How do I fix this algae growth?

[namlessdude]

Hey,

I am helping my uncle cycle his tank through a fishless cycle. The tank has 3 rocks that were moved over from a 7 year old tank. The sand was also live sand.

The tank has been developing an insane amount of algae (check pics). Some of the rocks even have oxygen bubbles on it. We have kept the lights off but the tank sits right by a window and sunlight is very strong. Phosphate level is between 1 and 3 so it's high.
Nitrite and ammonia is 0 but nitrate is at 5. How can we get rid of that algae? Does it go by itself like diatomes or are these different?
Is it dangerous to add a damsel in yet?

 

[Waters]

Regarding the initial cycle, if you moved over all of the live rock from an existing tank, the tank is already considered cycled. Your biggest issue is the tank sitting next to a window with strong light as you stated. Unless you can block that light, you will be fighting a long battle. There are successful tank that use sunlight as the primary source of light, but those are tanks where the light is controlled and there are methods in place to eat/remove any nuisance algae. Since the tank is small and empty, I personally would start over, and cover the window. You have everything algae needs.....elevated phosphates, a strong light source, and no competition.

 

[Steveo97]

I’d siphon sand bed and clean rocks using a toothbrush. do a water change using sea seachem stability tank stabilisation as directed.as mentioned either move tank from window or put up some curtains

​

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey,

I am helping my uncle cycle his tank through a fishless cycle. The tank has 3 rocks that were moved over from a 7 year old tank. The sand was also live sand.

The tank has been developing an insane amount of algae (check pics). Some of the rocks even have oxygen bubbles on it. We have kept the lights off but the tank sits right by a window and sunlight is very strong. Phosphate level is between 1 and 3 so it's high.
Nitrite and ammonia is 0 but nitrate is at 5. How can we get rid of that algae? Does it go by itself like diatomes or are these different?
Is it dangerous to add a damsel in yet?

Your window near tank is likely cause. Other contributors are overfeeding, use of tap water and high phosphates. The UV from the window will penetrate blinds an curtains. Place black construction paper on side that faces window for great reduction and add snails such as astrea-cerith-turbo grazer and trochus. Also a pencil urchin and a couple of pitho crabs. Pull what you can by hand and reduce white light intensity

 

[namlessdude]

Thank you all for the answer! He doesnt have a choice but to have it by the window unfortunately but what we did is take out the rocks and scrub off all the algae. We then added filter media that's supposed to reduce phosphate and filtered the algae out of the sand. For the next few days we are covering the tank completely to kill whatever weed is left by light deprivation. Once that's dead we will add snails and algae eaters to keep things under control.

 

[Dan_P]

Hey,

I am helping my uncle cycle his tank through a fishless cycle. The tank has 3 rocks that were moved over from a 7 year old tank. The sand was also live sand.

The tank has been developing an insane amount of algae (check pics). Some of the rocks even have oxygen bubbles on it. We have kept the lights off but the tank sits right by a window and sunlight is very strong. Phosphate level is between 1 and 3 so it's high.
Nitrite and ammonia is 0 but nitrate is at 5. How can we get rid of that algae? Does it go by itself like diatomes or are these different?
Is it dangerous to add a damsel in yet?

It looks like the live sand and rock is dying and the waste generated is providing nutrients. I can see green hair algae and cyanobacteria growing. I can also see the sand along the glass seems to be full of bubbles. The phosphate might be from the old rocks. The sunlight is making strong algae growth possible.

There is a range of actions you can take. Restart the aquarium or on the other extreme do nothing but remove the cyanobacteria mats, scrub the algae and use GFO to remove the phosphate letting the aquarium clean itself.

 

[namlessdude]

It looks like the live sand and rock is dying and the waste generated is providing nutrients. I can see green hair algae and cyanobacteria growing. I can also see the sand along the glass seems to be full of bubbles. The phosphate might be from the old rocks. The sunlight is making strong algae growth possible.

There is a range of actions you can take. Restart the aquarium or on the other extreme do nothing but remove the cyanobacteria mats, scrub the algae and use GFO to remove the phosphate letting the aquarium clean itself.

How can you tell the live rock and sand are dying? We started with an ammonia of 2 and nitrite of 2 and now we have 0 in the span of 2 weeks which is a good sign that bacteria is active. What hinted at the rock 'death? Im curious to learn!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Personally I would take it apart and clean everything and bleach the rocks and start over again. Beating back all that algae the 'natural way' will take forever, but you've only got 2 weeks into the tank, might as well start over.

 

[Dan_P]

How can you tell the live rock and sand are dying? We started with an ammonia of 2 and nitrite of 2 and now we have 0 in the span of 2 weeks which is a good sign that bacteria is active. What hinted at the rock 'death? Im curious to learn!

I didn’t know that you added so much ammonia. I take back the “dying rock” diagnosis.

 

[Jasongtr]

Phosphate between 1 and 3, if you mean potentially 3ppm that is massively high, but even 1 is high, what are you testing with to get such a huge range

 

[keithmeseroll]

Hey,

I am helping my uncle cycle his tank through a fishless cycle. The tank has 3 rocks that were moved over from a 7 year old tank. The sand was also live sand.

The tank has been developing an insane amount of algae (check pics). Some of the rocks even have oxygen bubbles on it. We have kept the lights off but the tank sits right by a window and sunlight is very strong. Phosphate level is between 1 and 3 so it's high.
Nitrite and ammonia is 0 but nitrate is at 5. How can we get rid of that algae? Does it go by itself like diatomes or are these different?
Is it dangerous to add a damsel in yet?

Get a black out curtain for that window. 1-3ppm on phosphates?..Run GFO, too high. Had a 0.6 and algae was out of control. Don't try any coral unless that's taken care of. As for a fish though, should be fine as long as you're ammonia and nitrites are gone. Also I'm not sure you want to start with a damsel fish. They can take over the tank if added first and be a nightmare for fish you'd like to add later on. Good luck

 

[Paul B]

Looks like a normal new tank to me and not to much algae which is normal in a tank that new.

You need to block the sunlight and let the tank do what it needs to do right now. My tank has been cycled for over 50 years and I now have more algae then that.

It's normal and healthy and will disappear in time as long as you don't add any chemicals.
An algae scrubber would help and allow the tank to do what it needs to do while being healthy at the same time.

Most people won't accept that, but algae is actually a good sign at this point and if it didn't grow, that would be a bad sign.

Good luck

 

[Macce]

Hey,

I am helping my uncle cycle his tank through a fishless cycle. The tank has 3 rocks that were moved over from a 7 year old tank. The sand was also live sand.

The tank has been developing an insane amount of algae (check pics). Some of the rocks even have oxygen bubbles on it. We have kept the lights off but the tank sits right by a window and sunlight is very strong. Phosphate level is between 1 and 3 so it's high.
Nitrite and ammonia is 0 but nitrate is at 5. How can we get rid of that algae? Does it go by itself like diatomes or are these different?
Is it dangerous to add a damsel in yet?

id just say time and a good clean up crew. I had a tank up for 2 years then moved, I changed sand but the same rocks and about 50% same water didnt have any problem until 2-3 month in. I got a massive alge outbreak and a few corals got beat and some died. now its been on for about 14 months again havent had any real problems after that got a few extra turbo snails and did my water changes weekly for about 4 months (now i do about 2 times a month) no real shortcuts in my opinion. I got a 24 gallon no mechanical filtration but the growth on my corals is exreamly good if i say so myself . Time and good basics is the awnser to most things in this hobby i have found.

 

[splunty]

Zooming in on the bottom-left photo, isn't that Bryopsis? It looks exactly like what I just tried to fight in my nano with brushing. It then exploded everywhere. Dosed fluconazole and four days later it's all basically dead.

I'm asking not only to educate myself, but if it's really bryposis, everything I read here on r2r suggests trying to manually remove it makes it worse. Even a blackout will probably just stunt it and then it can come back even worse with its nutrient competition gone.

 

[namlessdude]

Zooming in on the bottom-left photo, isn't that Bryopsis? It looks exactly like what I just tried to fight in my nano with brushing. It then exploded everywhere. Dosed fluconazole and four days later it's all basically dead.

I'm asking not only to educate myself, but if it's really bryposis, everything I read here on r2r suggests trying to manually remove it makes it worse. Even a blackout will probably just stunt it and then it can come back even worse with its nutrient competition gone.

I actually am not sure what it was but i think i solved the problem for now. I cleaned out my filter and took out the rocks and brushed them with hot water and a toothbrush until there is almost no sign. I then took my fish net and went through the sand which helped leave the sand bed on the floor and only pickup the algae. Its been a week or more now and there's no significant regrowth. I added 2 clowns and some snails which has been going well.

 

[Dom]

Thank you all for the answer! He doesnt have a choice but to have it by the window unfortunately but what we did is take out the rocks and scrub off all the algae. We then added filter media that's supposed to reduce phosphate and filtered the algae out of the sand. For the next few days we are covering the tank completely to kill whatever weed is left by light deprivation. Once that's dead we will add snails and algae eaters to keep things under control.

What are the husbandry practices on this tank?

 

[namlessdude]

What are the husbandry practices on this tank?

I dont know what that means

 

[Dom]

I dont know what that means

How often do you do water changes?

Clean the tank?

Change filter media?

You know... tank maintenance stuff.

 

[namlessdude]

How often do you do water changes?

Clean the tank?

Change filter media?

You know... tank maintenance stuff.

The tank recently finished cycling so those practices are currently being established since we did a fishless cycle. The plan is to top up the tank once a week. Water change once every two weeks with filter media cleaning at the same time. Filter media replaced every 2 months or so, and testing regularly as needed (salinity every few days, ammonia once a week until we have a solid base, rest once a month maybe since no corals are in the tank rn).

 

[Dom]

The tank recently finished cycling so those practices are currently being established since we did a fishless cycle. The plan is to top up the tank once a week. Water change once every two weeks with filter media cleaning at the same time. Filter media replaced every 2 months or so, and testing regularly as needed (salinity every few days, ammonia once a week until we have a solid base, rest once a month maybe since no corals are in the tank rn).

When you say "top up", you mean top off? If so, I wouldn't stay on a weekly schedule as that would mean bigger salinity swings than if you did it daily as needed.

Water changes should be faithful, weekly and 20% of the tank total capacity.

As you mentioned, at the time of the water change is a good time to scrape glass, vacuum substrate and rinse out filter media.

Weekly maintenance on a tank that size shouldn't take more than 20-30 minutes once you get into a routine.