Getting past algae bloom - 2 months in

[Katmandu]

Hey everyone,

I established my oceanic biocube 29 with stock lighting on 6/13 and have been steadily battling an algae bloom for the last few weeks.

Right now the tank has two clowns, a yellow clown goby and a bangaii cardinal. The CUC consists of 1 turbo snail, 1-2 astraeas, 2-3 blue legged hermits, 2 red leg hermits and a coral branded shrimp. The tank contains 30 - 40 pounds of dry rock, 2.5 pounds live rock and 20 pounds of live sand.

My parameters today were: Ammonia 0, Nitrates 0-5, PH 8.1(working on raising this). I have consistently been doing 3.5 - 4 gallon water changes since I completed my cycle 4 weeks ago.

I’m hoping to slowly start adding corals in the next few weeks. Is there anything I should be doing additionally to fight this? Or should I just wait it out?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Brew12]

I’m hoping to slowly start adding corals in the next few weeks. Is there anything I should be doing additionally to fight this? Or should I just wait it out?

That isn't much of an algae bloom. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

PH 8.1(working on raising this).

A pH of 8.1 is very good. What are you doing to try and raise it?

 

[sixty_reefer]

That’s just diatoms my friend, there’s no point in fighting them [emoji23] it can take up to 4 weeks to consume the silica and die off, once they gone I wouldn’t start adding coral.

 

[Katmandu]

That isn't much of an algae bloom. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

Okay awesome. Just wanted to make sure it wouldn’t get out of control unchecked.

A pH of 8.1 is very good. What are you doing to try and raise it?

I redosed the tank with 8.4 over the last few days to try and get it up. I’ll go ahead and hold off for now.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Brew12]

I redosed the tank with 8.4 over the last few days to try and get it up. I’ll go ahead and hold off for now.

I was afraid you were going to say that.

There are two things that impact pH of a reef tank. Alkalinity and CO2 content of the water. If you are dosing to raise pH then you are raising alkalinity. It's an unfortunately common mistake made by new reefers. It's very important once you have coral to keep alkalinity constant so not dosing for pH is a good habit to get into. Any pH over 7.7 is going to be fine unless you are a fairly advanced hobbyist trying to accelerate SPS growth. Any corrections to pH should be made by trying to reduce the CO2 content of the water.

 

[JoeD_]

I concur, do NOT chase pH.. The risk vs reward is not worth it... The only way to real easily, safe and effective way to raise pH for the tanks' benefit is to dose k alkwasser..

 

[Brew12]

The only way to real easily, safe and effective way to raise pH for the tanks' benefit is to dose k alkwasser..

As a dedicated calk user (1.5L per day) you still have to dose it at a rate to maintain alk, not pH. You just gain a short lived pH boost from using it. I've seen people kill their SPS by adding too much kalk was chasing pH.

In my opinion the best way to raise pH in a reef tank is to run an airline from outside to the skimmer air inlet. CO2 scrubbers on the skimmer inlet, opening windows to the house, and growing algae can also help.

 

[JoeD_]

True. I mean obviously dosing anything you really need to know waht you're doing.

 

[Auquanut]

I personally think your tank looks great. Keep up with your water changes and let the system mature. Everything that's been said about chasing PH is spot on in my opinion. At this point, I would be mainly concerned with keeping nitrate and phosphate in check. Also, I wouldn't start adding corals until you start seeing some coraline growth on your dry rock. That's been a benchmark for me that the tank is reaching a more stable point.