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ndrwater
2500 Club Member
Which tester/kits? Some are more accurate than others.
There are other factors in play, but Phosphate and Nitrate are the biggest contributors. Some say Silicate also, but that is handled in source water filtration.
It does often happen where the tests read at zero, but the algae persists. The common belief is that the algae is stripping the nutrients so the tests read inaccurate.
There are other factors in play, but Phosphate and Nitrate are the biggest contributors. Some say Silicate also, but that is handled in source water filtration.
It does often happen where the tests read at zero, but the algae persists. The common belief is that the algae is stripping the nutrients so the tests read inaccurate.
We use the Red Sea test kits. Tank was running great for 10 months. We lost power 3weeks ago in the hurricane for 6 days and lost all of our coral. Was able to keep fish alive. Sadly being new to the hobby we were no where near prepared for an outage like that. Lesson learned. Could that be affecting it in some way?
ndrwater
2500 Club Member
Absolutely. Coral die off can definitely leach nutrients into the system feeding nusance algae.
Water changes, some good carbon, and manual removal should get things back on track relatively quickly.
Water changes, some good carbon, and manual removal should get things back on track relatively quickly.
That’s what I thought could be the cause. Have been doing 5 gallon weekly water changes (25 gal tank) and upped the amount of Chemi-Pure a little bit. Have been hitting the rock hard with a brush and cleaning the sand bed during changes. Would you do anything different?
ndrwater
2500 Club Member
Nope... Keep on keeping on...
Just make sure the water you are using is as good as it can be. Buying water from a LFS, while convenient, relies on THEM to make sure the quality of the water is as good as it can be. This sometimes isn't a good thing. Even natural seawater has nutrients in it that can lead to nusance algae outbreaks. IMO, the best way to ensure good quality water is using RODI and a good quality salt. Almost any commercial salt available at the LFS will be just fine...
Just make sure the water you are using is as good as it can be. Buying water from a LFS, while convenient, relies on THEM to make sure the quality of the water is as good as it can be. This sometimes isn't a good thing. Even natural seawater has nutrients in it that can lead to nusance algae outbreaks. IMO, the best way to ensure good quality water is using RODI and a good quality salt. Almost any commercial salt available at the LFS will be just fine...
Yeah we buy premixed Redsea from them as well as get our RODI from them. We are a little limited to what we can do in a college apartment but the second I get out will have my own reverse osmosis equipment and make my own. Thanks for the advice! I appreciate it!
ndrwater
2500 Club Member
Now there is a snippet of info in your last post that also helps... Red Sea salt is mined, not made.. while a very good salt, there have been several accounts of odd nusance algae outbreaks with people using RS. Not that this a a 100% forgone conclusion, but... Because it is mined, there are varriables that could differ from batch to batch...
Just some food for thought..
ndrwater
2500 Club Member
And... Just because it got me thinking, my LFS gave me a call the other day to ask if I had any odd algae issues recently because he knows what salt i use. IO for what it's worth. I had had a bit of an issue but nothing major. After doing an ICP test, I found elevated levels of Bromine. Not excessive, but interesting nonetheless. Doing some research,. Bromine is known to help in Marine algae growth. Different salts have different chemical composition based on the specific manufacturer. While they all basically do the job, even minute varriables can have dramatic effects in a captive system.
NS Mike D
In the arena.
keep in mind that some nuisance alage/bacteria can pull N from other sources that corals can't, and that can fool you with low nutrients. Focus on keeping corals happy: some NO3 and PO4, provide them with other things like amino acids that they need, keep the parameters stable, good flow, good light etc. Nanos don't have the same access to algae eater like tangs etc to help out, so keep on brushing.
I'm still battling a serious hairy/stringy algae problem and scrubbed the rocks again today (weekly tasks). In the meantime, over the past 2 months, I added a tuxedo urchin, three more zoa frags, a gsp frag, and some other corals to out compete the algae for both nutrients and space.
It sucks, but so long as my corals are happy, they will be my biggest asset in winning this war eventually.
Hang in there and when you start staring at all that ugly stuff in your tank, stop and look at all the nice things in your tank.
I am mentally prepared for six more months at least to battle this stuff and then a lifetime of routine attention to keep it at bay. As they said, nothing good happens fast in this hobby.
I recently saw a video where Sanjay said about the cyano in his sand bed that he doesn't concern himself anymore with cyano, it comes and it goes. I'm hoping my journey gets me to that point, where the abundance of health corals and algae pickers naturally keeps the uglies in check.
I'm still battling a serious hairy/stringy algae problem and scrubbed the rocks again today (weekly tasks). In the meantime, over the past 2 months, I added a tuxedo urchin, three more zoa frags, a gsp frag, and some other corals to out compete the algae for both nutrients and space.
It sucks, but so long as my corals are happy, they will be my biggest asset in winning this war eventually.
Hang in there and when you start staring at all that ugly stuff in your tank, stop and look at all the nice things in your tank.
I am mentally prepared for six more months at least to battle this stuff and then a lifetime of routine attention to keep it at bay. As they said, nothing good happens fast in this hobby.
I recently saw a video where Sanjay said about the cyano in his sand bed that he doesn't concern himself anymore with cyano, it comes and it goes. I'm hoping my journey gets me to that point, where the abundance of health corals and algae pickers naturally keeps the uglies in check.
ndrwater
2500 Club Member
All of them work, and I would be remiss if I warned you off one specific salt as every tank is different. For me, and the volume if water I deal with, IO being cheaper is the way I go. I have used many different salts and chose IO not only for price, but it mixes closer to where I keep my parameters. This make is also more cost effective relative to dosing additives like CA and ALK.
NS Mike D
In the arena.
FYI, Harbor freight is running a sale on it's smallest cheapest generator, 700 watts for $115 That's enough to keep your tank and some home lights and internet router running. Of course, something that can run more household appliances and would require less frequent gas refills would be better, but at the cost of a basic frag pack, this makes sense.
NS Mike D
In the arena.
6 months goes quickly. You may consider not adding anything to the tank until after the move and settled in. A 5k generac was one smart investment when I was a home owner, after a week without power after Irene, the next year we got through Sandy for 2 weeks.
