Mass Algea Problem...

[PRW1988]

Alright, so I've got a 29gallon nano saltwater tank, it's a fish and live rock only tank (until I save the $300 for the lighting upgrade), the problem I've been having is that I am constently having algea break outs. I went to the specialty saltwater store by my house (SeaUMarine) and the guy told me to cut back on my lighting, which I currently have on for 10-12hours a day, I've cut it down to about 6 hours at the most per day now. He recommened snails for the tank and told me the general rule of thumb for snails is 1 for every 3 gallons. So 9 would do, but I could stretch it and fit in 10 possibly, is there anything else other than snails, constant scrubbing of the algea and cutting back on the lighting that I can do?


PS, the algea is just normal green algea.

 

[idlefingers]

What's your nitrate/phosphate levels like? They're big algae nutrients so if you can get them as low as possible, you can help to "starve" the algae of it's nutrients.

 

[Filmoholic]

Are you using any phosphate remover? Rowaphos? sounds like the problem.

 

[sophos9]

How long has the tank been running?

 

[PRW1988]

Tanks been running for about 4-5 months now. I'm not using any phosphate removers, thanks for that tip, I'll pick some up from work tomorrow. Does anybody know if the Phosphate remoing pillow things work? I think they're called phosphX, not 100% though.

 

[Musho3210]

rowaphos and phosban are considered the best. I use phosban with good results.

 

[norite]

You could also build a small sump and pack it with macro algae, e.g. caulerpa

 

[PRW1988]

It's only a 29gallon tank, so the sump won't work with the stand I have, already looked into it lol, Phosban or rowaphos huh, I'll take a look when I go into work tonight, has anybody used the phosphate remover in the pillow form? or is it better to use a liquid?

 

[sacramonel]

A sump may not be feasible, but a refugium would. They have refugiums on the market that hang on the back of the tank. Or you could fabricate your own. They aren't too hard to make.

 

[norite]

I have roughly the same sized tank as yours ~120 liter. I have a small 12 liter aquarium as a refugium, by way of a syphon off the main tank, and returned via a canister filter. I packed the ref. with lots of macro algae, and in about a week, my nitrates basically halved, from about 40-50ppm to around 20-30ppm
As far as phosphate remover goes, I'm using Rowaphos. It comes with a little bag that you can put the crystals into, then put this into your canister filter, or leave it in your refugium.

 

[Filmoholic]

Rowaphos works really good.I would get a phosban reactor and put the rowaphos into it. You can set the output too 0ppm.

 

[PRW1988]

How exactly would I go about making a refugium?

 

[SkiFletch]

How exactly would I go about making a refugium?

Cheat . Get a larger HOB filter, remove the media in it, and replace that with chaetomorpha algae. Then get some type of clamp on lighting for it and you're set.

I'm gonna offer 2 more short-term solutions here. While removing phosphates with refugiums or rowaphos/phosban needs to be your long-term goals, you can do something in the short term. Turn your lights off for 3 days and don't feed the fish. If the tank gets direct natural sunlight from a window next to it, cover that side with a blanket/towel but otherwise just keep the aquarium's light off for 3 days. Sounds crazy but it'll kill off all your algae and higher animals like fish, shrimp, and corals are unharmed.

 

[thefirethief]

out of curiousity, what sort of stocking level do you have? That, over-feeding and lack of water changes are big factors when it comes to increased nitrate/phosphate, as you probably already know.


Also, why not have macroalgaes in the display tank? I'm no expert but I use plants in my freshwater tanks to purify the water, keeping them algae free so I'm hoping to use macro's in my marine tank to do the same job.


Mark

 

[Musho3210]

yes you could have macro algae in your display as well, you get the added benefit of a higher pod population in your tank with it as well.