algae everywhere

[gotseamonkey]

hey my tank is 10 months old. im starting to get green and a teensy weensy bit of purple on the rocks. 0 nitrates and 8.4 ph. there's always green algae all over the sand. ALL OVER. what can i do to prevent this or what is the cause? it's a 17 gallon tank with a maxi jet 1200. so i dont think it's a flow problem. im running the 150w 14k sunpod over it. help please!

[ReeferSD]

How often do you do water changes? do you mix or buy from lfs?

[Zoanuts]

Reefer SD great question. What is your feeding patterns? What is your lighting and how long is your photo period and lastly how old are the bulbs?

[Samper]

Bulb age would be my first thought....secondly what is your phosphate "PO4" reading?

[Minh Nguyen]

How may fish? How much food? Protein skimmer? Snails? Sea urchin?
Algae is sign of nutrients or not enough grazer.

[KarenH]

One solution I find that's helpful with Algae is keeping your alkalinity above 8. PH and Alkalinity are not the same thing.

[gotseamonkey]

every water change 10 days at 25% , i mix my instant ocean salt very thoroughly. i feed once a day, a pinch of flake food to small pygmy angel, only fish in the tank. my light are on about 8-10 hours. only one type of lighting, MH. the bulb is about a year old. theres no skimmer and no grazers. i THINK my phosphates should be good not sure ill check later but there are a few times where the angel doesnt eat the flakes i feed it, that probably it??

[Minh Nguyen]

You have to have some grazers. Even in natural reef, if there are no grazer, the reef will be over run with algae in no time. When you do water change suction the algae off the surface of the sand, wash the sand and put it back.
I like snails and a sea urchin in my reef. No shrimp, hermit crab or crab for me.

[gotseamonkey]

whats wrong with shrimps hermits and crabs. are they more harmful in a reef? i keep hearing some people dont prefer them. are urchins compatible with most fish?

[Samper]

Crabs are all opportunistic feeders. Generally when they are small they don't harm anything however the bigger they get they tend to want meat for their diet. I do keep certain crabs with no worries. Clibanarius tricolor and Mithrax sculptus have never given me any problems. In your system I would most likely not have a crab. The potential for them to get hungry is pretty good.
A good snail cleanup crew would be your best bet.
RicksReefs

He has great cleanup crew packages and the prices are nice too. The top 5 rows under the critters section would be great for you to have some of. I haven't spoken to him in a while but if you can reach him he will build you a crew to suit your system. Your price shouldn't be bad at all.

[Minh Nguyen]

One of the very best grazer is Stomatella varia. This snail will multiply in our tank and essentially have a self renew population. These snails do not have a full shell and is very succeptable to crustacean predation. Other scavengers, the Bristle worms also very susceptible to same predation pressure. Because of this reason, I don't keep any of the larger crustacean in my tank.
For larger algae, sea urchin is excellent. They will also graze on Coraline algae and give the rock a variegated color thus more beautiful, IMO.

[Samper]

Minh I have had Stomatella varia in the past but lost them when a heater stuck on in my nano. I haven't had any since. I was new to reefkeeping when I noticed them and only saw them when the lights were out but they were all over doing a great job. If you happen to have a bunch would you be willing to send some my way?

[Minh Nguyen]

It is best to get these locally or at the LFS. If you cannot do this, let me know. Also, there are several MO places that sell these for the minimal amount except the mailing cost.

[Samper]

There is nothing locally.
Rick has em....I just can't get ahold of him lately.
Thanks though.

[Minh Nguyen]

One of the Conch would eat most of the algae in the sand. I would not recommend a Queen Conch because they require a large area, but a Fighting Conch or a Hawkwing Conch would be OK for a smaller tank.

[gotseamonkey]

i have a few conches in my tank. i got them for free and i dont know how. anyways, i bought 2 snails yesterday. one snail seems to be doing its job while the other one is still in the same place since yesterday...

[Zoanuts]

i have a few conches in my tank. i got them for free and i dont know how. anyways, i bought 2 snails yesterday. one snail seems to be doing its job while the other one is still in the same place since yesterday...

Words of wisdom, Make sure you are feeding tank inhabitants well or the Conches with eat you snails. I have encountered this problem until I put the
Conches in the sump.

[Minh Nguyen]

Strombus alatus (Fighting conch), Strombus raninus (Hawkwing conch), Strombus gigas (Queen Conch) are all algae eater, not carnivores. I am not sure which kind of conch Zoanuts talking about but likely not these three.

[Zoanuts]

Queen Conch!!! I wouldn't or didn't believe it either. But opportunistic they became.