Layer of algae on surface of the water!!
- Thread starter GRaff71884
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Are you sure you got your Nitrite(NO2) and Nitrate(NO3) right in the last statement? If so, then your Nitrites(NO2) are too high. If this is the case, you should get all your water chemsitry checked. You pH, ammonia, and KH would be specifically vital.
Also, I used to have this problem with a tank with acceptable chemistry. I fixed it by increasing the surface aggitation with increased water movement. (added two new power head water pumps.) This made it impossible for the algea to grow on the surface and was free to address the algea from other sources (ie. chemistry).
Also, I used to have this problem with a tank with acceptable chemistry. I fixed it by increasing the surface aggitation with increased water movement. (added two new power head water pumps.) This made it impossible for the algea to grow on the surface and was free to address the algea from other sources (ie. chemistry).
Phosphates are gonna be your main problem, another by product of waste as well as being naturally introduced.
If you don't already try doing some water changes with RO filtered water (you will have to buffer and re-mineral it), also you could add a phosphate remover to the cannister if you have one or if not just put it in a good flow of water. However, dont bother adding untill you have them down to a reasonable level as it would be a waste.
If you don't already try doing some water changes with RO filtered water (you will have to buffer and re-mineral it), also you could add a phosphate remover to the cannister if you have one or if not just put it in a good flow of water. However, dont bother adding untill you have them down to a reasonable level as it would be a waste.
Phosphates may well be high, and once you get a surface scum like this growing, then you won't get high nitrate readings as they're being sucked out of the system by the fast growing algae as soon as they're appearing. If it grows as quickly as this I might wonder if it was cyanobacteria (bluegreen algae) rather than true plant algae.
I don't remember your filtration system. Things that would be useful to know
How big tank?
How big water changes?
How much live rock?
How much substrate?
What filtration? Any obvious nutrient traps like UGF's, cannisters, HOBS?
Trouble is, once cyanobacteria are established they are a pain to get rid of. Think about these, and also somewhere on wetwebmedia there's a recipe for getting rid of algae problems. Disappointingly this stuff also only needs fractional amounts of waste to create huge amounts of algae.
I don't remember your filtration system. Things that would be useful to know
How big tank?
How big water changes?
How much live rock?
How much substrate?
What filtration? Any obvious nutrient traps like UGF's, cannisters, HOBS?
Trouble is, once cyanobacteria are established they are a pain to get rid of. Think about these, and also somewhere on wetwebmedia there's a recipe for getting rid of algae problems. Disappointingly this stuff also only needs fractional amounts of waste to create huge amounts of algae.
I have a Eheim 2224 canister filter,29G tank, 25% water changes every 2 weeks, 46lbs of live rock, and about 2 inches of crushed coral substrate. I bought the eheim surface skimmer and it worked for the surface algae, but I am still getting algae growth pretty fast on the crushed coral. My water is perfect, with no fish in it for 3 weeks because of ich, my PH is 8.2 and nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia are all 0. Even before the fish were taken out my water was still very good, only change was the nitrates were at about 10, with everything else being 0. I bought a phosphate test and silica test both Seachem products, but they suck, after the test you can't even distinguish the color. So I ordered different brands of each, hopefully they will be a little more helpful.
I am suspicious of your cannister, and your 2 inches of coral gravel, as both have a ton of potential to be nitrate traps. This is where you get quite a lot of waste organics trapped and broken down to nitrates , the end member of the oxygenated part of the nitrogen cycle. When your gravel get a bit gunked up, or you don't clean your cannister regularly (at least one a week!) the amounts of organics here can produce nitrates at an amazing rate.
Nitrate can only be reduced out of the system (as nitrogen gas) in anaerobic conditions. This is happening to some extent in the middle of your live rock (ammonia -> nitrite -> nitrate happens in the outer, oxic part). Trouble is , your tank is producing nitrates at such a rate your live rock can't keep up. This is a classic problem. Does this make sense? I uspect you aren't seeing nitrates as the algae is so efficient at eating them. Also there are other organics in the water anyway that you aren't testing for.
As you've no fish in the tank right now, I'd be tempted to pull all the media out of the cannister a bit every couple of days, till it's nothing more than a glorified water pump UNLESS you can commit to cleaning it 2 or 3 times a week. Then you'll be relying on the live rock for you biofiltration. I would also drop the thickness of the substrate to less than an inch.
I assume you have a protein skimmer. If you don't get one. Aqua C Remora is good, so are others - check what you can get, what's recommended. I don't live i nthe US so I can't recomend brands really, mine are different - Tunze, Deltec, RATZ...
Also whack up your circulation - you should be moving at least 300 gallons an hour (or 10 * tank volume), so get a powerhead in there. Try diverting the output from the cannister through a surface level spray bar to further bust up the surface algae and randomise flow.
Good luck! Does the above make sense. It can be a hassle on nonskimmed smaller systems to get nutrients under control....
Nitrate can only be reduced out of the system (as nitrogen gas) in anaerobic conditions. This is happening to some extent in the middle of your live rock (ammonia -> nitrite -> nitrate happens in the outer, oxic part). Trouble is , your tank is producing nitrates at such a rate your live rock can't keep up. This is a classic problem. Does this make sense? I uspect you aren't seeing nitrates as the algae is so efficient at eating them. Also there are other organics in the water anyway that you aren't testing for.
As you've no fish in the tank right now, I'd be tempted to pull all the media out of the cannister a bit every couple of days, till it's nothing more than a glorified water pump UNLESS you can commit to cleaning it 2 or 3 times a week. Then you'll be relying on the live rock for you biofiltration. I would also drop the thickness of the substrate to less than an inch.
I assume you have a protein skimmer. If you don't get one. Aqua C Remora is good, so are others - check what you can get, what's recommended. I don't live i nthe US so I can't recomend brands really, mine are different - Tunze, Deltec, RATZ...
Also whack up your circulation - you should be moving at least 300 gallons an hour (or 10 * tank volume), so get a powerhead in there. Try diverting the output from the cannister through a surface level spray bar to further bust up the surface algae and randomise flow.
Good luck! Does the above make sense. It can be a hassle on nonskimmed smaller systems to get nutrients under control....
aqua c is the way to go imo...doesnt take a lot of space and is very effective (not speeking from practical experience, as i do not run a skimmer)..."it can be a hassle on nonskimmed smaller systems to get nutrients under control."...tell me about it, took me forever to get all that finally straightened out...remember, algae of some sort is probably going to grow somewhere , ideally it is calcerous and on your back glass/rock (if that is the look you like), but i have never ever seen a SW tank w/o algae