green and brown algae help

[hvusalt]

my 75g fish only tank start getting these algae on glass and sand. this tank is kind of new about 30 months but original transferred all stuffs to this tank from the 40 gallon and that 40 gallon was ran for a year. some people recommend to install a UV and reduce feeding. please let me know your thought?
all helps appriciated.
Dan

 

[JohnK]

UV will do nothing about algae problems unless it's free floating/"green water".

What do you have for nutrient export for this sytem? Reducing feeding and or increasing nutrient export will be the key(s) to managing algae growth.

 

[hvusalt]

nutrient export mean changing water, sock regularly...can you explaint more i am "new". thanks

 

[reefstarter]

What he means is yes water changes often but also some other forms such as refugium or media removing nitrates and phosphates

 

[JohnK]

Basically all the food you put into the tank is going to be consumed and or decay in the water. Of what gets consumed only a bit goes into growth and the rest gets pooped back out to decay. Hence you have ongoing "nutrient import" into a "closed system" where all those nutrients build up and feed algae growth. "nutrient export" is anything that takes it back out.

So, nutrient export mechanisms would include; good protein skimmer, refugim growing macro algae, siphoning out detritis with water changes, carbon dosing (dosing an organic carbon soruce which will then drive bacterial growth which can then be pulled out via protein skimming), water changes, and even siphoning out the smaller nusiance algaes as you scrape them off the glass.

 

[hvusalt]

that is very clear and helpful John and Restarter. thank you so much Guys. i will give you an update once it resolved.
dan

 

[delta]

Also understand Algae is a real part of reefkeeping and expect to have some form of it. Your tank is probably just about out of the green/new tank period so seeing green algae is normal.

But if it is slimy or mat like it may be Cyanobacteria, probably not but something to watch for.

AS john has pointing out some forms of nutrient you might post what you have for equipment and what your are doing for maintenance. Better to make a plan around the basics and follow through with it then try and figure it out after your in trouble

 

[reefstarter]

once you get cyno its hard to get rid of completely , most end up living with it and dealing with bits of cyna about the tank . sometimes best you can hope for is to keep things "under control "

 

[delta]

once you get cyno its hard to get rid of completely , most end up living with it and dealing with bits of cyna about the tank . sometimes best you can hope for is to keep things "under control "

Not true and please do not foster this myth. Running a basic system you can easily determine you issue sand deal with them also most people are out of the hobby or upgrade their tank before they ever fully mature. That takes about 1.5-2 years.

 

[JohnK]

But I would agree that cyano can be pretty persistent and hard to completely eradicate.