A slow battle

[money88]

So the last few months I've been fighting what I believe is hair algae and I'm just trying to stay positive.

The tank is a 40gallon breeder with a 20 gal sump, I run a skimmer and grow chaeto in the sump. I run a small amount of activated carbon in my filter sock and replace the sock weekly. I also do a 5-10 gallon water change picking as much as I can and sucking it up per week.

Currently only have a clown pair, and a longhouse hawkfish. I feed usually daily but sometimes i miss a day.

The light cycle ramps up throughout the day, for a total of about 10 hours. but it starts extremely low.

The params are fine but I Believe much of it may be soaked up by chaeto and the algae.

http://imgur.com/gallery/FC6ZJlO

 

[SPR1968]

Starting with just some basics were are you getting the water from for the regular water changes, is it your own RODI unit producing 0 TDS water or is it from LFS? Somewhere nutrients are being introduced and probably feeding the algae problem.

What are your phosphate readings and also nitrate ?

 

[Subsea]

@money88
I read some earlier post that you made in May concerning slow Chaetomorphy growth. At that time, I am fairly certain that your nitrate was a limiting factor, but it could also be iron. I dose iron once a week and nitrogen every day. Macro N ratio is 30:1.

I have found that nuisance soft flesh macro thrive in low nutrients at the expense of desirable macro & coral.

 

[money88]

Starting with just some basics were are you getting the water from for the regular water changes, is it your own RODI unit producing 0 TDS water or is it from LFS? Somewhere nutrients are being introduced and probably feeding the algae problem.

What are your phosphate readings and also nitrate ?

I am using RODI yes forgot to mention that, with zero TDS, I just replaced all the filters and cartridges about a month or 2 ago.

Phosphate and nitrate are showing undetectable but I believe there are some most likely being soaked by the 2 algae

 

[money88]

@money88
I read some earlier post that you made in May concerning slow Chaetomorphy growth. At that time, I am fairly certain that your nitrate was a limiting factor, but it could also be iron. I dose iron once a week and nitrogen every day. Macro N ratio is 30:1.

I have found that nuisance soft flesh macro thrive in low nutrients at the expense of desirable macro & coral.

I have iron that I dose in my planted tank i could always try using that? what do you dose fir nitrate? it's always worth trying, at this point it's been a battle but dint plan to give up and dont want to use chemicals if possible.

 

[money88]

Oh I also forgot to mention the tank is about 14 months old

 

[Subsea]

I have iron that I dose in my planted tank i could always try using that? what do you dose fir nitrate? it's always worth trying, at this point it's been a battle but dint plan to give up and dont want to use chemicals if possible.

I have several thousand gallons in numerous systems. I use ammonia at 1 ml per 10G every day. most of my systems are 10 years old with my oldest tank at 25 years old.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/2...m-on-top-with-30g-ecosystem-mud-macro.421526/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/wet-salty-for-christmas-2017.428100/

 

[jsker]

What test kits are you using to test with?

 

[brandon429]

And to add to options, I'll submit the standard plan to clean this aquarium to cloudless condition first, then kill the algae second, then consider and adjust aquarium params and nutrients third.

In that order, you have no algae by Monday and whether or not it becomes a problem, to which you can just reset the tank with a cleaning again, depends on how well you handle step three. Without even seeing pics I'll bet if I reached in the tank and grabbed something and swished it, a cloud of algae feed results.

 

[money88]

What test kits are you using to test with?

I am using red sea pro test kits

And to add to options, I'll submit the standard plan to clean this aquarium to cloudless condition first, then kill the algae second, then consider and adjust aquarium params and nutrients third.

In that order, you have no algae by Monday and whether or not it becomes a problem, to which you can just reset the tank with a cleaning again, depends on how well you handle step three. Without even seeing pics I'll bet if I reached in the tank and grabbed something and swished it, a cloud of algae feed results.

What do you mean? Clean to cloudless condition?

 

[jsker]

I am using red sea pro test kits

Good kits, and you should be good.

One other question, what type of lights?

 

[brandon429]

There's lots of different ways to fix algae. Slower approaches through the water are low work, balancing scenarios which are time dependent... When they work they will both rid your tank of algae and help prevent regrowth (when you get nutrient tuning just right for your system)

I make threads that utilize the small accessible nature of nano tanks such that we make the sandbed cloudless, by rinsing it, which removes the waste that feeds algae and we also just simply kill the algae off the rocks as the tank is taken apart for cleaning

Skip cycle cleaning is a way you can take your entire tank apart-- all the rocks sitting out in the counter so you can access/clean them, and then reassemble the whole system without anything dying, as many times as you want. It's very simple, but since it involves you taking your tank apart = work, so it's the less popular method for large tankers. But the outcomes are shocking when it's ran. Research free here, see from page 12 onward for examples. All you are doing is cleaning the tank from the bottom up like these examples, then spot killing algae off the rocks as you access them while the tank is taken apart.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-official-sand-rinse-thread-aka-one-against-many.230281/page-12
You can keep your rocks in a bucket of water while you clean, or like me just sit them in the air for a sec, the examples show various ways to be creative.

The way I use to quick kill algae is this: scrape your algae off the rocks with a knife tip. Precision digging force, like when a dentist scrapes plaque free, not gentle but precision. Rid the area of algae like that, not with a brush, a knife tip. Rinse off. In the cleaned spot, apply some peroxide. Let sit a minute, rinse, put tank back together just like the examples shown=you have no algae by Monday. Most aquarists don't really want it bad enough to justify the work of a tank cleaning, this is for the rarely intolerant.

The frequency of you doing this reset is dependent on your water params, lighting not being too white but bluer, etc. Those items are arranged in the clean condition, not the cloudy one using our special approach. One handy feature of our method is every tank posts a clean after pic, fast. Waiting/not allowed

 

[money88]

Good kits, and you should be good.

One other question, what type of lights?

http://www.mrbabu.com/24-programmab...r-coral-fish-tank-grow-light.html?currency=KD

51 LEDs
White: 8 Warm White, 6 Neutral White, 6 Cool White
Blue: 16 Royal Blue (450nm), 7 Blue (470nm)
Violet: 4 Violet/Indigo (420nm)
Green: 2 Green (520nm)
Red: 2 Red (660nm)

It has two channels Channel 1 is more blues where as Channel 2 is whites and other colors

Here is my schedule and intensity:
11pm - 6am - Ch1: 0 Ch2: 0
7am - Ch1: 3 Ch2: 0
8am - Ch1: 8 Ch2: 0
9am - Ch1: 15 Ch2: 0
10am - Ch1: 25 Ch2: 8
11am - Ch1: 55 Ch2: 40
12pm - Ch1: 80 Ch2: 65
1pm - Ch1: 80 Ch2: 70
2pm - Ch1: 80 Ch2: 70
3pm - Ch1: 75 Ch2: 70
4pm - Ch1: 75 Ch2: 65
5pm - Ch1: 55 Ch2: 40
6pm - Ch1: 35 Ch2: 5
7pm - Ch1: 30 Ch2: 0
8pm - Ch1: 20 Ch2: 0
9pm - Ch1: 10 Ch2: 0
10pm - Ch: 5 Ch2: 0

There's lots of different ways to fix algae. Slower approaches through the water are low work, balancing scenarios which are time dependent... When they work they will both rid your tank of algae and help prevent regrowth (when you get nutrient tuning just right for your system)

I make threads that utilize the small accessible nature of nano tanks such that we make the sandbed cloudless, by rinsing it, which removes the waste that feeds algae and we also just simply kill the algae off the rocks as the tank is taken apart for cleaning

Skip cycle cleaning is a way you can take your entire tank apart-- all the rocks sitting out in the counter so you can access/clean them, and then reassemble the whole system without anything dying, as many times as you want. It's very simple, but since it involves you taking your tank apart = work, so it's the less popular method for large tankers. But the outcomes are shocking when it's ran. Research free here, see from page 12 onward for examples. All you are doing is cleaning the tank from the bottom up like these examples, then spot killing algae off the rocks as you access them while the tank is taken apart.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-official-sand-rinse-thread-aka-one-against-many.230281/page-12
You can keep your rocks in a bucket of water while you clean, or like me just sit them in the air for a sec, the examples show various ways to be creative.

The way I use to quick kill algae is this: scrape your algae off the rocks with a knife tip. Precision digging force, like when a dentist scrapes plaque free, not gentle but precision. Rid the area of algae like that, not with a brush, a knife tip. Rinse off. In the cleaned spot, apply some peroxide. Let sit a minute, rinse, put tank back together just like the examples shown=you have no algae by Monday. Most aquarists don't really want it bad enough to justify the work of a tank cleaning, this is for the rarely intolerant.

The frequency of you doing this reset is dependent on your water params, lighting not being too white but bluer, etc. Those items are arranged in the clean condition, not the cloudy one using our special approach. One handy feature of our method is every tank posts a clean after pic, fast.

That does seem like quite the effort but I have done that for my 5.5 gallon tank and it worked great. Part of the issue here I think is the lighting the pico tank seems to be running a more blue tint than the larger 40b. Plus dont you need to be concerned about taking the rock out with coral attached to it?

 

[brandon429]

Rip clean in air all corals thirty minutes


After rip clean, twelve hours later

1 gallon 10 gallons 100 gallons system all the same order and steps shown in the thread, recently ran a deep clean on my own system to catch up. I let it fill up with cyano then corrected it overnite

 

[money88]

Do you think that my lighting schedule is to long or intense?