Hair Algae Problem

[sstanle4]

I've been battling hair algae for about two months now. I've tried everything I can think of to get rid of this stuff- emeralds, turbos, snails, I added a blenny, ChemiPure elite, phosguard, matrix.... I've just been plucking and siphoning every week.. But! The other day I discovered that some of my LEDs are not the color they're supposed to be- they've got a greenish tint to them.. There's no telling how long they've been like that, but they weren't like that when I got them in Feb. I've been told that a bad spectrum could have a lot to do with my algae growth. I emailed the company I bought my lights from (bc I have a 1 year warranty) and his reply was "That's weird." He wanted me to ship him my lights so he could "take a look". I only have one light. I can't go 3 weeks without light. -facepalm- I just don't know what to do about this stuff... any help/advise would be greatly appreciated.

This pic was taken by putting a mirror over my tank so you can see all the lights at the same time. And you can see that 2 (for sure) are a lot brighter. Maybe that's the color they're supposed to be, and the others aren't working right? Idk!
120w Crees. 100% blue / 100% white

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[jennm]

Algae needs light... and food. Have you tested your water parameters? If so, please post them - they might shed more light (pardon the pun) on the issue.

If you haven't tested, there's your starting point.

How long do you run your lights every day? Yes, spectrum can encourage algae growth, but without a food source (too many nutrients in the water), it won't take over.

What size tank, how long it's been up and running, how often you feed, how much/how often you do water changes...all this info will help us figure out "why".

Jenn

 

[mcphock]

Jenn is correct. We need the starting point. In my first tank, several years ago, I had very high phosphates .40-.75 (Ugh!!). No matter what chemical means I tried, I could not get enough out of the water to combat the algae. For my newest tank, put up over a year ago, careful administration of vodka has kept phosphate and nitrate around .02.

 

[sstanle4]

pH 8.3, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate ~20-30, PO4 0. That's all we've tested for recently. API test kits. Plan on snagging my friend's Red Sea kit for mag, cal, and alk soon. We use RODI water on all our tanks. And I'm the only one with this stuff.
Lights run 12 hour days. That's what we've always run on all our tanks. But I've been considering knocking it down to two 6 hour periods.
36 gallon bowfront. It's hard to say how long it's been up. Total, nearly 3 years, between 3 transfers/upgrades. The 36 in particular has been up since may/june.
Feed once a day or every other day.
Water changes once every two weeks.

 

[jennm]

It's your nitrate.... assuming that the API (junk) kit is correct - which it may, or may not be.

Cut back your lights - no more than 10 hours. You can split that up if you want to.

If the nitrate is accurate, you might want to step up water changes to once a week. Smaller, more frequent water changes actually change more net water over time, than bigger changes, at longer intervals. That keeps the water quality more consistent.

Do you have substrate? If so, how deep is it and do you vacuum it? And what kind of filtration do you have?

Now we're getting somewhere...

Jenn

 

[brandonmason]

LEDs rarely change spectrum I'm thinking nutrients fuel. Are you using RODI water. If so what do you store your water in, how often and how much do you feed. And like Jenn said parameters would help us help you

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2

 

[sstanle4]

I don't think the test is accurate. I've tried to bring them down before and they wouldn't budge. 5 gallons every other day for a month...nothing. Lol So I figure the test is bad.
I have a 2" sand bed and I do vacuum occasionally. Once a month or so. And I vacuum off my rocks whenever I do water changes.
I have a 20 gallon sump. No fuge. Just CPE, phosguard, matrix.
I promise I don't over feed. I'm really picky about my feeding. I won't even let my fiance feed bc I want to make sure we don't have excess food in our tanks.

 

[sstanle4]

We store our salt RODI water in those 5 gallon jugs you get from the lfs. Fresh is kept in a brute for top off.

 

[jennm]

Well, something is feeding the algae. API test is notoriously unreliable, but the algae growth supports an excess of nutrients. Your first thing should be to get another opinion on all the parameters using a reliable test kit.

Symptoms do not lie, even if a test kit does.

I'd shorten the photoperiod a bit too. That alone won't solve the problem, but it won't make it worse.

Jenn

 

[sstanle4]

I'll try to get another test kit. My thinking is, if my corals and fishes are happy, my nitrates can't be that high...
I'm more concerned about my lights than I am my nitrates. I've had them up to 80 before with no issues (same test though). But here in the past two weeks or so, I had an acro and a birds nest start rtn. I removed them from my tank put them in my nano. The next day, they were both polyped out and rtn had stopped. I've had to remove all sps from my tank except my montis bc their color has diminished a lot recently. These lights are not the same color they were when I got them in Feb.

 

[jennm]

The problem with the lights as it pertains to the corals, is likely a totally separate issue than the hair algae, other than the fact that the algae needs light.

I've seen nitrates off the charts, but inhabitants "look fine". I've seen that, more times than I would care to count. Some corals are more sensitive than others to nitrate, some actually prefer a *little bit* of nitrate as they can take it up. Many fish can tolerate ridiculous rates of nitrate - but that doesn't mean they should. Over time, nitrate can impair the fishes' gills.

Like I said, symptoms don't lie. I'd get that water tested ASAP, and then respond accordingly.

Jenn

 

[cshack5405]

I had the same problem and I changed my sand bed and never had the problem again. I guess when I was vacuuming it out I wasn't getting as much as I truly thought I was out :/

 

[mcphock]

Remember, your test kits very well may be delivering 'false' readings because the algae are using</em> the nitrate and phosphate to grow. Or because they're junk.

Either way, spectral shift in your lights, if that is the case, isn't going to solely</em> cause the issue you're having.

The bottom line is, you're going to need to reduce nutrients one way or another.

 

[sstanle4]

I'm telling y'all, I'm sure my test is bad. I just sat up my nano tank about a month ago.. hadn't put anything in it yet, and nitrates were 20. My nitrates have been between 20 and 40 for the past two years according to this test. Even got up to 80+. I'm borrowing a salifert nitrate test from our friends tomorrow. So we'll see what that says.

 

[jennm]

If your API test kit is over 2 years old, I guarantee it's bad.

The only way to know for sure, what is going on, is to get a full panel of water tests, including phosphate and nitrate, to confirm the problem. I'd bet there's an excess of one or the other, or both. Even if they show up "low" in the water, they're there, and the algae is taking it up as fertilizer. The solution is a regimen of manual removal and water changes, to export the nutrients that are bound up in the algae, and dilute what may be remaining in the water column, and prevent it from being bound up again in a new crop of algae.

Sometimes it takes a few consecutive tear-down-scrub-replace sessions to get the upper hand on it - but that method, while labour-intensive, doesn't fail.

Jenn

 

[ralph atl]

JennM;905843 wrote: If your API test kit is over 2 years old, I guarantee it's bad.

The only way to know for sure, what is going on, is to get a full panel of water tests, including phosphate and nitrate, to confirm the problem. I'd bet there's an excess of one or the other, or both. Even if they show up "low" in the water, they're there, and the algae is taking it up as fertilizer. The solution is a regimen of manual removal and water changes, to export the nutrients that are bound up in the algae, and dilute what may be remaining in the water column, and prevent it from being bound up again in a new crop of algae.

Sometimes it takes a few consecutive tear-down-scrub-replace sessions to get the upper hand on it - but that method, while labour-intensive, doesn't fail.

Jenn

agree here....

you are not removing enough nutients that you are putting in tank!

it's simple!

Also, those test kits suck! That's simple!

You have high phosphates & high nitrates (or one, both, etc)

SO, YOU need to come up with a system to remove them!

30% Large water changes weekly or 2x's...whatever it takes...
gfo (change weekly)
carbon
biopellets
denitraters
great skimmer
high quality foods, small feeds more often
carbon dosing [vodka (NEED ID!), vinegar, whatever....]

you can take the rock out and treat with H2O2 for 10 minutes at 3%....rinse & put back in...





blah, blah.....same post X 6,000

research a little......

 

[sstanle4]

I did my research. And nothing has worked. That's why I asked y'all for help. But thanks for making me feel like an idiot. I appreciate it. Please close thread.

 

[mcphock]

I can almost certainly say making you feel like an idiot was not his intent. But, that being said, we're trying to tell you the answer to your problem. Too many nutrients no matter what your test kit says</em>. That's why you're having this problem, and it wont go away until you correct it.

 

[kvaughn888]

Y'all are rude as hell! This is why more and more people are getting off this forum. It is stupid that just because we are not in the click of ARC then y'all have the right to jump all over us it is wrong and just bull ****. This is why we never post on here when we have a question. Y'all lose many people because of this. Again y'all are just straight up rude as hell.

Edit: And who ever is the "website" guy why in the world do we not have the power to remove our own post or close them? Everyone spends 30 bucks a year on this thing and to be honest, it does not get taken care of like it should. When it takes a full 30 sec to open your site yeah it sucks. I am sorry but all this is just wrong.

 

[ralph atl]

McPhock;905850 wrote: I can almost certainly say making you feel like an idiot was not his intent. But, that being said, we're trying to tell you the answer to your problem. Too many nutrients no matter what your test kit says</em>. That's why you're having this problem, and it wont go away until you correct it.

Exactly! I am taking time from my day to give you advice...and excellent advice that will work....