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devonow

Algae Help!!!

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3 Comments
by
devonow
, 09-16-2012 at 09:09 PM (2089 Views)
Hello all! For lack of better terms I would consider myself a "water nazi". I sample my water at least three times a week to verify everything is at its proper levels. After I test my water, I usually make a trip to my local LFS to make sure my tests are accurate. The last test I conducted yielded these results:

PH - 8.2
Salinity 1.025
Phosphates 0.0
Nitrates 0.0
Calcium 500
Magnesium 1350
Alkalinity 8.9

About my tank: 75 gallon reef tank ( only about 50 gallons of water with live rock ) 20 gallon sump tank with a reef octopus skimmer rated for 150 gallons. I have a BRS single canister with carbon and GFO mixed. I have two hydor 1050's that alternate at 15 second intervals. My sump pump produces about a 260 GPH turnover. The tank has been set up for about 13-14 weeks now and is fully through the nitrogen cycle. I have gradually worked up to 9 fish and have not experienced a single loss (knock on wood). I have 2 cleaner shrimp, some hermit crabs, and a dozen or so snails. We also have 3 small, beautiful bubble tips. About two weeks ago I noticed some red slime algae in my sump. Last week I threw out my chaeto thinking that it was producing nitrates and phospates due to die off. It seemed to be producing a slight clear slime and some of it (not much) was turning clear. I probably jumped the gun by throwing it out. The lighting I have over my refugium is a flood type 6500K bulb from home depot. Today I bought some more with hopes that it may grow stronger this time. We feed our fish one cube of mysis a day and rinse before feeding. Lighting over the tank is 4 54 watt T5 bulbs. one ATI 10000K white bulb one ATI Coral Plus 15000K bulb and two pure actinics. The display tank lighting is on for around 10 hours and the sump light is on for 8.5. I only use RO/DI and test with a TDS meter.

Last night I noticed the water getting cloudy. I think I had a bad algae bloom probably caused by excess nutrients now that the chaeto is gone. Today, I scrubbed the tops of my rocks with a toothbrush to get the algae off.

Anyone have ideas on what Im doing wrong? Was it just the fact that I removed the chaeto that created the bloom? The algae seems to be a mix of red slime and brown diatom. I also added a thousand or so copepods to my tank a couple days ago.


Ohh one more thing...........When does the coralline start to grow!!! I have live rock with coralline all over it but its not spreading!! Its been 14 weeks since day 1.

Any input would be helpful! Thanks

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Categories
‎ NEED HELP STAT! , ‎ Lighting , ‎ Water Chemistry , ‎ Questions - Need some input

Comments

  1. Midnight's Avatar
    I know 14 weeks sounds like a lot, but lets convert that to 3.5 months for the sake of perspective. At three months the tank is still really new and trying to find its way. The cloudiness is likely a bacterial bloom, removing the chaeto not the best thing. Next time try to prune the dead spots and keep the ball rolling. Chaeto needs lots of light and lots of flow. Coraline will grow when it is ready, is it growing on the glass or pumps? If so then scrape this to encourage a spread. If not, then it just isn't ready to grow. 500 calcium is probably a bit high. If you are getting actual red slime, ie cyano, in a new tank it is likely from the newness of the tank and just needs to realize that this is not its home. Good luck, give it some time, and don't rush to anything.
  2. devonow's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Midnight
    I know 14 weeks sounds like a lot, but lets convert that to 3.5 months for the sake of perspective. At three months the tank is still really new and trying to find its way. The cloudiness is likely a bacterial bloom, removing the chaeto not the best thing. Next time try to prune the dead spots and keep the ball rolling. Chaeto needs lots of light and lots of flow. Coraline will grow when it is ready, is it growing on the glass or pumps? If so then scrape this to encourage a spread. If not, then it just isn't ready to grow. 500 calcium is probably a bit high. If you are getting actual red slime, ie cyano, in a new tank it is likely from the newness of the tank and just needs to realize that this is not its home. Good luck, give it some time, and don't rush to anything.

    The only place the corraline is growing is on the LR it came on. No spreading yet. I will try and scrape some off in order to promote growth. Last night I read up on light cycles over the refugium. I noticed that Im probably not giving my Chaeto/Refug. enough light. The 6500K light bulb was also mounted about 12-13 inches off the water. Probaly had no benefit being that high. Anyways, thanks for the advice.
  3. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    Your GFO is battling your Chaeto for phosphates. Macro algae's need both phosephate and nitrate to grow, if you remove the phosphate with GFO, there isn't enough for your chaeto to grown and remove nitrates too. I know it sounds backwards, but try removing the GFO.

    Algae also like a warmer, lower Kelvin light to grow well. You may try dropping to a 3500 or 4000K bulb over your sump. In that vein, screw in CFL bulbs degrade very rapidly and should be replaced every 3 months.

    How often do you harvest the chaeto? You should be removing some each month, if not more to keep what's remaining growning quickly.

    I've also found with my own tank that keeping the Alk a bit higher seems to help keep nuisance algae at bay. Try raising your alk to 10 dkh, you'll want to lower your Ca down to 450 though or you might get a precipitation even.

    A dozen or so snails, is far too few for a 75 gal, especially a new one. Try adding about 50 more snails, mostly astraea, cerith and nerite.

    And as Midnight said, at 3-1/2 months your system is still in it's infancy. Go slow and let things sort themselves out.

    Phil