Still have algae issues in 4 1/2 month old reef tank >:-(

[newreefer_59]

Set up new 150 gallon tank 4 1/2 months ago. Approx 150 pounds of LR with a 180 gallon Vertex skimmer. 6 X 4' T5 lighting and Tunze 6055 powerheads with controller (just to give you an idea of my current equipment).

Tank was first started with tap water, but all water changes (15% weekly) in the past 2 months are with RO/DI water with salinity at 1.023 and temp at mid seventies.

I have several snails in there now and a cleaner shrimp that appear in good health. Also a few LPS corals. These were put in perhaps too early as was perhaps the lighting.

Question: started getting grass-like green algae 3 months ago growing mainly on the LR that has now changed to a murky looking hair algae that never seems to go away. I can spend 2 hours scrubbing it off the LR in a seperate bucket, but within 2-3 days it starts growing on some (not all) of the rock and my glass. It has eased off a bit I believe, but still grows too much for my liking and it probably not a good thing to be scrubbing my LR every week or so to get it off (which I am sure is not addressing the actual reason this is happening).

Is there any suggestions out there for this? Any further info you require? I have taken suggestions from a member's posting which is very much appreciated, and done as large a water change as practical, etc.... but nothing seems to have worked so far.

Thanks.

[J.Lloy]

I had the same problem with my new 24 gal. I took as much off the glass as I could as well as well as cleaned up the sand, used a net to collect as much from the water as I could. Then I added my CUC it was the recomended size from J&L plus a few other things. Likely over kill but all algea was gone in 3days.

[BC564]

How long are your lights on....are they new bulbs? What are your water parameters currently? Is your tank close to a window with lots of natural lighting? Lots of info would be great....even if it seems unrelated.

[newreefer_59]

I have the 2 flanking actinics on for 12 hours and the other 4 middle lights (one actinic and 3 white T5's - cannot remember the name) are on for 10 hours.

They were all bought brand new with the tank.

I get a smidgen of natural light, but nothing direct for for a long period of time.

Nitrates are at zero...and I have not run other tests recently, but was planning on doing that the next few days.

The skimmer seems to collect alot of green skimmate (guess that is normal) and I clean it and the sock every few days. I have no fish yet - just snails and a shrimp. Had 10 hermit crabs I bought 3 weeks ago, but do not see any anymore - tho lots of places in the LR to hide

[Myka]

Read the guide in my signature about nuisance algaes, and if you have any questions after that I'm happy answer them. As per the guide, hair cutting and turkey basting make a huge difference. The guide also explains why your tests are coming out ok, but the algae still persists. They are false 0s. Also, your middle lights (usually referred to as daylights) can be run anything from 6-12 hours, so you can play around with a shorter photoperiod and see if that helps, but hair algae relies very little on light.

How are you cleaning your filter sock? How many snails did you buy, and what type?

Side note...the specifc gravity in a reef should be 1.025-6 which simulates average natural reef SG.

[BC564]

Can you try cutting back your lights on time to around 6 hours with the whites...and have the actinics come on an hour earlier and stay on for an hour later.....so the total lights on will be around 8 hours.

Also can you check your phosphate levels.

When the tank was first started up....did you notice a tank cycle....

[newreefer_59]

I didn't actually 'notice' a tank cycle but did not test daily either. LFS has said that is pretty normal., but also said to keep the salinity at 1.023. Would the tank have not properly cycled with just LR? As I had mentioned, I do have 3 LPS corals that are living still and look totally fine. Should they be fed every few days with the foods I was sold for them or can they survive longer periods? Would they not survive on a tank that has not cycled?

As for the other questions, I clean my sock under the tap by hand and throw them in the wash every 4 weeks or so without detergent or anything.

The snails I believe were Astreal (sp?) and bought 10.....six are easily visible at any given time. They obvioulsy move very slow and so they even have some algae growing on them

The 10 hermits I had I cannot see anymore (either all croaked or in the LR), but the cleaner shrimp is quite active and looks healthy.

So 2 things: I should cut back lights to 8 hours a day total, say noon to 8pm and get more of a clean-up crew?

[lorenz0]

how much do you feed your fish? do you dose anything?

had this problem when i was loading my system with nutrients. just watch how much you feed your fish and cut down your photoperiod to 8 hours... and keep scrubbing.

[BC564]

He doesnt have any fish yet......and im thinking his tank didnt go through a real cycle....