What is the ideal amount of algae

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dallan07 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest Joined: October 26 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 69	Post Options Post Reply Quote dallan07 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: What is the ideal amount of algae Posted: December 23 2006 at 6:14pm
	I have three tanks and frankly I am sick of cleaning the two of them. My large fish only tank is caked with algae almost every day. I have to clean it literally all the time. Same thing with my 60g reef. The FOWLR has pcs on it and the reef halides. I would think it would be normal to clean all the time if my nano was the same way. My nano has not had algae on the glass in months. I never have to clean it. What is the difference? I understand that algae feeds of nutrients in the water. Maybe my cleanup crew isn't doing it's job or maybe I am overfeeding. Any advice is appreciated on making my tanks less high mantenance.
	Harrisville

TNaisbitt Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest Joined: November 04 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 215	Post Options Post Reply Quote TNaisbitt Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: December 23 2006 at 11:40pm
	Do you grow macro algae in your refugium? The macro algae in the refugium will take out the nutrients in the tank, instead of it feeding algae in the display tank. If you don't have a refugium, I would suggest setting one up on your tank. There are a number of great threads on this board explaining how to do it quickly and easily. I have some extra macro algae if you need some. Hopefully that helps. Good luck!
	"Water which is too pure has no fish." 90 Gal Reef, 12Gal Nano Reef West Jordan, UT

Suzy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest Joined: January 03 2003 Status: Offline Points: 7377	Post Options Post Reply Quote Suzy Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: December 24 2006 at 9:38am
	What is the ideal amount of algae? At least 32 species, 6 genus, a few unicellular, and some dried.... Are you talking about the alga that grows on the glass, or the kind that grows on rocks in mass and some consider nuisance alga? If you mean the glass covering kind, I think it might be your lighting? I have 3 different tanks that share water, and the alga that grows on the glass grows a lot faster in the tanks with stronger light. Nuisance algae can be controlled with herbivores, but they will not be able to keep the tank alga free. It is a vicious cycle! The fish eat the alga, then they poop out the nutrients that feed the alga!You can get a really strong skimmer or do lots of water changes to remove those nutrients (DOC) or you can do what TNaisbitt suggests and find an alga you like to grow somewhere in the system to remove those nutrients. Then, when you harvest the algae, you remove the nutrients. Nutrients in=nutrients out.

Dion Richins Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Presidency Joined: April 03 2005 Location: Farmington Status: Offline Points: 11664	Post Options Post Reply Quote Dion Richins Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: December 24 2006 at 11:52am
	We started having problems when the city went to "winter water" I quit using ro about 9 months ago and have since gone back to it. Its taken a little bit of time but the "BAD" algae has started to reside. Anyway the question is are you using ro or tap water?
	Bad "censored" Cabinets Best quality in the valley! He is one sexy bald guy, even with out a finger!(MAC)

dallan07 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest Joined: October 26 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 69	Post Options Post Reply Quote dallan07 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: December 24 2006 at 1:33pm
	Thanks to everyone for you suggestions With my FOWLR I do have a refugium that I grow macro in. I also run a large skimmer 24/7. I have not used copper before. The lighting on the tank is just pcs because I don't have any coral or inverts in the tank. Reading the posts I'm thinking that my reef tank light is too strong. It is 1 400 w mh in a 70 gallon tall tank. (14k) I probably should switch to 250w or vho I guess. I'll see if that helps with the alga.
	Harrisville

Mark Peterson Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Paid Member Joined: June 19 2002 Location: Murray Status: Offline Points: 21436	Post Options Post Reply Quote Mark Peterson Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: December 24 2006 at 2:59pm
	I agree, using good pure water is a major part of keeping algae growth to a minimum. No doubt reducing the light will help. No need to change lights though, that would be costly, simply raise the lights and reduce the photoperiod. Decide when you really need the MH's on and set the timer for that time only, from 5PM to 8PM for instance. Then the rest of the time the tank is lighted with the PC's only, and maybe even there you could reduce the photoperiod or the number of PC tubes used. Another major way to reduce algae on the glass is with snails. If your fish are not snail eaters, (puffer, wrasse, etc.) then add more snails. This is the way it's done in a full reef aquarium. Lastly, the addition of Activated Alumina in a media bag to remove PO4/Phosphate is a good way to reduce algal growth.
	Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member

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