Algae ID

[trevorhiller]

My tank is just shy of the 40 day mark, I posted in my build thread the same photos, but I’m hoping to get your opinions. I’ve got brown (diatoms?), bright green algae and definitely some coralline algae spots developing. Everything on track or anything I should be doing different?
The last two tests:
nitrates 2-3
Phosphate 0-0.1
Alk 7-8
pH 8-8.2

I definitely remember the brown phase on my previous two tanks, but I’ve never had bright green algae like this. It’s mostly what I’m looking for help IDing.

 

[Just John]

Bright green algae is totally normal. Are your phosphates 0.1 or 0.01? You are aiming for something like 0.01. It's not an emergency if they are really high, just work on getting them down.

If you want to see some bright green, have a look at this! It's from my tank when it was at about the 40 day mark.

 

[ScottB]

All normal. Expect evolving algae for a year or so.

 

[trevorhiller]

So my first test ever they were 0.1. My last test they were 0.0. I have the Hanna 713 checker, which I’ve only used twice. Checking once a weekish right now.

 

[trevorhiller]

Bright green algae is totally normal. Are your phosphates 0.1 or 0.01? You are aiming for something like 0.01. It's not an emergency if they are really high, just work on getting them down.

If you want to see some bright green, have a look at this! It's from my tank when it was at about the 40 day mark.

Man I guess I’m behind the ball on corals! My ricordea is all by itself.

 

[Just John]

So my first test ever they were 0.1. My last test they were 0.0. I have the Hanna 713 checker, which I’ve only used twice. Checking once a weekish right now.

That is a good checker. It reads out to 2 decimal places. So when you say 0.0 do you means it reads 0.00?

 

[trevorhiller]

That is a good checker. It reads out to 2 decimal places. So when you say 0.0 do you means it reads 0.00?

Correct, sorry I just got off a 16 hour shift. 0.10 then 0.00.

 

[Just John]

Man I guess I’m behind the ball on corals! My ricordea is all by itself.

It might not be for long. One of those has split once and another has split twice. That oval rhodactis on the sand has split twice too. This was taken 8 months ago. I fed them a lot, which I think made a difference.

 

[Just John]

Not sure why it would have been so high. Maybe from feeding too much, but you can find posts addressing that issue specifically. Just don't let it stay at zero for too long. It will cause dinos, which can be a major pain in the rear. You really don't want to ever get those if you can avoid it. Bottomed out nitrate and phosphate will allow them to grow rapidly. Feed more or dose nutrients. I would double check the results and then work on bringing them up. Don't wait too long.

 

[trevorhiller]

Thank you! I’ll try to test them tonight and see where they stand.
I think it was because I dropped an algae water in for my CUC. I was worried they weren’t going to have enough food when I got them because my rocks were quite bare. I’m doing pretty frequent water changes right now, so I can’t imagine it would be that high again. Especially since I’ve added a skimmer. It sounds like I may actually need to slow down on the water changes so I’m not zeroed out.

 

[trevorhiller]

Not sure why it would have been so high. Maybe from feeding too much, but you can find posts addressing that issue specifically. Just don't let it stay at zero for too long. It will cause dinos, which can be a major pain in the rear. You really don't want to ever get those if you can avoid it. Bottomed out nitrate and phosphate will allow them to grow rapidly. Feed more or dose nutrients. I would double check the results and then work on bringing them up. Don't wait too long.

I tested the water:
Phosphate 0.06
Nitrate 0.00
Alk 6.0

gave the fish a nice big pinch of pellets this morning, we’ll see if I can get some detectable nitrates. I’m surprised the phosphates are as high as they are since I changed a total of 6 gallons in the last 5 days with RODI made salt water. Not going to get too bent out of shape about it though, because I think that’s still pretty low and the tanks still new. I’ll probably wait until Thursday or Friday to do the water change this week.

 

[ScottB]

I tested the water:
Phosphate 0.06
Nitrate 0.00
Alk 6.0

gave the fish a nice big pinch of pellets this morning, we’ll see if I can get some detectable nitrates. I’m surprised the phosphates are as high as they are since I changed a total of 6 gallons in the last 5 days with RODI made salt water. Not going to get too bent out of shape about it though, because I think that’s still pretty low and the tanks still new. I’ll probably wait until Thursday or Friday to do the water change this week.

Water changes are almost proportionally effective at removing nitrates. A 20% WC reduces nitrate by about 20%.

Not so with phosphates. Most of the phosphate in your system is stored in your substrate (aragonite). Only a small amount is actually in the water.

IMO, .06 for PO4 is a fine target number.

 

[trevorhiller]

Water changes are almost proportionally effective at removing nitrates. A 20% WC reduces nitrate by about 20%.

Not so with phosphates. Most of the phosphate in your system is stored in your substrate (aragonite). Only a small amount is actually in the water.

IMO, .06 for PO4 is a fine target number.

I did not know that. Thank you for the info