GHA

tidefanjam · Jan 1, 2018

i can’t get rid of this stuff, phosphates and nitrates are always 0, run my skimmer 24/7, have a starry blenny, 2 emerald crabs, 2 peppermint shrimp,4 blue leg hermits, and several cerith and nerite snails, the blenny eats some and the emeralds a bit but not enough to matter. Tank is 65 gallon with 20 gallon sump and been up for 3 1/2 months. Does it just need more time? Was thinking about adding some zoas and a soft coral or two.

trido · Jan 1, 2018

A half dozen turbo snails would help.

g5flier · Jan 1, 2018

Turn your lights down a bit, add the turbos and pull off what you can. With 0 Phosphate it should pull right off the rocks...then take a long nap, it will go away.

mcarroll · Jan 1, 2018

tidefanjam said:
i can’t get rid of this stuff, phosphates and nitrates are always 0

If there are no corals or anything else to use the available nutrients in the tank AND you have the lights on.....algae will grow.

Consider not running the lights until you add coral. (I would recommend this....once upon a time it was a best practice.)

If you try to starve your algae with "zero nutrients", it's possible it will die off, but it's also possible that you'll just make it unpalatable (or less palatable) to your herbivores. It's also possible that you'll invite a REAL pest algae that can compete just fine at low nutrient concentrations. (Dino's, bryopsis, cyano.....it's an ugly list.)

Starving a new tank for any reason is a very bad strategy.

You also have a pretty small CUC.

If the lights have to stay on, then I'd beef up your crew AND add some corals ASAP.

Myk · Jan 1, 2018

Looks like your tank is still fairly new.

What are your pH and alk. readings at. Also, what kind of lighting system do you have?

Keep in mind that it is very possible that your PO4 and NO3 readings are low simply because they are being up taken by the HA.

saltyfilmfolks · Jan 1, 2018

trido said:
A half dozen turbo snails would help.

Snails. Cuc.
Toothbrush.
Not much else matters.

tidefanjam · Jan 2, 2018

mcarroll said:
If there are no corals or anything else to use the available nutrients in the tank AND you have the lights on.....algae will grow.

Consider not running the lights until you add coral. (I would recommend this....once upon a time it was a best practice.)

If you try to starve your algae with "zero nutrients", it's possible it will die off, but it's also possible that you'll just make it unpalatable (or less palatable) to your herbivores. It's also possible that you'll invite a REAL pest algae that can compete just fine at low nutrient concentrations. (Dino's, bryopsis, cyano.....it's an ugly list.)

Starving a new tank for any reason is a very bad strategy.

You also have a pretty small CUC.

If the lights have to stay on, then I'd beef up your crew AND add some corals ASAP.

ill kill the lights until i get the zoas and whichever soft corals i decide on, maybe i should cut back the skimming some?

tidefanjam · Jan 2, 2018

Myk said:
Looks like your tank is still fairly new.

What are your pH and alk. readings at. Also, what kind of lighting system do you have?

Keep in mind that it is very possible that your PO4 and NO3 readings are low simply because they are being up taken by the HA.

PH is 7.8, working on raising it some, don't have a alk test kit yet, lights are SBreef 32", yea, tanks been up 3 1/2 months

Myk · Jan 2, 2018

Makes sense. Def. get that alk. test kit on board ASAP. I am not familiar with that light from personal experience with it, but just be sure to go easy on the "white" channel if it is set up like that.

I wouldn't worry too much about that algae. As the tank matures it should run its' course as long as you are keeping everything else in good order.