# How do I control green algae, red slime and little star fish looking things?!?!?!?



## fishfrenzy

As most of yall might know my boss has a 75g bow front tank that has been set up for about 8-9 yrs. he is going to sell it to me soon. and i am still contemplating the idea of keeping it a SW tank it has crushed coral substrate with a bunch of live rocks and some corals. he never takes care of it but somehow the 2 damsels that are in there manage to stay alive. it has ALOT of short and long haired green algae growing all over the back of the tank along with what looks like a red slimey film. he also has A WHOLE LOT of little starfish looking creatures that have 6-7 limbs and they are stuck on the glass all over the front of the tank. Anyway, i am just curious as to if i were to keep this tank a SW tank, how would i go about controlling all the algae and slime and those little starfish looking creatures.?? Thanks for any/all help!!!


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## redpaulhus

they might not be starfish - a photo would help - without knowing exactly what they are (aiptasia ? ) I have no advice for them.

As for algae - swap the crushed coral for a thin sand bed, add a protein skimmer if it doesn't have one, tune (or replace) the existing one if it does, and keep up with water changes.

Red slime algae is actually cyanobacteria, to keep it at bay do all of the above plus add more flow (a few powerheads with Hydor Rotators is a good cheap way to do this).

Limit the nutrient intake and increase the nutrient export to solve algae problems.


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## fishfrenzy

*Re: How do I control green algae, red slime and little star fish looking things?!?!?!?*

oh yea i forgot to mention there are 3 power head in there already to make a current. and hes using like an emperor 400 HOB power filter. Do you mean nutrient intake of fish?? if so that cant be the problem, seeing how he only feeds the 2 fish that are in there maybe 3-4 times a week. 
Thanks for the help. i will try to get some pix of the little creatures tonight, i have to go home and get my camera then come back here and take the pix. Thanks again.


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## redpaulhus

Nutrient intake of the system as a whole - think eco-system.
Nutrients are more than what we think of as foods - in ecosystem terms nutrients would include phosphate, iron, and nitrogonous waste (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, etc) -- the nutrients that the algae and/or bacteria feed on.

He still may be feeding too much when he feeds, even if he doesn't feed often (especially if he doesn't feed often - people often try to make up for frequency or quality with quanitity). 
I would be pulling out the filter pads from the Emp filter and rinsing them daily or every other day. You may be able to setup better flow patterns with the powerheads to optimize flow and reduce dead spots - look for chaotic, turbulant flow rather than laminar flow.

Are there any nutrient export mechanisms in place - a protein skimmer, or refugium with macro algae, etc ?


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## Fishfirst

the filter maybe the bulk of the problem, nitrates build up there and thats what the algae is feeding on. Also, does he use tap water? This could also be a problem.


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## fishfrenzy

yea he puts tap water in a 5 gallon bucket lets it sit for a few days then dumps it into the tank when it needs it!! i know R.O water is best for SW tanks. Is there any type of drops to remove or neutralize thr metals etc in the tap water?? Or is there a cheap type of filtration system i can hook up to the sink/tap once i move into my apartment!?!? And by cheap i mean like $200 and under!!! thanks for the help!! 

as far as the filter goes, he only uses the emperor 400 HOB type filter with a white stuffing material thats like inside of stuffed animlals?!?! and about 3-4 power heads with the foam filters on the suction end. 

When i get the tank i might keep the HOB filter, but i plan on buying an eheim canister filter and any protein skimmer i can get really for $225 or less!! I might also add 1-2 more smalll power heads. and switch the substrate from the crushed coral to a live sand. let me know what yall think of all that.

thanks again for all the help!!!!


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## Fishfirst

I wouldn't waste money on canister filters or HOB filters... they are just nitrate sinks... get a protien skimmer and spend the rest of the money that you were going to buy the filters with on some goood liverock instead. Also I saw a water filter at petco for $36 not sure if thats what you want but its worth a look. Skimmers can be purchased for under 200 easily. I'd go with a prisim or berlin.


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## fishfrenzy

*Re: How do I control green algae, red slime and little star fish looking things?!?!?!?*

Ok im gonna try to attach some pix of the tank etc that i took yesterday. bear with me while i figure this out!! LOL...... WOW it worked, ok i will attach more......


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## fishfrenzy

*Re: How do I control green algae, red slime and little star fish looking things?!?!?!?*

more pix !!!! I have about 5 more of the other stuff. I will have ot resize them and post them later i have to go back to work, im on my lunch break!!! LOL. Thanks again for all the help!!!! I greatly appreciate it !!!!!!!


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## fishfrenzy

Oh yea, I forgot to ask,,,,,, How much would yall pay For all this?? its 8-9 yrs old!?!?! 

I have another problem, with figuring out how to move it from my work to 5-8 miles away to my 3rd floor apartment!!! Which btw has elevators!! lol....


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## Fishfirst

considering its that old maybe 400-800 dollars depending on the condition of the stand and no scratches... Also what other stock does he have in there? That can heighten the value... what does he have for hardware that you can use? 

Also moving it can be a challenge... youll need a full crew to do it quickly.

I'd get some rubbermaid bins to put live rock and fish in (also keep a lot of the water) I'd do a cleaning before you put everything back... and I'd keep the filter it has on it for a few weeks to keep most of the bacteria.


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## fishfrenzy

he only has 2 damsels a blue one, and a black one with gray stripes


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## Fishfirst

how much live rock corals etc? or nothing else


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## fishfrenzy

all the rock that is in there is live rock.... along with the crushed coral substrate, and whatever things are growing on the rock in the pictures...... lol


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## fishfrenzy

*Re: How do I control green algae, red slime and little star fish looking things?!?!?!?*

more pix of the 75g SW tank i might buy.......


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## fishfrenzy

*Re: How do I control green algae, red slime and little star fish looking things?!?!?!?*

more pix of the tank.............


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## Guest

it doesnt look like he tanks very good care of this tank... how often does he clean it? and why doesnt he actually buy a filter pad for his filter?


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## fishfrenzy

*Re: How do I control green algae, red slime and little star fish looking things?!?!?!?*

no he doesnt take car of it or clean it at all. he brushes the glass cleans the filter stuff, and the power head filters once a month. I have NEVER seen him do a water change since the 2 yrs I have been working there. all he does is top it off with tap water when it needs it.!!!! I


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## Mr Aquarium

*Re: How do I control green algae, red slime and little star fish looking things?!?!?!?*

Them things growing on the rock I think are one type of Anenime < spelling > aint they?
I believe they are the same type as same one of the LFS s/w tank has it in here.
Them Star fish things, don;t that all come from the life rock?


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## Fishfirst

Also I noticed you have some mushroom corals growing in one of those pics... but the tank is in fairly bad condition I would not offer more than 400 for it...its gonna take a lot of work to get it clean


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## jason_jen_justin

*Re: How do I control green algae, red slime and little star fish looking things?!?!?!?*

just wanted to say that i had the same problem with the red algea and there is something out there that i call red slime remover. go figure, anyways i use it and i worked great for me. another thing you might want to consider is r/o water which should help take care of it for good.


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## redpaulhus

Water changes 
water changes
water changes !!!

He's lucky anything at all is living in there with a maint routine like that.

The skimmer is a Berlin Hang-On from Red Sea -- not the best but not bad.

I would have the water tested thoroughly - my guess is that the nitrates are probably high, the pH and alkalinity are probably low, and who knows where the salinity is - and IF you buy the tank, plan on lots of changes. 

Start by mixing up about 50g of new saltwater with the same salinity as the existing tank. 

When the time comes to move the tank -- siphon about 3 gallons of tank water into a 5 gal bucket. Pick up each piece of liverock, and dunk and swish in the bucket -- you'll be amazed at all the detritus and crud. You'll probably have to change the water in the bucket a few times.

I would pack all of the rock that isn't covered in shrooms in styro fish coolers, wrapped in wet paper towels (use water from the tank).
The rock that is covered in shrooms I would put in a rubbermaid or similar bin with just enough water to cover (you may need a few bins, you don't want them to be too heavy to move).

Personally I would toss the crushed coral and replace with a very thin layer of coral sand (less than .5 inch).

Once you get the tank in place I would recommend using the skimmer and putting the Marineland filter carts in the filter (at least at first, I'd probably run it empty once the tank is stable). I'd also look into putting some phosphate remover pads or media in the media cartridges that came with the filter.

Once all the rock is packed up and the gravel removed you may want to give the tank a quick cleaning with a new algae scrub pad - just to get some of the algae off of the glass - if it doesn't come off easily with a pad its probably good algae (coraline) not bad (cyano, etc) and you should leave it.

I'm not sure what the little starfish shape is -- do they move around ? They may actually be starfish that came in on the liverock.

I would have the new water mixing and ready before you buy the tank (or at least before you try to move it) so that when you get it to your place you can put it where you want it, level + shim it, and get it filled ASAP with fresh clean saltwater. Get the liverock and critters in there ASAP. 
Get the filter and heater running, and fiddle with the skimmer (in my experience the Berlin HOT skimmer takes a little fiddling).

Give the tank a few months before you add any more fish - let the bacteria establish themselves, etc. 
Keep up with water changes and keep the alkalinity high - this will encourage coraline algae and discourage other algaes. Use phospate pads or media until your phosphate consistantly reads zero.

Oh - if the salinity is way off, gradually bring it back to normal by doing small weekly water changes (maybe 5g) with water of the correct salinity.


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## fishfrenzy

wow thanks for the list, im gonna print that out!!! 

Im not sure about the other water parameters, but i know the salinity is at the right level, like 1.021 or something around there. thanks again!!


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## Osiris

is it me, or does it look like this is the one selling on ebay right now? lol. looks exactly like it. GOnna take a ton of work to get that puppy back up to par.


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## Guest

fishfrenzy, the salinity level should be at 1.024. that is usually the ideal salinity for SW tanks.


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## Fishfirst

Also a DEEP sand bed is better than a shallow one. And also you will want to trash the filters and get a skimmer after the tank is established.


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## clemsonfrk11202

*Re: How do I control green algae, red slime and little star fish looking things?!?!?!?*

in reply to one of your pictures (the rock with "stuff" on it) from what it looks like that stuff is actually a bunch of mushroom corals but i cant be for certian with that small pix, but if it is try to save it in large groups they are pretty


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## redpaulhus

Fishfirst @ 3/12/2005 said:


> Also a DEEP sand bed is better than a shallow one.  And also you will want to trash the filters and get a skimmer after the tank is established.


The problem is that:
a) most people don't go deep enough -- anything between one inch and 3-4 inches will cause more problems than it solves (not deep enough to provide NNR). Check out Fenner & Calfo's Inverts book (or Calfo's Coral Propagation) for a good discussion of the pro's/con's of various sandbed depths

b) current thinking is that deep sand beds may be a ticking time bomb -- a number of reefers with 5-6 year old DSB's are suddenly experiencing massive nutrient problems (especially phosphate) and unreal algae issues - this may not be a cause\effect relationship, but until more research is done (I think a few of the speakers from MACNA said they were studying this) it may be a good idea to keep the main tank sand bed shallow and place any DSB's in a seperate refugium that can be easily disconnected and replaced when it becomes overly nutrient laden.

c) a six or twelve inch sandbed is something that many casual aquarists don't want to look at in their display tank 

Personally, I put my DSB in my 'fuge, and I spend as much (or more) time watching the critters in the 'fuge as I do the corals in my reef 

But I haven't been advocating in-tank DSB's for many of my customers or service clients in the last few years - remote DSB's can provide the same benefits with fewer drawbacks.

Oh - and he has a pretty good skimmer, it just needs to be cleaned and tuned up (and maybe add the turbo upgrade).

If you search or browse Reefcentral you'll find alot of discussion of the lifespan of DSBs, as well as some suggestions by long term reefers (10+ years) that maybe DSB's "don't work" - there's alot of people moving away from DSB's towards "starboard", easily as many as there were moving from crushed coral to DSB a few years ago.

Again, personally I'm not an extremist - I think DSBs can work well, but I like to have a plan for 'getting out' in 5 years if things go bad. So I put just enough sand in the main tank for the planned livestock (snails, worms, pods, etc) but not enough to go anoxic or hypoxic.


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## wrasser

first you will have to make sure you dont have nitrates.(your LFS should give you a name of a person that can deliver salt water to you, usually 50 cents a gallon+ service charge.) this way whan you start you start fresh. then pick a fish you like that eats algea. i have three tangs, two darwf angles and two blennies, they would harvest that in less than a day. good luck


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## Osiris

redpaulhus @ Mon Mar 14 said:


> Fishfirst @ 3/12/2005 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Also a DEEP sand bed is better than a shallow one.  And also you will want to trash the filters and get a skimmer after the tank is established.
> 
> 
> 
> The problem is that:
> a) most people don't go deep enough -- anything between one inch and 3-4 inches will cause more problems than it solves (not deep enough to provide NNR).  Check out Fenner & Calfo's Inverts book (or Calfo's Coral Propagation) for a good discussion of the pro's/con's of various sandbed depths
> 
> b) current thinking is that deep sand beds may be a ticking time bomb -- a number of reefers with 5-6 year old DSB's are suddenly experiencing massive nutrient problems (especially phosphate) and unreal algae issues - this may not be a cause\effect relationship, but until more research is done (I think a few of the speakers from MACNA said they were studying this) it may be a good idea to keep the main tank sand bed shallow and place any DSB's in a seperate refugium that can be easily disconnected and replaced when it becomes overly nutrient laden.
> 
> c) a six or twelve inch sandbed is something that many casual aquarists don't want to look at in their display tank
> 
> Personally, I put my DSB in my 'fuge, and I spend as much (or more) time watching the critters in the 'fuge as I do the corals in my reef
> 
> But I haven't been advocating in-tank DSB's for many of my customers or service clients in the last few years - remote DSB's can provide the same benefits with fewer drawbacks.
> 
> Oh - and he has a pretty good skimmer, it just needs to be cleaned and tuned up (and maybe add the turbo upgrade).
> 
> If you search or browse Reefcentral you'll find alot of discussion of the lifespan of DSBs, as well as some suggestions by long term reefers (10+ years) that maybe DSB's "don't work" - there's alot of people moving away from DSB's towards "starboard", easily as many as there were moving from crushed coral to DSB a few years ago.
> 
> Again, personally I'm not an extremist - I think DSBs can work well, but I like to have a plan for 'getting out' in 5 years if things go bad. So I put just enough sand in the main tank for the planned livestock (snails, worms, pods, etc) but not enough to go anoxic or hypoxic.
Click to expand...



Most here are removing their sand beds completely or just having a shallow bed, as bare bottems just plan dont look good or realistic, and some are still using DSB but only in their refugiums...where u can easily work with it on a small scale.


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## Guest

did u ever find out what the "white star fish tings" were?


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## wrasser

triggers and some wrasse will eat them too. i have a clown trigger, odomus trigger, and a pinkyail trigger + a dragon wrasse, harlequin tusk, red coris, chizaltooth wrasse, formosan wrasse, and two yellow coris wrasse. and 0 starfish.


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