort of Phospate removal in place but otherwise I wouldn't take any drastic measures based on what I see in the pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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