Too much algae?

kevinpaz · #1 04-27-2008, 03:49 AM

I've attached some pics of this green "carpet" type algae that's growing like mad in our tank. It's a reef tank with no fish, an anenome, an arrow crab, some mushrooms, a few snails, and a small starfish.

At first it was only covering the glass and powerheads, but now it's starting to carpet the live rock. should i be getting rid of this stuff, or only if it bothers me esthetically?

24storm · #2 04-27-2008, 03:56 AM

Time for a sea hare. They take care of green hair algae very easily. If you do not do something about it it will start to over take your corals.

Myka · #3 04-27-2008, 04:30 AM

The answer to your algae problems is likely due to some of your maintenance habits. Take the time to write down all your daily maintenance, weekly maintenance, monthly maintenance...everything you do to your tank and how often. Include amounts like size of waterchanges (what brand salt?), the kind of source water you use (tap? store bought? your own RO/DI?), amount of food and type (how often? how much? frozen? flake? pellet? liquid?), dosing of any additives, etc. Also include brand names, and product names (carbon? phosphate media?). List all specs - all testing from the last 6 months; ph, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium. Also salinity, temperature, lighting hours, hardware (sump? skimmer?), bulb brands, last time bulbs changed, etc. Don't leave anything out.

All of these listed could be contributing, and we can likely pinpoint the cause if you do this.

krschulz · #4 04-27-2008, 04:57 AM

My tank is 6 months old and I have yet to have a problem like these pictures but my sea hare is doing quite a job in keeping everything quite clean. My humble opinion is that no tank should be without a sea hare for algae (hair) and a dragon goby for cyanobacteria overgrowths.

Myka · #5 04-27-2008, 05:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krschulz

My tank is 6 months old and I have yet to have a problem like these pictures but my sea hare is doing quite a job in keeping everything quite clean. My humble opinion is that no tank should be without a sea hare for algae (hair) and a dragon goby for cyanobacteria overgrowths.

Is this your first SW tank? Algae issues are a sign of poor water quality, and getting a critter to eat the algae does nothing to fix the root of the problem, which should be addressed.