New tank problems or not?

Craigjmiles

Craigjmiles

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I have been getting a lot of green/brown algae growing on my gravel/aragonite. My tank has been running for about 5 months, 4 with livestock(first was cycle).

Does anyone have any advice on how to prevent this? My 6 T5 39w lights run for 6 and a half hours a day. I have a 260litre tank.

Sometimes this layer of algae is quite thick. Is this common in a newish tank? And what should I do differently?

Thanks in advance!
 
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Depends what type of algae it is, if it's regular GHA then it's a new tank thing, I found that that algae dissappeared at about 9 months
 
r0ckf1re

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Jut some fyi.... My tank is 3 months old, touch qood no algae issues. Downside it that my Tang has nothing to graze on. When I did have some GHA the tang got rid of it pretty quick.
 
dallasg

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Hi

its hard to say, have you got a pic?
what are the NO3 and PO4 readings?
 
Craigjmiles

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Here is a pic, it's more GHA, with a couple of cyano algae in it.

Parameters I'm not 100% sure, going to the petshot today so will get it tested. Salinity is 1.02535, pH8, and temp 25-26.

I put in an urchin yesterday to possibly help. I have also changed my feeding to every other day. Feeding frozen and granuals.

I have a regal tang but I think it's to much for him and my bicolour blenny to eat up:) pistol shrimp os helping to move some of the substrate around a bit but still a lot.

I will let you know the parameters later today.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

image.jpeg
 
Craigjmiles

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r0ckf1re said:
Jut some fyi.... My tank is 3 months old, touch qood no algae issues. Downside it that my Tang has nothing to graze on. When I did have some GHA the tang got rid of it pretty quick.
Click to expand...
Lucky:) but keep an eye on it, mine was fine then 4 months came and have had this spike. Can't pin point what the difference is just yet.

Have you got pics of your tank?
 
EFJ

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This is usually common with new tanks. It is a combo of GHA a cyano. Urchin will help a bit but they are not crazy about cyano. Usually your three biggest culprits are lighting, flow and overfeeding. In your case it may be overfeeding or flow. What clean-up crew do you have in the tank?
 
Craigjmiles

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EFJ said:
This is usually common with new tanks. It is a combo of GHA a cyano. Urchin will help a bit but they are not crazy about cyano. Usually your three biggest culprits are lighting, flow and overfeeding. In your case it may be overfeeding or flow. What clean-up crew do you have in the tank?
Click to expand...

I have 3 common shrimp, 1 fire shrimp, 1 cleaner shrimp, 2 turbo snails, some common hermits, and a halloween hermit. And the urchin:)

Anything you recommend?
 
EFJ

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Maybe look into getting something to help keep your substrate moving like a goby or a sand sifting star etc. Another thing is that flakes and pellets are heavy food, what I mean is that they tend to lead to GHA and cyano outbreaks as they don't always get eaten up compared to live or frozen cubes. Probably overfeeding is more than likely the problem, try smaller portions for a week or two and see what happens. Check your flow pattern and see if there is enough of good flow pattern not causing any dead spots. I purchased a canister filter to help suck my substrate and rocks clean once a month and it helps. I also changed my feeding routine and amount, I feed more frozen in a week than pellets and flakes. Pellets I only feed once a week and flakes every other day (also in smaller portions). Hope this helps a bit.
 
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