[bguile]

I haven't posted in a couple weeks b/c my Nano is going good and all my test parameters seem to be in order. However, there has been a great "bloom" of this green stuff in my tank...looks like grass. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? When it started I left it cause it looked harmless, now it's all over the tank. Especially on the back wall that doesn't get cleaned. Some of it is so long, my clowns seem to want to host in it ! Is this a good thing or am I not doing something I should be doing? I have done 10% water changes every week since I've added the livestock. Last test today yeilded 1.021, and 0 ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate (or at least close to 0 for nitrate).

All help and advice is appreciated.

[Reefland]

That would be a case of hair algae without a doubt, Derbesia.

New tanks go through stages of different types of algae blooms; diatoms, cyanobacteria and then hair algae. There is a source of nutrients from somewhere that needs to be identified and solved, perhaps more aggressive protein skimming, the use of RO/DI water or maybe just reduced feedings.

There are some pretty easy to acquire animals that will eat hair algae; Mexican Turbo Snails are a good choice and you might look into acquiring a few. I would however actively attack the bloom to make sure it does not grow over any corals that you have in your tank which may suffocate them.

[patsfan1130]

Originally Posted by Reefland

That would be a case of hair algae without a doubt, Derbesia.

New tanks go through stages of different types of algae blooms; diatoms, cyanobacteria and then hair algae. There is a source of nutrients from somewhere that needs to be identified and solved, perhaps more aggressive protein skimming, the use of RO/DI water or maybe just reduced feedings.

There are some pretty easy to acquire animals that will eat hair algae; Mexican Turbo Snails are a good choice and you might look into acquiring a few. I would however actively attack the bloom to make sure it does not grow over any corals that you have in your tank which may suffocate them.

Whoa! I agree with Scott

What are your phosphates at? Get an RO/DI unit if your using tap. what are you using for equipment?

[bguile]

Thanks for the responses. I dont have a protein skimmer running as I was told I should be able to get by since I only have 2 clowns, live rock, and a few crabs (the tank..not me ). Also, of all the protein skimmers I've seen they seem to be very large for my little JBJ 12g Nano Cube. These units are all enclosed so adding one would require some modification to the hood, unless you guys know of some other method I could use. I'll take a look into the turbo snails, but I bought a few mexican blue legs when I went through the diatoms stage. It's funny cause I've seen a few of them crawling up the back wall in the hair algae like spiderman or something.

My equipment is just what came with the tank. Info here: http://www.jbjlighting.com/sys_nanocube.html.

All help and suggestions appreciated. Thanks again.

[patsfan1130]

Originally Posted by bguile

Thanks for the responses. I dont have a protein skimmer running as I was told I should be able to get by since I only have 2 clowns, live rock, and a few crabs (the tank..not me ). Also, of all the protein skimmers I've seen they seem to be very large for my little JBJ 12g Nano Cube. These units are all enclosed so adding one would require some modification to the hood, unless you guys know of some other method I could use. I'll take a look into the turbo snails, but I bought a few mexican blue legs when I went through the diatoms stage. It's funny cause I've seen a few of them crawling up the back wall in the hair algae like spiderman or something.

My equipment is just what came with the tank. Info here: http://www.jbjlighting.com/sys_nanocube.html.

All help and suggestions appreciated. Thanks again.

So you are not using RO/DI water? correct? I would be willing to bet that your tap water is high in phosphates and giving you this mad hair algae. test the tap water and post results please.

[bguile]

No, I am not using RO/DI water. It's tap. I started using filtered water 2 weeks ago but have only done 2-10% water changes since. I will have to get a phosphate test kit in order to post. I'll get one tomorrow.

[bguile]

Ok. So I visited the LFS and picked up a Mexican Turbo Snail and a phosphate test kit. I did a 20% water change but not before I tested the water in the tank. I've attached a picture of the results which matches 0 phosphates . I followed the instructions exactly and this is the results of the second one I did just to make sure. The only thing I can think that may have caused the original outbreak is that when I added the clowns they didn't eat much and 1 or 2 pieces of food would get blown into the crushed coral and rock. I thought the crabs (Emeralds and blue legs) would take care of them as I would always see them run from there spot to chase it down .

Well, the guy told me that one should do and in about 2 weeks it'll all be gone. We'll see what happens. Also, if you guys have any other suggestions let me know.

Thanks.

[Reefland]

When there are algae outbreaks, it's hard to get an accurate measure of your nitrate and phosphate reading as the algae could be consuming it faster than you can test for it.

There are a couple of things I would do. First is use filtered water, if not from an RO/DI unit then distilled water from the grocery store. Next I would reduce the amount of food entering the tank at each feeding, just to be sure.

[bguile]

Ok. I'll start there. The turbo snail has started to eat a bit of it already. The guy at the LFS said he should clear the whole thing in about 2 weeks.

[bguile]

Ok. So I've returned from vacation everything seems to still be ok, but there is still a lot of algae in the tank. First thing I did was test my tap water for phospates and again came up with nothing, so the source must be something in the tank. Do you think I should begin to scrape away the algae and do a (20%) change?

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by bguile

Ok. So I've returned from vacation everything seems to still be ok, but there is still a lot of algae in the tank. First thing I did was test my tap water for phospates and again came up with nothing, so the source must be something in the tank. Do you think I should begin to scrape away the algae and do a (20%) change?

Hi bguile,

May I ask you what brand name of phosphate test kit you are using? If anything, I would re-check your tap water with another brand kit,just to be sure that you are not getting false reading. If all fails,I would ask your local water supply company to test your water, most do it for free. As far as scraping it, be careful not to let any of it escape from you and remove it quicly as you scrape.Doing it during the water change is always best,IMO.

[Sueet]

Hiya... Just for the record, I have a small tank which has algae problems constantly, even tho I don't feed (there's nothing in the tank cept a few snails and some macro-algae), use ro-di water, etc. The problem with it is the heat... my AC is on the blink, and so the tank water gets pretty warm at times, the algae just goes nuts after a while of that, so maybe it's what your problem is too?

[bguile]

Its a test kit made by aquarium pharmaceutical, inc. www.aquariumpharm.com It was the only kit available at the LFS.

[bguile]

Sueet, looks like you left a message as I was composing. Anyways, my temp stays around 78-80°. Is that were yours is?

[Sueet]

Originally Posted by bguile

Sueet, looks like you left a message as I was composing. Anyways, my temp stays around 78-80°. Is that were yours is?

Well, that's where I LIKE to keep it.. however, no, it gets up to sometimes 84-85°..... I try really hard to not let it get that warm, floating bottles of ice, etc, but it just gets really hot in the house right now with no ac. It doesn't help that its a very small tank, but thats why there aren't any fish or corals in it.

[bguile]

At least you're caring enough to not have fish or corals in such a warm tank, although I thought I read somewhere that there are "tropical" fish that enjoy those higher temps. Maybe I'm wrong. BTW, as I was driving earlier thinking of how to remove the algae from my tank without spreading it further I sort of recalled reading something about not having carbon in an aquarium under a certain condition. I can't find where I read it though. Can anyone help with that? Could that be the phosphate source in my tank? Also, any suggestions on how to go about removing the algae without spreading it further?

[bguile]

Im going to do water change in the aquarium today so I was observing what everyone was doing. I then noticed what appears to be a emerald crab shell and a claw. It looks like someone killed and ate a crab in the tank. The only problem is, I only put 2 emerald crabs in there and they're both alive. What's going on in there?

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by bguile

Im going to do water change in the aquarium today so I was observing what everyone was doing. I then noticed what appears to be a emerald crab shell and a claw. It looks like someone killed and ate a crab in the tank. The only problem is, I only put 2 emerald crabs in there and they're both alive. What's going on in there?

Perhaps what you saw was the shell that crab left behind after molting?

[bguile]

Yeah...the guy at the LFS told me the same thing. Man...I have so much to learn!