Algae problem

[koopa]

There's still algae growth on the liverock and I ahve to remove it manually each month as well as on the sand. Is there an effective way to remove them? A phosphate remover thingy is not an option because i have a 20 gallon tank.

[Parrothead]

Hey Koopa,

Can you post a pic of the algea, so we know what kind of algea we are dealing with here

[koopa]

Hey Koopa,

Can you post a pic of the algea, so we know what kind of algea we are dealing with here

green hair algae...which is spreading everywhere. APart from adding critters are like algae control products effective? If so, which products are?

[Parrothead]

do a nitrate test and post results,

try to manually remove as much as you can

Get a mexican turbo snail or two

Check out lee's sticky on doing a large water change
Heres the link

How to Make a Successful Water Change

Keep us posted

[koopa]

this is after the water change and removing the algae manually lol. Nitrates are 0 or close to it.

[julianeduardo85]

this is after the water change and removing the algae manually lol. Nitrates are 0 or close to it.

Nice rock! So erm, like a previous poster said, I would add a Mexican turbo snail, he'll clean that rock down completely. More importantly though, I would say several factors can help reduce nuisance algae: increased water flow (add a powerhead), more live rock for natural filtration, more frequent water changes (I now do 10% weekly), more frequent filter pad replacement, adding a refugium with algae and critters like copepods, and adding a skimmer (probably not feasible considering the size of your tank).

Hope that helps!