Algae question

[putemup]

For the last 1-2 months I've seen a real influx of algae on my glass, rocks and sand. The only thing that has changed in my tank is that I've added about 14 coral frags. Many of the frags have to be fed with shrimp.

My skimmer is an ASM (the appropriate size for my tank). The problem with the skimmer is that after about the second day after I've cleaned it, the thing seems to stop flowing into the retaining cup and sort of cakes up around the rim where the bubbles are. I'm wondering if I invested in a better quality skimmer, would this help decrease the amount of algae in my tank?

My current CUC is admittedly a little thin (uh, very thin) but reinforcements are on the way and should arrive Wednesday or Thursday. When the CUC arrives, I'm wondering if that's really going to make a difference because while feeding, I make an effort to leave the pumps off until all uneaten food gets consumed by snails or crabs.

As for water changes, I change at least 5 gallons per week on a 75 gallon tank and I'll add about another 5 gallons due to evaporation.

Both my corals and fish are doing great.

Will either a better skimmer or appropriate sized CUC make a difference?

All levels in the tank are fine except magnesium which I'm in the process of raising.

 

[ringo®]

What are you testing phosphate with? I would say a 5 gallon change a week on a tank that size is a little small. Is there a sump as well calculated into that volume? You can't count evap as changed water unfortunately.

 

[ralph atl]

You are putting more nutrients into your tank than removing which is feeding your algae.

A better skimmer might help somewhat, but you'll need to have a system of multiple attacks that remove phosphate and nitrates...

GFO, large weekly water changes 30% or so, carbon dosing, etc....

 

[putemup]

What is carbon dosing?

I do have a sump (at least 15 gallons) and a chiller

I use API test kits

 

[ralph atl]

PutEmUp;910709 wrote: What is carbon dosing?

I do have a sump (at least 15 gallons) and a chiller

I use API test kits

API is worthless, & has always been worthless....

Edit: Try searching "carbon dosing"
g.o.o.g.l.e.

After some research, I'll be happy to answer any questions.....but it's a more than a paragraph explanation, lol.

 

[darrrenjmartin]

I took a look quick look at your history. You have been at this a while. Check your exhaust vent is always clear on your asm. foam in any exhaust part will reduce or stop foam climbing the column. Adding top off does nothing to reduce or dilute anything... Not sure why you mentioned that.
Fifteen a week until you get everything straight. Then you don't have to measure anything.

Seasonal temperature hysteresis event........ Check my posts on the seachem nitrate reactor. the nitrifying bacteria only live and flourish in a perfectly heathy low nitrate tank. Any upset to balance seems to cause a runaway event. The temperature change can cause an unbalance and die off. I had a red slime start up after a Temperture anomaly. When it hits seasonal temps, I battle the heating and cooling and do something stupid, like this year.


Stop feeding..you have a nutrient issue. I feed my fish one every three days a little bit. Theres stuff for them to eats...... As long as they aren't picking corals
Even though you wait for animals to eat uneaten food, that hardly reduces organics.

Your doing calcium and alk dosing, also reduces phosphates and nitrates somewhat.


Want kind of algae? When is the last time you check your RO continuity?

 

[putemup]

I was a little concerned about how often I should be feeding both the corals and fish. Currently I feed my fish about 4 days a week and the corals probably 3.

I have hair alage.

My ro unit is reading .000 on the Tds meter.

I checked my phosphates tonight and from what I can tell they're reading 0.

I'm starting to think I may need to cut back on the amount of days I feed both fish and corals.

 

[ralph atl]

"Stop feeding fish" is like saying "stop feeding your dog"

That's ridiculous, feed your fish 2-4 times a day in small amounts of high quality food. You need to research a nutrient reduction system concentrating on removing phosphates and another removing nitrates....

Yes, fish will be fine without being fed a few days, but that's not a permanent answer.

Edit: There are only a few test kits that will measure low range phosphates, lol

Hach, DD Merck, Elos professional...

Which one are you using?

Edit:

darrrenjmartin;910800 wrote: I took a look quick look at your history. You have been at this a while. Check your exhaust vent is always clear on your asm. foam in any exhaust part will reduce or stop foam climbing the column. Adding top off does nothing to reduce or dilute anything... Not sure why you mentioned that.
Fifteen a week until you get everything straight. Then you don't have to measure anything.

Seasonal temperature hysteresis event........ Check my posts on the seachem nitrate reactor. the nitrifying bacteria only live and flourish in a perfectly heathy low nitrate tank. Any upset to balance seems to cause a runaway event. The temperature change can cause an unbalance and die off. I had a red slime start up after a Temperture anomaly. When it hits seasonal temps, I battle the heating and cooling and do something stupid, like this year.


Stop feeding..you have a nutrient issue. I feed my fish one every three days a little bit. Theres stuff for them to eats...... As long as they aren't picking corals
Even though you wait for animals to eat uneaten food, that hardly reduces organics.

Your doing calcium and alk dosing, also reduces phosphates and nitrates somewhat.


Want kind of algae? When is the last time you check your RO continuity?

Not sure where you are getting all your misinformation, but your advice isn't based on anything remotely logical, never mind based on current studies.....

 

[ralph atl]

PutEmUp;910809 wrote: I was a little concerned about how often I should be feeding both the corals and fish. Currently I feed my fish about 4 days a week and the corals probably 3.

I have hair alage.

My ro unit is reading .000 on the Tds meter.

I checked my phosphates tonight and from what I can tell they're reading 0.

I'm starting to think I may need to cut back on the amount of days I feed both fish and corals.

actually, you should listen to the person that is giving advice that has 100 post versus 9,000....as most likely he/she will wiggle their nose....lol....

good luck! I'm outta here...

 

[tbub1221]

PutEmUp;910809 wrote: .

I checked my phosphates tonight and from what I can tell they're reading 0.
.

I use to use one of the API reef master kits , I was un aware at the time it was so in accurate .
the issue isn't that it doesn't work , but rather the scail in which it measures p04 is too high to be beneficial.
it read's down to 1.0 which is high enough to kill a lot of coral.
what you will want is something like salifert , red sea , seachem . many of the higher end kits read from0.01-0.5 which is the range you want .
I went rite along for a few months just believing my phosphates were 0 because the test never changed. I'm currently using seachem phos and red sea for the rest seachem is easy and accurate IMO .
good luck getting the nutrients and algae down , I battled it myself at times.
don't forget to make sure all your bulbs are fresh also , as they go bad the color spectrum is effected negatively and it causes excess hair algae to grow as well.

 

[raz0945]

There is a lot of advise out there, so here is some more:roll: I have 10 tanks at the moment, all have had different problems-the two things that have seemed to fix these over time is #1-do 15-20% water change weekly(very important to check your RODI cartridges or you will be putting nasties back in your tank also check your Cal, ALK and very important your Mag). #2 Lighting - make sure you change your bulb at least every 12 months for T-5s(sorry I don't know what lights you are using), it's easier to change my MH at the same time too. What has causes my algae problems' i have tracked it down to-when I go 13 months I get algae, when l let my Mag get low I get algae, when my cleaning crews gets low I get algae, when I buy coral and notice that there is algae on the plug I give it to a tank that has a great cleaning crew and they clean it up(just learned that from Glen-Spike)or the algae spreads. I feed 2x a day, a new fish is fed up to 5 times a day and I do extra water changes on that tank to prevent problems. I hope this will be helpful to you! Holley

 

[ringo®]

PutEmUp;910809 wrote:

I checked my phosphates tonight and from what I can tell they're reading 0.

API kits are really only reliable for ball park estimates for what your levels are at (on a good day).

Zero readings can happen with a tank full of algae because the algae is taking it all up.

 

[jennm]

The ASM is a decent skimmer - make sure it's clean as someone else mentioned. If it's accumulating gunk in the neck, try running it a bit wetter by adjusting it, if it's clean and still not performing up to snuff. Remember too, that it will stop fractionating (any skimmer will stop) for a little while after feeding the tank, or after having your hands in the tank - oils from food or your skin change the surface tension that makes the bubbles. So keep that in mind when making adjustments.

The long and short of what most here are saying is that there is more garbage going in, than is going out, and that's what is feeding the algae. There are a bunch of different ways to export the excess nutrients - choose one that works for you, whether it's more water changes, carbon dosing or whatnot. The solution to pollution is dilution. Top-offs don't export nutrients, water changes do because you are discarding water that has excess nutrient, and replacing with clean water without nutrients.

Jenn