How do you control algae???

[philolsen]

I have excessive algae, I did a water change and in 2 days the substrate is covered again. Help!

[John Hamilton]

Can you give a discription of the algae plus the type and age of your bulbs? This would be a good start for help.

[The R/C Man]

I would have to say the largest contributor would be a high amount of nutrients in the water. This is typical of over feeding. Although there are other factors, this is the most problimatic. It will take a couple weeks but you will notice a major decline by feeding less.

Also, are you running a protien skimmer?

[philolsen]

I have a 10,000 k 48" bulb thats about 3 months old and a ramora skimmer, The tank just starting doing this and has been set up for about a yrar without a problem, I am trying to borrow a camera to post picks but I have not had the time. The algae on the substrate has almost a reddish look to it when starting and turn darker over a short time. I have some brown in the tank mostly on top of the taller decorations and about 80% of the total is green. I have switched foods recently (brand) but the type is the same, Brine shrimp, squid and bloodworms rotated not all at once, but I will cut back the amount. Is there anything I can do to to remove some of it?

[sihaya]

I would have to say the largest contributor would be a high amount of nutrients in the water. This is typical of over feeding. Although there are other factors, this is the most problimatic. It will take a couple weeks but you will notice a major decline by feeding less.

Also, are you running a protien skimmer?

This is kinda true and not true. Yeah, if you overfeed you'll get more algae. But unless you're totally over doing it, eventually the system should adjust and the algae will slow done again. So unless the OP is just dumping food in everyday, the algae should recede after a few weeks either way.

Depending on how bad the "problem" is, I'd start manually removing algae before I'd stop feeding (depending again on how much feeding is going on). Or, there might not be enough herbivores in the tank (good, algae eating snails are a real help).

What people don't get is that algae is not necessarily a bad thing (unless it's getting up on the coral). It's a natural part of the ecosystem. I pull wads of hair and brush algae from the back of my tank every few weeks. The critters keep it off the rocks and coral... and they help with the glass too, but I still scrape periodically. So it's a community effort. ;)

[The R/C Man]

Good point about the herbivores. There must be a balance in the ecosystem to maintain some control. With that said, I don't see how the tank will adjust its self. Since the algae uses nutrients it would seem that it will continue to grow until the food source and amount of algae are in balance. Without changing any perameters such as reducing the nutrients or adding herbivores why will the algae recede?

Having to manually remove algae from the display shouldn't be a regular task. As previously mentioned, with the same water perameters it will only grow back. We need to learn how to take care of the root causes.

Here is a good resource: Algae: A Problem Solver Guide by Julian Sprung

[sihaya]

Oh principle I don't buy anything from or by Julian Sprung.

But, anyway, here's the thing... I don't think algal growth is a sign that something is wrong (unless it's totally uncontrolable). Having to pull a wad or two of algae out of the back of my tank every 2-3 weeks isn't want I would call "uncontrollable." Rather, I call it "poor-man's nutrient export." And there's a picture of my tank in the reef aquarium forum... you can see I don't have an algae problem.

Algae is part of the natural ecosystem. Honestly, if it's not growing at all... that's when I'd say something is wrong with your tank. I'd rather feed a little more and get more critter growth and coral health than obsess about a little algae here and there.

I agree though that herbivores are the ideal way to go. And I have lots of herbivorous snails in my tank plus 2 grazing urchins. Some of the snails even reproduce in there...so they're tons of them now.

[philolsen]

I have a Huma Huma trigger wont he eat snails and urchins? I do not have any live rock or coral in this tank yet ( other ones do but not this one)

[newtothis]

sihaya, what do you mean by lots of herivorous snails? what type? and how many?[of e4ach]

[newtothis]

sihaya,
what do you mean by lots of herivorous snails? what type? and how many?

what if the algae [brown/red] is all over everything--substrate, snails, rocks, glass? to the point where we can't see into the tank