Getting a 5 month tank to start stabilizing algae-wise

[Kasey]

My 55 gal tank is 5 months old, current livestock is 2 clowns, 1 yellow watchman goby, 1 Royal gramma, 1 chocolate chip starfish, 1 peppermint shrimp, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 randalli shrimp and a handful of nassarius/turbo/trochus/astraea snails. All fish have gone through Prazi/Metroplex/Kanaplex/TTM separately and I haven’t added livestock for about a month now (taking the summer off for gardening [emoji5])

I’m knocking out a cyano breakout (lowered phosphates, raised nitrates a bit, cut lighting schedule, scrubbing and vacuuming a small area a day) but I’m really struggling to keep the line where my sand meets water clean! Algae scrubbers grab the sand and I’m worried about scratching my glass up.

Note, my sand bed is a little sparse- less than an inch in some areas and up to 2 inches in others. I’ve got 10 pounds of sand that just arrived, I’m going to spend an afternoon rinsing it a million times and add it in. I do feel like as I continue to play with flow, the sandbed is still maturing and settling.

 

[KrisReef]

I just got through pulling weeds this morning in our garden.
I highly recommend getting Boyd's Chemiclean, treat the tank and do the follow-up water changes so that your tank will be clean and you have summer to garden.
NO more additions to the tank, cut back on feeding if you are still struggling with high levels of phosphate & nitrates, and let nature take it's course as the tank matures. Keep your hands out until the gardening is done this year.

What are you planning for your garden this summer? We have a small plot of tomatoes, beets, beans, peas, carrots, and the apricots are ripe and some critter climbed into it last night and ate a lot of fruit.

 

[Hemmdog]

triple post....

 

[Hemmdog]

Double post. This site is so laggy what in the world ! I can’t take it !

 

[cmcoker]

I use a Flipper magnetic algae scraper, using the blade carefully along the sandbed. Also heard good reviews about the Tunze algae scrapers not picking up sand.
I even plunge the Flipper into Flipper sandbed to clean the glass and it has worked fine, so long as I'm careful

 

[Hemmdog]

Wow so laggy it deleted my original post. What’s your parameters and flow, also +1 to flippers.

 

[Kasey]

I just got through pulling weeds this morning in our garden.
I highly recommend getting Boyd's Chemiclean, treat the tank and do the follow-up water changes so that your tank will be clean and you have summer to garden.
NO more additions to the tank, cut back on feeding if you are still struggling with high levels of phosphate & nitrates, and let nature take it's course as the tank matures. Keep your hands out until the gardening is done this year.

What are you planning for your garden this summer? We have a small plot of tomatoes, beets, beans, peas, carrots, and the apricots are ripe and some critter climbed into it last night and ate a lot of fruit.

I’m experimenting with companion planting- last year I switched to a no till mulch garden and I LOOOVE it! Marigolds are said to stimulate the growth of plants near it, and they also protect peppers from sunscorch. Borage flowers bring in bees which increase strawberry yields, basil and tomato grown together enhance each other’s flavors. I’ve also got some flowers like tansy and nasturtium growing in each corner to ward off pests, it’s really fun to research!

 

[KrisReef]

I’m experimenting with companion planting- last year I switched to a no till mulch garden and I LOOOVE it! Marigolds are said to stimulate the growth of plants near it, and they also protect peppers from sunscorch. Borage flowers bring in bees which increase strawberry yields, basil and tomato grown together enhance each other’s flavors. I’ve also got some flowers like tansy and nasturtium growing in each corner to ward off pests, it’s really fun to research!

That's kind of what I figured, lol.

You definitely need to simply your reef for the summer gardening season. GL!

 

[Kasey]

Wow so laggy it deleted my original post. What’s your parameters and flow, also +1 to flippers.

Forgot that oops! Last weeks parameters immediately prior to an 8 gallon water change:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: .2 (was at zero, I have a very detailed tank maintenance schedule)
Phosphates: 0 (down from 5 a couple weeks ago)
Calcium: 425
Magnesium: 1275
Alkalinity: 7.7
pH: 7.7
Copper: p
Silicates: 0
Temp: 77*
Salinity: 1.026/ 35ppm

 

[Hemmdog]

Forgot that oops! Last weeks parameters immediately prior to an 8 gallon water change:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: .2 (was at zero, I have a very detailed tank maintenance schedule)
Phosphates: 0 (down from 5 a couple weeks ago)
Calcium: 425
Magnesium: 1275
Alkalinity: 7.7
pH: 7.7
Copper: p
Silicates: 0
Temp: 77*
Salinity: 1.026/ 35ppm

I’d bump up your mag and stop doing water changes for a bit, you need to get some nutrients in there and let the tank stabilize.

 

[Kasey]

I’d bump up your mag and stop doing water changes for a bit, you need to get some nutrients in there and let the tank stabilize.

How would you increase mag without a dosing pump? I moved a Powerhead for more surface agitation to raise pH so I imagine that’s gone up a bit- it’s testing day today and I’m procrastinating! I occasionally dose with baking soda when alkalinity starts to get a little low. I don’t plan on doing corals or moving beyond fowlr for awhile so I haven’t researched dosing much

 

[KrisReef]

How would you increase mag without a dosing pump? I moved a Powerhead for more surface agitation to raise pH so I imagine that’s gone up a bit- it’s testing day today and I’m procrastinating! I occasionally dose with baking soda when alkalinity starts to get a little low. I don’t plan on doing corals or moving beyond fowlr for awhile so I haven’t researched dosing much

If you are fish only, then your parameters are fine. The fish don't need phosphate or stable Dkh/or magnesium elevation. If you go to corals, then you will need to be more concerned with those parameters.

Feed more to increase phosphate slightly, treat with chemiclean and hopefully the coralline algae will start growing and the nasty algae will be history.