[bguile]

Take a look at these and let me know what I have and how to get rid of it. I originally thought it was growing b/c I was using RO water. I moved and bought a filter and switched to DI water and this stuff is still growing. I don't feed anything b/c the tank is fallow and has been for at least 3 months. Even during my move I broke down the tank and removed as much algae/cyano as I could and the stuff just grows back.





All help is welcomed. Im all out of answers!

[CSeaSee]

For starters:
When's the last time you did a WC/ how often? And... are you using a skimmer? How recent was your move, and how did you accomplish your move?

[zhenya]

For starters, I don;t think it is a cyano but old ugly hair algae. Given that you have a bare bottom tank, and not that much of the live rock, I would probably take the rock out and give it a good ole scrub. And while you have the rock out I would take as much water out as possible, scrape all that crap off the bottom, replace the water and put the rock back. Turn your skimmer to produce wet and run it like that with a shorter light period for a while. In a couple of weeks do another water change but make sure your water is clean and free of NO3 and PO4. RO/DI would be preferable and see how your algae is behaving. Keep removing it by hand if it reappears and stay on it untill you beat it. Don't give up!

[bguile]

I did a water change about 2 weeks ago when I "scrubbed" each rock. There wasn't much if any algae left on it when i was done, or at least that I could see. I haven't plumbed my skimmer as of yet, although I was facing the same algae problem before I moved with it plumbed. I tried a RDSB, reducing light cycle and of course frequent water changes.

I noticed this am that my xenia in the tank were all leaning to the right, toward sunlight. There is no direct sunlight on the tank, but I guess just enough to attract light loving corals/weeds and algae. I blocked off the light on that side of the tank, so I'll see if that helps any.

[Reefland]

I don't think it is sunlight. Algae problems are due to excessive nutrients, nitrates and or phosphates. Frequent water changes, heavy skimming, etc. are the only cure. I would continue to manually remove the algae by scrubbing it, and doing 5-10% weekly water changes with good source water.

[bguile]

Since the last time we spoke, I haven't made any changes besides what's been mentioned before and the algae has cleared up a lot. So I figure the sunlight did contribute some. I found no nitrates while testing the display water, but I really didn't expect to since there's algae growing and probably taking it all. I did test my source water and found somewhere between .5 and 1ppm nitrate. Im using an RO/DI unit with TDS meter that reads 45 for source and 0 post filter. I'm unable to find my phosphate test at this time, but don't really expect to find much if any. So what's next? You don't think .5ppm NO3 could be the problem could it?? I had a tank in the past that I couldn't get below 40ppm and never had algae blooms. Could it be the light? In the past I used 10K MH Coralife (I believe). This one is 14K. I think it's a Hamilton but I'm not sure. Any suggestions??

[Frodo]

How long has it been since you moved it? Maybe you uncycled the tank and you are just having an algea bloom, just an idea.

[bguile]

Good possibility. It took me 3 weeks after my move before I could get the tank setup again. I did clean it out before putting everything back in. The rock sat in a BRUTE with PH and heater and 6 hrs of light until I could get it in the tank. I didn't expect that there would be a need for the tank to cycle since I had already cured rock. I guess I just never thought about that initial algae bloom. Could be. I'll get to manually cleaning the rest of it and get my skimmer plumbed and continue my normal practices and see what happens.

Thanks!

edit: I moved in mid January so the tank was resetup in February.

[Reefland]

It sounds to me like it is just a bloom due to being a new tank. Stay the course with your water changes and I will sure it will clear up with due time, without doing anything differently.