Algae galore!

[Tomknox47]

Hi everyone I’ve been battling algae for quite sometime ( cyano, bubble, GHA)
LFS recommended dosing vibrant which got rid of almost all algae. It wasn’t until later I found out how many problems vibrant could cause and I believe it bottomed out my nitrates.
My question is would dosing nitrate be beneficial for me and should I add a refugium?
my thought process was that hopefully the macro algae will grow instead of algae in the display. My concern is that since my nutrients are low it will cause further issues.

nitrates 0.00pm
Phosphates 0.02ppm
(Tested from Hanna checker)

I am also wondering if the algae is soaking up the nutrients in my tank giving me a false reading.
I’ve tried upping my feedings but it only seems to influence more algae growth.
Any tips on how I can resolve this please!

 

[keatonmjenkins]

No because your readings are most likely not right because of the algae. You already have high nitrates since you have algae.
Water changes and try to suck up the algae and peroxide dosing isn’t a bad thing.

 

[Tomknox47]

No because your readings are most likely not right because of the algae. You already have high nitrates since you have algae.
Water changes and try to suck up the algae and peroxide dosing isn’t a bad thing.

Thanks for the reply! Would adding a refugium be helpful?

 

[keatonmjenkins]

Thanks for the reply! Would adding a refugium be helpful?

It would but if you’re going to dose peroxide add the refugium after because the peroxide will ruin it.
Water changes every 2 days or everyday will help a lot while sucking up algae.

 

[DE FISH]

Large water change + manual removal test once you’ve removed what you can and adjust nutrients accordingly could be Dino though hard to tell from your pictures

 

[Uncle99]

Nitrates zero and phosphate 0.02ppm?
That don’t make sense, likely more nitrate than you think.
Get second opinion on both.

 

[Tomknox47]

Large water change + manual removal test once you’ve removed what you can and adjust nutrients accordingly could be Dino though hard to tell from your pictures

How big of a water change would you recommend? Tank is 75 gallons
I typically do 10g weekly but the past two weeks I have upped it to 15-20 gallons

 

[DE FISH]

Hmmm after rereading I’m not to sure on the course of action do you have better pics of the algae on the sand bed

 

[Tomknox47]

Hmmm after rereading I’m not to sure on the course of action do you have better pics of the algae on the sand bed

Hard to capture, but the algae is more of a reddish color in person it’s a mix of brown, green and red. My goby wanted to say hello in the second picture lol

 

[Dan_P]

Hi everyone I’ve been battling algae for quite sometime ( cyano, bubble, GHA)
LFS recommended dosing vibrant which got rid of almost all algae. It wasn’t until later I found out how many problems vibrant could cause and I believe it bottomed out my nitrates.
My question is would dosing nitrate be beneficial for me and should I add a refugium?
my thought process was that hopefully the macro algae will grow instead of algae in the display. My concern is that since my nutrients are low it will cause further issues.

nitrates 0.00pm
Phosphates 0.02ppm
(Tested from Hanna checker)

I am also wondering if the algae is soaking up the nutrients in my tank giving me a false reading.
I’ve tried upping my feedings but it only seems to influence more algae growth.
Any tips on how I can resolve this please!

Looks like normal runaway nuisance algae growth. It could take awhile to find the right mix of actions to take. The last choice might be a rip clean when all else fails, including your patience.

When you used Vibrant and killed the macro algae, this likely provided the nuisance algae a “turkey dinner” from all the waste produced by the dead and dying algae. The sizable population that is growing now is consuming organic and inorganic nitrogen, leaving little to none for the nitrifying bacteria to convert to nitrate. Phosphate is also being consumed by the unwanted house guests.

You might be beyond the point where simply feeding more helps the situation. You might just be feeding the uglies. I recently saw a post with pictures where Microbacter Clean helped clear up some nuisance organisms, though not as far along as yours. Also, growing macro algae is unlikely to help at this point. Try things but don’t be in a hurry. You are in a war of attrition.

 

[Tomknox47]

Looks like normal runaway nuisance algae growth. It could take awhile to find the right mix of actions to take. The last choice might be a rip clean when all else fails, including your patience.

When you used Vibrant and killed the macro algae, this likely provided the nuisance algae a “turkey dinner” from all the waste produced by the dead and dying algae. The sizable population that is growing now is consuming organic and inorganic nitrogen, leaving little to none for the nitrifying bacteria to convert to nitrate. Phosphate is also being consumed by the unwanted house guests.

You might be beyond the point where simply feeding more helps the situation. You might just be feeding the uglies. I recently saw a post with pictures where Microbacter Clean helped clear up some nuisance organisms, though not as far along as yours. Also, growing macro algae is unlikely to help at this point. Try things but don’t be in a hurry. You are in a war of attrition.

Thanks for the response.
I will continue feeding regularly and continue water changes and the manual removal of algae.
I will also add a refugium with some chaeto.
Maybe some pods will help clean things up.
Also considering upping my cleanup crew of snails since mine seems to have depleted a bit.
Of course I will do all of these things in a gradual matter as to not shock the tank hopefully this will also allow me to narrow it down and find out what course of action worked the best for me.