ARID Reactor help - Cheato dying, microalgae fluorishing

[fishbulb]

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd ask for help and see if anyone else has experienced this. I set up a Pax Bellum ARID N18 reactor on my 75 gallon tank. For the first two cleanings, it worked great. Tons of cheato! However, the last three cleanings I"ve noticed most of the cheato has died and all sorts of microalgae (green, brown, and some red) have now taken over. I'd love to grow cheato rather than this stuff. Strangely, there is virtually no microalgae in the display tank itself.

Tank parameters
Ca =380ppm
Kh = 12 (seems high)
PO4 = Hanna ULR 0.14 ppm (Very high I know)
NO3 = API = about 10 ppm. It's tough for me to read this test

Everything else seems in line and the fish, inverts, and corals are all doing well.

Other filtration
Aquamaxx FX80 Skimmer
I removed all GFO
There is a Drop 1.4 algae scrubber in the sump, but it's never grown much.
Rox .8 in a Spyglass reactor
Filter socks

I've tried cutting the photoperiod from 16 hrs per day now down to 6. I do does the Pax Bellum solutions, but that doesn't seem to be helping.

Any thoughts would be appreciated,

Cheers,
FB

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

bump for any algae experts

 

[fishbulb]

Wow, thanks for the bump. I ultimately had to order more chaeto as that last clump died. To rid it of microalgae, I gave it a 3 minute bath in 10% bleach (which used to work on my freshwater aquarium plants). Next time it will be 1 minute.

I ordered new chaeto and this time I'm starting with a very short 6 hr photoperiod. The idea is to let the chaeto grow slowly but not give the microalgae a chance to get a foothold. My phosphates are still high. Interestingly, there is just no microalgae in the tank. It looks great by my standards.

Cheers,
FB

 

[hart24601]

You might have to end up adding some supplements to grow the chaeto. I run AWC with TMP salt but never was able to grow macros well until I put chaetogro on a doser. The mix or my tank is missing "something" that macro needs, but when dosing just a couple ml a day of chaetogro I harvest an armful a month.

 

[fishbulb]

Is this the product by Continuum? Easy enough to try. Thanks for the tip.

 

[hart24601]

The one I used is Brightwell. I don’t know exactly what element is limiting in my system since icp shows most being low, but I can say for me it 100% worked. I tried to stop using it and sure enough, my chaeto is almost totally dissolved, so hooking the chaetogro back up!

 

[fishbulb]

sounds great. Can I ask what dose (ml/gallon/day) you are using? I'll use it as a starting point.

I got into this hobby to grow coral. Who would have guessed I'd be spending all my time trying to learn how to grow algae?!?!?

 

[hart24601]

I dose 4ml daily for a water box 100.3 and a 150g Rubbermaid sump with a kessil h380.

I know I feel silly dosing for algae too!