algae!

[hunggi74]

I've got a problem with algae recently. I've noticed grey, furry looking algae(?) growing rapidly on my live rock. I've also noticed a green algae bloom on my glass. I have a Fluval Edge tank. I've got my lights on for 9 hours per day. I've only got a clown and a fire shrimp and the rest is coral. I got 3 Astreas and 2 conchs, no hermits because the blue ones were pestering the corals in the beginning. Is my CUC lacking? I'm running Chemipure Elite in the filter. Could this algae be due to my recent addition of a tube anenome to the tank about a week ago? I tested the water and PH is 8 ammonia is 0 Nitrite is 0 nitrate is 5. Water changes 20-25% weekly. Any suggestions to remedy the algae?

[tang daddy]

When you say grey algae does it grow close to the rock and flat aswell?

If it's fuzzy and fluffy it could be a sponge, I have tons of different sponges grow in my tank, sponges are good in tanks but the blue/grey sponge is known to suffocate certain corals and should be removed...

Chemipure is a medication and when using certain chemicals it can destroy alot of things in a reef tank, it is only used as a last resort and will kill more than just what you're after... I used the blue vet slime remover before and killed all my caribean gorgs, the clams while alive also suffered, those were things I saw deteriorate but I am sure other stuff suffered aswell.

You have to understand that a salty tank has to go through alot of stages before it gets fully established, basically it has to find equilibrium...

The most common symptoms of starting a new tank are algae outbreaks, cyano bacteria, and diatoms. Once other bacteria grow and colonize they outcompete the pest algae and bacteria and then forms a balance, this can sometimes take a few years depending on the system, stocking and equipment. In a nano tank stuff can happen faster because a smaller system has less buffing capacity than a larger one... I would keep an eye on it, keep up with the WC's and params and most important do everything slow, if you change stuff too fast you will end up with livestock mortality!

[Rastapus]

I've got a problem with algae recently. I've noticed grey, furry looking algae(?) growing rapidly on my live rock. I've also noticed a green algae bloom on my glass. I have a Fluval Edge tank. I've got my lights on for 9 hours per day. I've only got a clown and a fire shrimp and the rest is coral. I got 3 Astreas and 2 conchs, no hermits because the blue ones were pestering the corals in the beginning. Is my CUC lacking? I'm running Chemipure Elite in the filter. Could this algae be due to my recent addition of a tube anenome to the tank about a week ago? I tested the water and PH is 8 ammonia is 0 Nitrite is 0 nitrate is 5. Water changes 20-25% weekly. Any suggestions to remedy the algae?

Any issue with algae is usually due to high organics or the light spectrum. The Chemipure Elite should remove quite a bit of nutrients but if I recall from a previous post there is quite a bit of lighting on there. If it is a new set up it could just be a bloom that may die back in time but in a display of that size, better to try and battle it now.
Are you using tap water or filtered water? You could try a Tuxedo urchin in there and see if it fixes the problem. Unlikely the Anemone had anything to do with it unless the algae was established on the tube, unlikely though, you would still need the right conditions to grow it. What is the temperature? Also what is the KH in there?

[hunggi74]

Thanks Chris for the input and Rastapus as well. I just cleaned the glass of the green algae and will see how long it takes to grow back. The grey fluffy stuff on the live rock looks like dust bunnies for lack of better descriptive term. I don't think they're sponges. I do have 2 PAR38 LED bulbs on the tank and I'll dim the lights down a bit for now to see if that helps. Basically, do the normal wc and wait for this to either balance itself out or if my params spike up. Tank temp reads around 79.3-79.7 on the digital therm. I've never tested for KH becasue I'm afraid it would lead to me dosing my water and then it's a really slippery slope from there. I'm was using Polaris RO water and adding salt, but just found a LFS (not so local) that sells premixed SW. I'll test that SW before I use it in my tank. The store was Ocean Aquatics, should I be ok with their water? I added maybe 500lm of their water into my tank on Sunday and have been using my RO bottled water for top ups.