Algae outbreak on an established tank

[glarior]

I am having an algae outbreak. Its a green algae on the glass. I am thinking it could be metal halide bulb related but not 100% sure... what do you think?

Setup - 110g tank, 20g sump w/fuge, 2x250w metal halides on for 6hrs/day, 4x65w actinic 8hrs/day, ~130lbs of live rock, live sand. Lots of soft corals and a few fish.

Tank parameters -
KH - 130 (seems low???)
Ca - 440
PH - 8.3-8.4
Phosphate - 0
Nitrate - 5 or less (hard to read the color)
Nitrite - .1 or less
Iron - 0
Ammonia - 0 - 0.1

[tebstan]

[FONT=Tahoma]I am having an algae outbreak. Its a green algae on the glass.


That's it? Just on the gl*****

Is it really bad enough to be called an outbreak?

What's in the fuge, and had it been trimmed recently?


... Do you use tap water? Nitrates have been reading high in it lately.

[alexdmg]

Good point tebstan. My tank gets green algae on the glass on a regular basis, but thats part of an established tank.

If it's more than a little green algae then I would look at anything that might have changed recently. Is anyone else helping with the feeding? Did you change the type of food that you feed your corals? How old are your lights and at what Kelvin? Are you using RO water and if so whats the TDS? When was your last water change and the time before then? Also, take your water to your LFS to have them double check your water to be sure your testers are not off. Your levels look right, but your tank is saying something different.

Just some suggestions to check. ;-)

[glarior]

That's it? Just on the gl*****

Is it really bad enough to be called an outbreak?

What's in the fuge, and had it been trimmed recently?


... Do you use tap water? Nitrates have been reading high in it lately.

Correct, just on the glass. I call it an outbreak because three days ago it was not there and now its all over the glass. Fuge has some macro algae that is about 4 weeks old. My old macro died when I was trying to rid my tank of cyano outbreak last year. It has not been trimmed because its still growing. Actually, when should you trim the fuge? I never done it before with my old one.

I don't use tapwater... RO/DI setup. Nitrates have not tested for about a month or more. Appeared the same as today between 0mg/l and 5mg/l. It is really hard to tell the difference between 0mg/l and 5mg/l. Test booklet says if 50 or above preform 20% water change.

On the brightside my snails are loving it lol

[glarior]

Good point tebstan. My tank gets green algae on the glass on a regular basis, but thats part of an established tank.

If it's more than a little green algae then I would look at anything that might have changed recently. Is anyone else helping with the feeding? Did you change the type of food that you feed your corals? How old are your lights and at what Kelvin? Are you using RO water and if so whats the TDS? When was your last water change and the time before then? Also, take your water to your LFS to have them double check your water to be sure your testers are not off. Your levels look right, but your tank is saying something different.

Just some suggestions to check. ;-)

Nothing has changed in the past 4 weeks. Lights are about 6-8 months old and they are 10k's. Same food as the the fish/corals always get. Don't know the exact TDS but filters are not old and still good. I have the same water test kit as the LFS just newer. They doubled checked my values last month and they were spot on.

:confused:

[ismvel]

RO/DI setup.

How old are your filters / resin / DI cartridge?
Do you have a TDS meter to check what it is coming out at?

[ismvel]

Beat me to the punch on that.

[alexdmg]

Ismvel, lol great minds think alike.

Glarior, is it green hair algae, a hard green algae, or just a slime green algae? Is it all over your rocks as well? What's you magnesium level? A higher mag level could keep your algae down, just depends on the type.

[glarior]

Filters are about 6-7 months old. Don't have a TDS meter.. would have to drive to SA to have that tested. Might do that this coming week.

Its a slime algae that I have. Don't notice anything on the rocks or corals.

[Big_Pun]

I get green algae every 2-3 days on my glass but i feed my corals heavily. even with no measurable nitrates from running bio-pellets I still get it. I dont think there is anything to worry about, just bust out the mag float.

[alexdmg]

Ditto, I get algae on my glass every couple of days. Do what I did and make it one of your kids chores to clean the glass. Lol (older kids only! Lol

[Reefer4ever]

I'm an older kid and I won't let my mom use the mag float unless I'm watching. LOL She made a 5 inch scratch on it and now I don't trust her with it. haha

[alexdmg]

Haha!!

[jrnannery]

How many of you guys are running ATSs? Algal Turf Scrubbers?

[alexdmg]

Haven't played with them.

[glarior]

Nope, never played with ATS

Thanks everyone for the info.