New Tank

[rodg98133]

Hi there. I am new to marine tanks and have just bought a tank and am collecting it tommorow. It has a protein skimmer with it but it only sometimes works. The problem is everything in the tank is covered in green algae. All the rock is covered in the stuff. How do i get rid of this? Is this because of the protein skimmer? Is there any creatures i can buy that will clean this up? I have seen a 'clean up crew' for sale at my lfs will this do any good?
Cheers guys sorry for the newb questions.

 

[Musho3210]

what size tank and what skimmer?

Skimmers hel get rid of DOC (dissolved organic compounds). If the DOC's dont get picked up in the skimmer, they break down to more simple compounds, stuff like nitrate and phosphates. Nitrates and phosphates are the leading contributor to algae...

The best way to get rid of nitrate and phosphate is water changes. Protein skimmers help to not let them get high that fast, but they will still be some. OTher ways to lower the nitrate and phosphates is to use RO water (which is just basically pure water) or running GFO (granular ferric oxide) a phosphate binding material.

And finally, yes, there are some marine organisms that eat algae, stuff like snails (turbos, astraea, cerith) or hermit crabs (blue legged, red legged, hermits are a bit more of a risk of eating other things or killing snails for their shells) as well as some fish.

 

[rodg98133]

Its is roughly 37gallons and the skimmer is a HOB type but i'm unsure of the make.

 

[SkiFletch]

US or UK? And what model skimmer?

Since the tank is currently over-run with algae, you will need to remove it when you purchase it manually, and look into ways of preventing its re-occurrence. Obviously, getting the skimmer running properly will be a significant task, but other methods may presen themselves.

Do you wish to keep fish, corals, inverts, or some combination of the three in this tank?

 

[rodg98133]

I would like to keep a combination of all 3. When you say 'remove it manually' do you just mean pull it all of? The LR is totaly covered in the stuff so will pulling this off not affect the life in any way?

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, get some very small flexible tubing (1/4"-5/16" ID) and siphon it out with that. You may have to suck it up into the tube, pinch it on the outside of the tube, rip it off the rock, and then let the siphon remove it from the water