Another algae growing......

[AzReefn]

Hey all,
So far I've been through diatoms, possibly dinos. Now I have what appears to be either cyano or cotton candy from what I've gathered in research. Also I've had a type of green algae on my rock since Oct. It is not filamentous and many have suggested it maybe the beginning of coralline. The green really never looked that bad until I looked at it last night with just the whites on, and WOW it looks crazy! So I'm not sure if this is just my tank maturing or if I have issues that I need to address. My water params have been nearly perfect every time I test but, I assume the DT algae is uptaking the PO4/NO3 since I still have algae issues. I'm considering running GFO and Carbon in a reactor to bring PO4/NO3 down. I've already lessened my feeding and lights but I feel my fish need/want more food and I'd like them to be fed well. Please guide me so I can get these issues under control so I can start adding lots of corals. The only recent change is I quit using a filter sock. Other than this I only have the brown/green dust on my glass that I brush off every day or two.
Here are some pics.

FTS with only LED @ 100% blue/25% whites

FTS with only LED 100% whites

Some new pink spots on rock I'm hoping is coralline and not what is pictured in last pic.

The pink spot in the middle is filamentous and is some sort of algae I believe.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

How old is your tank?

 

[AzReefn]

How old is your tank?

Tank just hit 5 months. And I forgot to mention there is another recent change besides removing the filter sock. I got 10,560 pods and phyto from algaebarn. Dumped all the pods in and have been using instructions on phyto.

 

[cloak]

+1 on Cyanobacteria in the fourth picture. As far as that green stuff on the rocks goes if it doesn't come off the rocks easily then it's nothing to worry about. I'm not sure if it's Coralline algae per se, but it's definitely a precursor to it IME.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

At 5 months old your tank is still developing and a little algae here and there is okay IMO. You just want to make sure that your parameters are consistent and don't experience rapid fluxes in between water changes. The little bits of algae you do have now are also easy to remove, if the pink stuff is cyano you can scrub it off and immediately siphon the area, check your flow to make sure you don't have any dead spots and maybe get a few more snails to take care of any algae that does pop up.

At this point in the game I definitely wouldn't use any red slime remover simply because you don't have enough cyano to warrant its use. Those additives and treatments can seriously throw off a tank sometimes and they're not worth it to me unless the whole tank is covered in cyano. Nutrient export and careful water management will go a long way right now and will help your tank to continue maturing

 

[AzReefn]

+1 on Cyanobacteria in the fourth picture. As far as that green stuff on the rocks goes if it doesn't come off the rocks easily then it's nothing to worry about. I'm not sure if it's Coralline algae per se, but it's definitely a precursor to it IME.

No it doesn't come off easy or at all really lol.

At 5 months old your tank is still developing and a little algae here and there is okay IMO. You just want to make sure that your parameters are consistent and don't experience rapid fluxes in between water changes. The little bits of algae you do have now are also easy to remove, if the pink stuff is cyano you can scrub it off and immediately siphon the area, check your flow to make sure you don't have any dead spots and maybe get a few more snails to take care of any algae that does pop up.

At this point in the game I definitely wouldn't use any red slime remover simply because you don't have enough cyano to warrant its use. Those additives and treatments can seriously throw off a tank sometimes and they're not worth it to me unless the whole tank is covered in cyano. Nutrient export and careful water management will go a long way right now and will help your tank to continue maturing

OK I will scrub/siphon it out tonight when I get home. For nutrient export I currently do 15G water change weekly (90G display) and have a skimmer (running a little dry) and a basketball sized chaeto in the sump. I was trimming the chaeto down to softball size about every 2 weeks but now I'm only removing about a softball size piece every 2 weeks keeping it larger. Would you recommend me using GFO/Carbon reactor to aid?
"EDIT" forgot to mention I think my Trochus snails bred. I now have about 30-40 miniature snails in my tank.
They all have vertical stripes and a cone shell so I'm assuming they're Trochus. You can see on in the 4th pic on the left under my micromussa.

 

[Big G]

Did you use dry rock or live rock?

 

[AzReefn]

Did you use dry rock or live rock?

I used reef saver and tonga dry rock, bio spira and used shrimp and ghost fed til ammonia hit zero.

 

[Big G]

Yeah I used dry rock, bio spira and ammonia on my 90. Went through the same algae cycles you have mentioned. That vibrant green is kind of a shock, isn't it. Your rock will be turning darker with the good reds and purples real soon. Expect more algaes in the meanwhile. When that happens, turn up the powerheads and get after it with a toothbrush and filter sock changes and a turkey baster to turn over the sand. Enjoy! LOL

 

[AzReefn]

Yeah I used dry rock, bio spira and ammonia on my 90. Went through the same algae cycles you have mentioned. That vibrant green is kind of a shock, isn't it. Your rock will be turning darker with the good reds and purples real soon. Expect more algaes in the meanwhile. When that happens, turn up the powerheads and get after it with a toothbrush and filter sock changes and a turkey baster to turn over the sand. Enjoy! LOL

Sweet!
I have a 90 also. I actually removed my filter sock so it doesn't catch all my pods. I only use for a day or two when I clean the tank as you mentioned. My sand was pretty dirty for a while but now it's pristine thanks to my goby.
Thanks for the reassurance! I'm hoping for lots of coralline [emoji16]