HELP! Algae killing zoos

[Wolfgang8810]

Algae is erupting everywhere!! It is a green brown color. It kind of reminds me of diatoms but im 7 months into this now. Does anyone have a clue what it might be? It covers my sand durring the day then dissappears at night. It is really affecting my zoos. most of them wont even open for the last 5 days. I have 4 species of them and they are taking it the same. All unhappy and closed.

Ammonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-0
phosphate-0
calcium-500
ph-8.2
sal-1.024
alk-good.

It seems i am doing everything right from the chemistries i can test for. I havent added anything new to the tank in about a month.

Pretty much the only think i can think of that MIGHT have something to do with this is I use distilled water for top offs.

Thank you for your time and insight.

Mark

[Triggerjay]

Could be either diatoms, or Dinoflagellates.

Jason

[rlcline76]

What does "good" mean for alk? What test kits are you using? Anyway you could get an LFS to doublecheck those parameters just in case?
Can you get us a pic?

[AQTCJAK]

how old are your lights?

[CMG]

How old are your light bulbs? Also your phsphates read 0 but that may be ebcause the algae is consuming all of them. Do you have a phosbane reactor? If you need one quick and cheap you can go to my chronicle and do a search for "reactor" and there will be a link posted to a gatoraide bottle DIY project. I made one and have pics on there too.

What I did to get rid of some green algae I had was to first put a pad of phosphate removing padding in my sump then I got a filter sock. Put the filter sock in the sump tihe one end of a tank vacum tubing in the sock and the other in the tank. Create a syphon and vacum all the algae into the sock. Then your algae is gone and hopefully you are eliminating their food source by getting rid of phosphates and any lighting issues. This doesnt really work for hair algae cause it is really stuck to the rock. Even a tooth brush wont get some of it off!! You need tweezers or an animal that eats it.

[Wolfgang8810]

I use an API Master reef test kit. But for alk i still use the dip strip. I dont have a phosbane reactor or a sump but i think i will try that. My SPS and LPS are doing great its just the zoos that aer being pissed off My GSP aren't opening up either.The distilled water top offs are ok then? Here is a picture.

[CMG]

You have a b&W clown!!!! I love those! I treid one and it died, very sad for me, I will try again soon though.

I dont know about the distilled top offs but like I said you need to make sure your lights are not out of date, then you need to get some phophate pad and stick it in your filtering system somewhere so it can remove the phosphates. You can vacum the algae out of the tank but dont vacum too close to the GSP or it may suck it in, instead use a turnkey bastor to blow off the algae and suck it up with the vacum as it comes off.

[Wolfgang8810]

the alge is stuck on good. It dosent blow off. But i may try again.

How would my lights be out of date?

I think ill throw another powerhead in there and add some phosphate pad. I have been feeding my sun coral frozen mysis shrimp 2-4 times a week its made by hakari. I havent been soaking it before feeding but maybe ill start. This is really ugly and i miss my zoos.

The black clown is named Toby and the orange one Ollie. toby is an attack fish though. i can rarely feed my sun coral wthout being bitten multiple times.

[seafansar]

Looks like cyanobacteria. I had a bad outbreak of that and used red slime remover to get rid of it. That worked, but I didn't have any corals in the tank, just fish and hermits. Nothing died, but I don't think I'd try it now with the corals and anemone in the tank.

You could try adding more hermits or snails to eat it and add more flow. And I don't really agree with the whole bad lights thing. My algae population exploded after I got my brand new MH set up, but it's under control now.

I would say manually remove all you can, add things that will eat it, add more flow on the rocks and bottom, and keep the nitrates and phosphates to a min. That's what I did when I had a bad hair algae outbreak. There are too many kinds of bad algae out there!

Good luck! May take a few weeks to totally get rid of it, but it's possible.

[CMG]

If its stuck on there good, like hair algae does, use a toothbrush. I stick both arms in the tank, one has a toothbrush the other has the syphon hose. The hose is placed right next to the brush and I brish towards the hose and it all gets sucked in and down into the filter sock at the bottom and the water drains into the sump. So you never lose water. If you dont have a sump then you use a bucket and do the same thing except you have to stop when the bucket gets full and epty it back in the tank.

What we mean by lgihts being out of date is that you have to change your light bulbs every so often because as they get older the light spectrum changes. Depends on what kind o lights you are using. PC lightin is changed really often and LED's last until armagedon....hehe

[lcstorc]

Be sure to rinse that mysis in RO. Not just soak it but rinse it. That is likely one of your sources of phosphates.

[CMG]

How do you rinse it? Its so small??

[Wolfgang8810]

I bought a phosphate pad. ill throw that in tonight when the PO4 is likley to be at its highest. I have used the toothbrush but not with a syphon. Ill have to try that soon. Like tomorrow. Ill try to test my nitrate and phosphate tonight after lights are out for 6 hours.

How would i rinse the mysis?

[vdituri]

I use a brine shrimp net and run the RO water thru it.

[Wolfgang8810]

ok sounds good. how may time a week does sun coarl nee to be fed? Ive been doing pretty much everyother day