How much is too much?

[dmolavi]

I have 2 clowns, 2 azure damzels, a pink diamond watchman and a neon dottyback...plus a nice BTA, rock flower, trachy and a handful of other softies.

I "usually" feed daily, 1 cube of either frozen PE Mysis or Calanus. But, I'm noticing some hair algae. Nitrates are 0.2, phosphates 0.00, probably being taken up by the algae.

Should I:
1. Feed every other day and suppliment with Reef Roids 1/week, or
2. Get a bigger CUC (tank is over 5yrs old, most of the originals are gone ). I'm thinking some red-tipped hermits, and maybe a nudi for the few aptasia that I've got, and some emerald crabs, or
3. Both.

 

[ndrwater]

I would feed whatever the fish will eat in 2-3 minutes and not more.
As for the corals you mentioned, they actually require very little actual feeding

 

[Musovski]

Softies produce their own food with photosythesis. however, a little feeding from time to time wont hurt (maybe once a month.. if that) As for the fish, i would begin target feeding fish if you are worried about nutrients. This way you know everyone ate without too much food going to waste.

I dont know much on Trachy's as ive never had one

Before i gave my BTA away, i fed it once a month with Atheriniformes.

 

[burninreefer]

Feed heavy your corals will thank you. I feed my fish 3-5 times a day with no algae problems. I would be bummed if I only ate once a day, your fish feel the same way. Get a tang it will handle your algae. You can run nitrates at 5 and phosphate at .03 with no problems

 

[dmolavi]

My tank is only a 40...too small for a tang..

 

[dmolavi]

I do run a BRS carbon reactor and a protein skimmer in my sump. I don't have a fuge section though, and I'd have to do an algae reactor if I wanted to, due to space restrictions.

 

[JDtimk]

I would add more CUC to start. I think your nutrient levels are totally fine, really a little low for the corals you have if anything. A small algae scrubber is a great idea if you want to start feeding more and have the algae scrubber polish off the remaining nutrients after the corals have consumed a share.

 

[dmolavi]

It's hard to tell whether the corals are getting what they need, or if it's the algae that's getting it first. I'm guessing the algae gets 'first dibs'. Corals are looking ok though - healthy and growing.

I'll start with building up my CUC again....take it from there.

 

[Reef of Fillory]

I started using Vibrant when I switched from my smaller tank to a bigger tank and added a bunch of live rock. I started getting some Hair algae, and the Vibrant killed it completely within 2 weeks. I feed very heavy and don't have any nutrient issues using the Vibrant + running a refugium. FWIW

 

[ChronicReefH2o]

I usually feed 2-3 times a day with a mixture of dry and frozen food. Be careful when feed dry foods as they contain more protein in each pellet than frozen foods do.

 

[Chris Villalobos]

How old is the tank? A young tank will have hair algae issues, this is especially true with immature dry rock. If the hair algae is too bad manual removal is a must. Get out a toothbrush and if possible scrub with H2O2 while the rock is out of the tank. If you use H2O2 even if you miss removing some algae the peroxide will kill it. In my opinion, you can put a small tang in a 40 gallon if you plan to take it out when it out grows the tank.

 

[dmolavi]

How old is the tank? A young tank will have hair algae issues, this is especially true with immature dry rock. If the hair algae is too bad manual removal is a must. Get out a toothbrush and if possible scrub with H2O2 while the rock is out of the tank. If you use H2O2 even if you miss removing some algae the peroxide will kill it. In my opinion, you can put a small tang in a 40 gallon if you plan to take it out when it out grows the tank.

Tank is about 5yrs old..far from new

It's not a bad problem, just enough that my OCD kicks in (wrong hobby to be in, right?) Haha

I'm going to replenish my CUC today after my water change.

 

[Ethan Zier]

I think you should get a temporary or permeant internal / external way of growing a plant like chato. Its by far the least amount of work that is all natural that could possibly work.
The idea here is that the chato will eat up the nutrients that the hair algae will eat, only faster than the algae can get its hands on it. All you have to do is remove what you can reach and the chato should suffocate the rest. Personally I have a 8x4 inch breeder box (magnets holing it to glass) in my 20g that has chato in it. I feed a good amount and have no not worthy algae.

 

[dmolavi]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to do an algae reactor...I started repopulating my CUC earlier, we'll see how they do over the course of a few weeks.

 

[Ethan Zier]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to do an algae reactor...I started repopulating my CUC earlier, we'll see how they do over the course of a few weeks.

I for one would love to see before and after pictures.

 

[dmolavi]

This is today. Not much that you can see, but enough for my inner OCD to go nuts.