Algae problem

[Gsallor]

I have what I think is bubblessed algae an slime algae. Seem like no matter what I do I can't get rid of it, I have cut back on feedings, cut back on lighting, if I go dark for a day some of it dies off but comes right back.

Ammonia less than .25

PH 8.0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate between 5-10
Phosphate less than .25

View attachment 20170721_141902.jpg

 

[Brew12]

Hard for me to tell confidently from the pictures, but some of it looks like cyanobacteria to me, not slime algae. I only have a problem with cyano if my NO3 drops to 0ppm.
What are you using for nutrient export?

 

[Gsallor]

In sump protein skimmer

 

[KJ]

How old is your tank?It looks like you still presence of ammonia in your tank , your cycling is not complete yet.I recommend you remove your fish and put them in a QT because the fish is going to suffer from burned gills with the ammonia that is in your tank. People use several different methods to cycle their tank,using fish is the worse to do because of our great love for these critters,

 

[Gsallor]

Ammonia was at 0 is crept up a little

 

[Gsallor]

It's like 6 months old it was cycled with those fish

 

[brandon429]

It's surprising how often low level ammonia readings are off accuracy


Due to the coralline on the rock, and detail your sand shows, the chance you have APi ammonia misread is above 97% and the rocks would have to be fake painted coralline types for it to be that way, or loss of animal.

Unless that substrate is fake and to-be aged, the ammonia is zero and your tank has been running long enough to produce various expected types of algae, do nothing to the tank but continue course in my opinion



You can back off hand removal in time and the reef runs and runs so well because you were removing pent up waste and resulting growths the whole time

the fact you have multiple reef algae hitchhikers invaders further indicates this rock was aged enough before you had it to bring in the proper seed materials

I don't see tons of stocking of frags, snails etc, seems like the diversity comes from the rock.

I see now the tank is six months running.

What brand of test was this

 

[Gsallor]

Brando you kind of lost me a little there but, the test kits are api, everything is real an live, I bought the rock from other reefer's from established tanks. So you're saying just keep manually removing it? When I had my other salt tank years ago I got algae but I got rid of it

 

[brandon429]

Yes agreed just repeated manual removal. These items indicate hitchhiking where they ride in on something aged, they don't indicate a water quality issue in my opinion. Our reefs run too low on grazers typically, and purchasing grazers doesn't mean they'll work.

In the end if we simply hand guide it out in this case (and some booster cheats exist if one starts to misbehave) you are just doing the work an ideal grazer crew would be doing. The growths indictate diversity and health of the reef, aquarists just strive to have algae free conditions though it's not like that in the wild

The reason true coralline was such a counter to your ammonia test readings was because that's a large amnt of purple rocks, coralline is to age what tree rings are to forest dating

That much cured rock eats ammonia to the tune of 5+ ppm a day

No .25 reading over the course of a day or two could be accurate the command is too much. Unless something died, lost any animals ?

 

[Gsallor]

I did loose a large crab recently

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Are you on rodi water?

 

[Gsallor]

Yes