Algae Control...

[bg7003]

In my 20 gallon, i have soo much algae. I put a bunch of turbo snails in, a lawn mower blenny, and there hardly doing anything. My sand on the bottom is green. Its kinda getting out of control. Should i use algaecide thats reef safe? but that really dosent make sense since the corals have photosynthetic cells as well.. What should i do?

 

[CageUK]

I would check your nitrates and phosphates as they are the most likely candidate for your Algae.

If they are high then you need to take steps to reduce them. It could be that the nitrates still read low (because the algae will be consuming them).

What I would suggest first of all, is clear as much of the algae out as possible. If possible, remove the rock and scrub it with a clean brush. Leave the lights off for a couple of days then turn them on with a reduced light cycle (try 4-5 hours to start with). This should dramatically slow down the growth of the algae while you then deal with the main problem.

Buy some rowaphos and some de-nitrate (or similar products) and put it into your filter chamber/sump or whatever you have.

Once the readings have reached an acceptable level you can then start to increase the light cycle back to normal over the period of a few days (just to keep an eye on things).

Good luck

OH and I forgot to say. It's worth trying to establish whether your lights are still good. I have a gut feeling (NOT established fact) that old lights contribute to problems such as these. Either way if your lights are out of date, they are not doing much good to your tank (especially if you have a reef).

 

[Crazy fishes]

Where is Santa_monica with his turf algae scrubber when you need him ??

Regards

 

[bg7003]

ok thanks. i'll check all that. I replaced my bulbs a couple weeks ago for my t-5 HO's from coral life so i dont think its that, but thanks for all the advice