2 issues- Algae and Dying torch
 

Algae

I am new to saltwater and wonder if it is common to have to clean your glass of algae everyday? If i leave it for 3 or 4 days it covers the glass pretty good. It is a reddish brown color and when it is cleaned off the glass, it comes of like dust.
My tank is washed in sunlight on all four sides. Not direct sunlight just washed over the tank from the windows. My halides are on from 10 am till 7 pm.

There is no algae growing anywhere else. just the glass

My calcium is at 420
Alk is 10
Mag is 1200
Almost zero ammonia and Phospates
Ph is 8.2

2nd issues is my green torch has been growing like crazy, it went from about 3 inches to about 7inches in 4 months and then is a span of about 4 days it is almost dead. Three of the 5 heads are dead.

Any ideas what may have caused this.

My tank is pretty consitent. The temp stays at 78, plus or minus 2
I use dosers for the cal, mag and alk. Nothing new was used in the tank.

I did notice that my cocoa featherduster retracted in about the same time and is now starting to come out. This was about the same time the torch seemed to quit dying too.

I had another SPS that died just before the torch started to go. That sps was introduced into my tank about a month ago, it was doing great, then about a week ago it died, then the torched started to die and the feather duster retracted. My hammer coral is doing fine, as are any softies and LPS

Any help is appreciated

New tanks can do the algae thing, not a real concern at this point.

A temp of 78 +/- 2 is a pretty big swing, not what I would call stable.

Almost 0 Ammonia is bad. It should be 0. Period. If it's not, you're tank isn't cycled yet or your test kit is off. This could cause coral loss if it's actually present. Check the test kit.

What are your water changes like? volume, frequency?

Older tanks can have this particular algae issue too :redface:

For example, if I forget to close my blinds my tank gets a lot of direct and indirect light that really algaes up my glass fast! Algae LOVES that yellow (sun) light! It's a lot worse in the winter when the sun is really low as my front window is south facing. Closing my blinds helps a lot!

Also, 9 hours of halide time seems like a pretty long photo period to me! And also, what colour temperature are your halides? Do you have any supplemental lighting like t5s or LEDs?

Hi,
The temp swings are in a 12 hour period. It is 78 at 8 am and by 8 pm it is around 79.6 and then halides go off and temp drops to 78 by 8 am. From what I have read, this is what happens in the "wild"

As for ammonia, it is less than .15ppm and Randy Holmes literature says that is normal, as chemicals such as mag, calcium, sodium carbonates have trace elements as can the salt. I use Instant ocean.

My water changes are automated at 2 gallons per day. I have a 180g DT, 90g refugium and a 55g sump. Total water volume is approx 235 gals. There is approx 80lbs of live rock in the refugium and 200 in the DT

The tank is approx 8 months old, but the rock is around 4 years. I bought different tanks and made one big one


So the algae issue is probably normal then? It has gotten worse, now that winter is here.

I have 3 250w MH lights. The left one is 14k and goes on at 10, then 1/2 hr later the center one goes on, it is 20k and another 1/2hr later the right one goes on, it is 14k.
I have 4 96 power compacts (2-50/50 and 2 Actinics)that go on 1 hour before MHs and off 1 hr after the MH shut off. No moonlights as the actual moonlight washes the tank as well.

There is no algae growing on anything else, so I assumed that the lighting schedule was ok. Maybe I will lower it to 8 hrs a day.

Yes, some say 9 hrs seems like a lot, then i have read that some leave them on for much longer. Not sure what is right or wrong. Everything is growing like crazy. As were the LPS until one day they started acting weird. I can not think of any changes etc that i made , for this to happen. The fish are happy, eating well etc.

The lighting schedule, parameters, water changes, dosing schedule have been the same for about 6 months now.

I was thinking there may be some kind of bacterial disease?? Being as the LPS seem to be acting strange or dying.


Thanks for the input guys.

From what you describe it sounds normal. 14 and 20K will promote less glass algae. I would be more concerned if you ray maybe a 10K bub. Those bulbs love to grow everything, but will shift down into the yellower spectrum (below 10K) as they age and pretty much can end up looking like our yellow sun.

At any rate, it sounds like your tank is basking in the winter light just like my tank LOL. If your tank is on the main floor and you have lots of windows, ya this is a challenge! But more or less normal (ish).

Not sure if you can ever totally eliminate algae and have enough light for SPS. It is certainly worse with higher phosphates. But even when my P04 is down to zero (Hanna checker), as it is now, algae will still hang onto wherever it can find some nutrients. Eg, where detritus can accumulate in rock crevices, on dead coral tissues (I had some RTN on some SPS this past summer), etc. The best solution for that is the toothbrush and turkey baster.

I understand that chemical solutions do work as well such peroxide, H2O2, but have stayed away from that. I have tangs, and figure a little algae is good for them to browse on. And the glass can be kept clean with a scraper once or twice a week.

If you are having to clean algae from the glass daily then you have far to many freely available nutrients in your water column. Algae that grows on the glass cannot access nutrients other then those available from the water column. Despite what your test kits say, you got way more available nutrients then I assume you want to have. Your exports are not nearly sufficant if you are having to clean the glass daily. No matter sun bathed or not.

I would evalute your system and your husbandry practices and determine where and why exports/system processing are insufficient. And I'm not implying imports and exports simply by feedings or water changes, but as the entire system as a whole. Bioload, calcium carbonate structures, equipment, your own habbits and practices. You got to much extra so you are going to have to determine how to reduce those extras and keep them reduced. Your husbandry practices being the first to explore.

I disagree with sps lighting and algae. Yes algae will always be present within the system. There is no way to avoid that. But it can easily be controlled and maintained. Lower your nutrients and turn down your lights. An equal benifit.

If you have algae growing daily on your glass, algae growing on your calcium carbonate structures. (Sand, rock, coral) then you probably have more nutrients then you want. Especially if you are keeping sps. Given the fact you had algae growing on your calcium carbonate structure aka coral, I would assume your rock is full of bound nutrients and those are being wicked up into other available realestate. Your coral.

But that's would just be my observation from the limited info provided in the post. No harm intended. Just don't agree with the algae vrs sps strength lighting

First off, thanks for your responses.

I am not sure about my nutrients. I have no algae growing on anything but the glass. If I spray the rocks etc with a baster, very little, to nothing comes off the item

If I have not changed my husbandry methods and there is more algae now then in then summer, does that not imply that the sunlight does play a factor. It does seem to make sense.

I feed mysis, brine and copepods in the a.m. I have 12 fish, about 24" total for a 180 DT. The food is gone within 1 min. I have the apex feeder that dishes out about 20 pellets twice a day. once at 12 and again at 5. The pellets are gone within 30 seconds.

I either add phyto, fuel, coral frenzy, reefroids etc once a day and less than what is recommended.

I have a bubble king 180 skimmer that is never overworking in my limited experience.

I have all my equipment in the basement. The sump and refugium have zero amount of algae on the glass. The refugium runs halides and CF. Halides are on while they are of in the DT, as are the CFs

I set up a reverse algae scubber in the hopes of not using any carbon. I can not get algae to grow, no matter how many different setups I try. It barely even grows on the glass where the lights are against it. Whats does grow is the typical green slimy algae, not the reddish brown stuff that is like dust, that grows on my DT

Does this not say I have no nutrient issue?

Still at a loss as to why LPS have died and acted funny, while everything else is flourishing.

I love this hobby, but sometimes a simple reason/solution would be nice.

Once again, I do appreciate all the different opions. Thanks

check for brown jelly :)

google it , this may be your issue;)

ps. it is good that your fish eat everything before it hits the ground however fish arnt the end of the process but a small tiny part;)