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algae problem

G

gregsreef

hey guys new to the club and could use some advice / help on my algae issue. lately ive been getting white hairy algae along the back wall of my tank. it gets about 3/8ths long and if i scrape it away 1. its a mess. and 2 it comes back full force in a few days. not sure what to do. as of now its only on the glass and i'd like to irradicate it before its a problem. what ive done so far is shortened my lighting time and may get a uv sterilizer if it will help. i would also appreciate opinions on the sterilizer as well.
thanks in advance
Greg
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

Hi Greg:

Few more details on your tank might help us answer the root cause.

Size? Equipment? How long has it been running? What do your major parameters test at? How often between water changes? How much?

Those kinds of things.

Generally algae outbreaks are attributed to high nutrient counts in the system coupled with intense lighting.
 
G

gregsreef

im running the red sea 65g stock. t5 lighting running for about 6 months now. havnt tested yet this week i will test tomorrow and post results. i change 10 gallons weekly. i was runing my lights 9.5hrs which may have been too long i backed them down to 8.5 as of now.

sorry if this post doesnt belong here, just thought this was the place for problem solving. mods feel free to move this to an appropriate catagory.

thanks again and i'll post paramiters afterwork
 
Nickjr000

Nickjr000

Try changing more water and cut your lights back to around 4 1/2 hours , if you have corals try like 6 hours just for a few days
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

Couple of things.

What kind of "top off water" and mixing water are you using? RO/DI or straight from the tap?

Seems to me, at 6 months old, without knowing much more, and the length of lighting, you probably have a nutrient buildup that has taken this long to overpower your water changes.

If you are using straight tap water, or even conditioned tap water, you may have a phosphate problem.

Defeating algae outbreaks is a matter of determining the root cause, and curing that ill.
 
J

jeffro33

You say it's a whitish looking algae.Do you see bubbles trapped in it if so this could be dynoflagellates.This is a real nasty algae to remove.I would try no lights for three days and cover the tank with a blanket so no light at all can pass through the tank.Check phosphate and nitrate.
 
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