Algae problems AFTER adding GFO.

[ValorG]

My tank has been running for almost 8 months now, have mainly sps and zoas. My rocks were mainly covered with coralline and very little patches of green hair algae that my fish kept trimmed. I recently added gfo maybe 3 weeks ago and maybe a week after that I noticed more green hair algae growth. I used the recommended starting amount which BRS says. Should I take out my gfo? Up my amount in the reactor?

 

[Reefing Madness]

It may be exhausted already.

 

[Usctom]

Which gfo are you using? Regular or high capacity? I started using half of what they suggested and worked my way up.

 

[oceanparadise1]

What's your water source? Has it changed at all? Have you done any test since adding the gfo? If so, what are they?

 

[DavidinGA]

Some algae can be fueled by the iron in gfo.

 

[ValorG]

Which gfo are you using? Regular or high capacity? I started using half of what they suggested and worked my way up.

Regular I added 1.5 cups for a 100gallon system.

What's your water source? Has it changed at all? Have you done any test since adding the gfo? If so, what are they?

My water is RODI, nothing has changed that I can tell. No i have not done any testing since I dont have a phosphate test kit.

 

[mcarroll]

Some algae can be fueled by the iron in gfo.

+1

The deal with algae is always this:

enough nutrients + enough light = algae

It's seriously like magic! If iron happened to be just what was missing from the nutrients side of that equation, then you get a (hopefully) little bloom while the available iron is used up. It should be very finite.

If your bloom goes on, you should take additional steps to rebalance that equation in your favor. (Iron wasn't your only problem.)

-Matt

 

[DavidinGA]

I would add a blenny. He'll be fat all day everyday and your algae will disappear. ;-)

 

[ronone10]

Learning here as well. I didn't know about the iron in gfo can sustain the algae.