black algae

[billc]

Have been fighting black algae growth for about a month now. Just when it seems like I have things under controll it comes back even stronger.. My water paramerters are fine. I have cut back my feeding to near starvation levels.. Plan on doing major water changes and cleaning this weekend.. Any ideas would be appreciated
:?: :?:

 

[Anonymous]

Bill,

What are you using for makeup water and water changes? Ro? RO/DI ? Tap?

Tell us more about your setup.

Louey

 

[karlas]

is it a mat type alge? if so could be cyano
there are several reasons cyano show up
over feeding
high nitrates
old lighting
poor circulation
undisolved organics

i had this stuff for a while and very hard to get rid of. my nitrates were under 10 and it was all over the place. you said u tested parameters. did you test nitrate also? you said you cut back the feeding also.

old lighting can cause this as lights age the spectrums change and the red spectrum will come through the light more and this is a big cause for alge blooms.

how much circulation is in the tank? cyano will grow where things are able to settle. try moving your pwr heads or adding another one

do you use a skimmer? cyano feeds off of undisolved waste and can help spread it. also you can use a turkey baster to siphon some out. it grows back but also helps get it under control. get some sand sifters to help keep the sand clean stars, fighting conchs, nudibranch, nassarious snails etc.

i finally got rid of it after increasing water changes, adding pwr head, getting conchs, and adding a skimmer. as for the water changes do you do them weekly? i do 10% a week and every thing has been good

 

[oranje]

If it's a black algae outbreak, I think it's probably cyano. And oh man, did I ever deal with that before - and in my new tank, it just popped up.

Cyano, or "black death" as I like to call it, is the greatest pain ever. I would suggest removing as much of it as possible by hand, and then doing a few water changes fairly rapidly. Within the tank, increase water circulation, and think about a skimmer upgrade.

One thing... DO NOT USE ANY CHEMICALS TO GET RID OF IT. You will regret it. A quick fix is a temporary fix, and a temporary fix is not a fix at all.

 

[ReefLion]

Please don't starve your fish. Many, many tanks are healthy and cyano-free with lots of feeding. We do need more info about your tank. Without knowing anything, the likely answers are: (1) switch to RO/DI water for water changes and top-off, (2) improve skimming, (3) develop a sufficient sandbed.

Tim