I have green algae but NOT that nusaince algae. What do I do to get rid of it?

Question

I have this bright green algae that coast the glass in my saltwater aquarium and i clears up at night, even if i clean it off with my magnet cleaner thingy. and every time i look green algae up all i get is the nusaince algae thats brown so i dont know what to do.

i have 2 tomato clownfish, a pincushion sea urchin, a royal dottyback, a cleanr,fire,and banded shrimp,2 emerald crabs,a serpent star, a blue star, and a bunch of hermit crabs and snails

o yeah i want to get rid of it,
and i have a 29 gallon "Biocube"
with a lot of corals

and im pretty sure its not hair aglae

Answer 1

From your description of the algae as "bright" green, I'm not sure you have algae, but cyanobacteria (see photo - this is a freshwater type, but there's a marine version that looks like this as well: http://www.aquamax.de/Shop/Artikelbilder/Zusatzbilder/Algen%20im%20Aquarium_Blaualgen%20-%20Cyanobacteria_STUG_cyano1.jpg). There is another type of cyano which is the "dreaded" red slime algae in saltwater.

Since this is a bacteria, not an algae, the treatment is a little different. Don't try to treat this with chemicals - most are antibiotics which will wipe out your beneficial bacteria that cycle your tank. Unfortunately, there aren't any fish or inverts that are good for controlling this.

Like true algae, cyanobacteria need a food supply. Do you use a protein skimmer on your tank? This will help with nutrient control, as will more frequent water changes. Try scraping and siphoning as much of the stuff as you can before you do the water change.

Add some macroalgae to your tank. Chaetomorpha and caulerpa are used most, but don't let the caulerpa overgrow your tank. These compete with the cyano for nutrients and "starve" them.

Check your water source for nitrates and phosphates (or get a pet store to do this). And keep your pH high 8.3-8.4. This is better for the true algaes. If you have trouble maintaining this, use kalkwasser. You don't need a dosing system, just a clean soda bottle, some clean water, and an eyedropper. Add one dropper (about 1 ml) of kalkwasser water a day till you get the pH where needed.

Most importantly don't overfeed the fish! This is your main source of nutrients in the tank. If you feed your fish flakes or pellets, try changing to a frozen diet for a while. Nitrogen and phosphorous are less concentrated in these.

There is one chemical product (ReDox) that is supposed to work on cyano without disrupting the bacteria you want to keep. I've never tried it, so I can't endorse it's use - I've always gone a natural remedy/competition route with saltwater - this link discusses it, and gives more info on the methods I've mentioned: http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=saltaquarium&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.athiel.com%2Flib3%2Fredox.html

ADDITION: Sorry to Danielle, but the notion that cyano is a blue-green algae is outdated! It's now classified as a bacteria. See first paragraph of website: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/cyanointro.html That's why all "effective" medications use an antibiotic (erythromycin, some others) as a way to get rid of it. Unfortunately (for the hobbyist), fish info hasn't caught up to microbiological info yet.

FYI: While on the topic of changes, the "fungus" Saprolegnia (which is almost always Achyla, anyway) is no longer considered a fungus: http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/mycology/bio341/pdf_files/AppendixA_Fungal_Classification.pdf

Answer 2

I'm not absolutely clear on your question but I think you just want to stop growing the green algae. You didn't mention what else you had in the tank. If you have any corals or anemones as they have certain lighting cycle requirements. If you don't I would suggest turning off the light sooner at night to make for shorter days. If it really is growing that fast I would also get your phosphate levels checked. And watch it with the feedings as you might be feeding too much. If you have coral and mussel safe fish and animals I would also suggest getting some as they can help and have voracious appetites when it comes to those sorts of algaes.

Answer 3

I have to dissagree with copper head here on the cyanobacteria since it is classified as a form of blue-green algae and is treated as such.

I agree some algae is good for your tank as long as it doesn't take over. You could possiably have what they call coralline alge starting in your tank. This will start out looking like a blue-green algae then turn fantastic colors, bright pink and blues. Mine is growing on just about everything in the tank including the glass. I remove it from the front and right side but allow it to grow on everything else.

Since you are running a salt tank, as Copperhead stated you don't want to start dumping chemicals into the tank since you do have corals and inverts.

The solution to your brown algae is as simple as running phosporous pads in your filter system. These pads work so well on killing off brown algae without the use of chemicals. I too have corals, coralline algae, inverts rock and fish in my tank among other things and these pads have saved me so much clean up. They take about a week to fully clear the brown algaes (even the blue-greens) from building up in your tank while allowing the corallines to grow.

If you are searching for beneficial algae, try searching under beneficial algae in salt water. or Microalgae this should take you to the sites which explain good algae vs. bad algae.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_aquarium
http://www.garf.org/NORM/coralline/corallinenorm.html

Answer 4

Green Hair Algae require not only light, but also nitrates and phosphates in order to survive. Nitrates can be introduced into an aquarium not only as the end product of the nitrogen cycle, but also via some brands of commercial sea salts and tap water. Test your low range phosphate (PO4) and low range nitrates. If you have algae in your tank, your phosphates should read well above .05 mg/L., which is considered by many to be the lowest level at which algae will grow. The most common source of phosphates in an aquarium is from the FW used for top offs and water changes. In this case, doing water changes to reduce phosphates will only continue the problem unless the water source is changed. There are two basic methods of reducing phosphates in your tank. Use only RO or RO/DI water whether you purchase an RO/DI unit or purchase RO/DI water from a commercial source. Use a good "nitrate sponge". Many of the nitrate absorbing materials also absorb phosphates. Use Mangrove Plants in your system to reduce phosphates. For fast, immediate reduction, you can do a water change, using the instant nitrate reduction method. This will reduce your nitrates at the fastest rate, using the least amount of time and water. This will also get your nitrates down to a workable (10 mg/L area) level, but it is only temporary and does nothing to remove the source of the nitrates. Check to see if your commercial sea salts contain high levels of ammonia/nitrogen. Do not overfeed your tank. Siphon uneaten food and other loose material (detritus) from the substrate.

Answer 5

Green algae on your glass is not nessasarily a bad thing but I would maybe cut down on your lights a little, Cut down on the feeding a little and see what happens.
Algae NEEDS FOOD,light and organic waist is a VERY good food for it.
I have a Lawnmower Blennie that just LOVES that stuff and he is funny to watch.
You MAY have overstocked and should wait for a couple of weeks to see if your Nitrate levels come down, YOU STATE THAT YOU HAVE LOTS OF CORALS, check your nitrate livel, it should be next to unreadable for corals.

Answer 6

You need an algae eater for your tank that should help and depending on the size of the tank will determine how many you need. Hope this works it did for me but I have a fresh water tank.

Answer 7

the best thing for you to do is leave it it is giving the tank oxygen and that is good in a salt tank where the salt lowers the amount of oxygen in the water

Answer 8

Do what I did, get an algae eater. They look like fat catfish and they LOVE to eat algae. This keeps you from having to use chemicals AND it's free food for your new fish.

Good luck! :)