I can't seem to keep my tank "algae-free"

[BitFix]

My tank is almost 1 year old, it is a 25 gallon mixed reef. I have a 10 gallon sump, most of which is a refugium (but no skimmer). I sometimes also add GFO if algae seems to be taking over.

I was away for the first month of this year and left my tank with no water changes and only an auto feeder for about 4 weeks, so I wasn't surprised when my tank was full of GHA. I was able to beat it quite quickly, but I was afraid of getting dinos again and decided to feed a bit more than I used to, which led to another algae bloom, this one took a bit longer to finally beat and I just about managed to, but after running some GFO the dinos are back. I had already had dinos when I first setup the tank and it had a minimal bioload.

How do I keep my tank algae free? It seems if my nutrients raise a bit GHA comes and if they dip Dinos will come. How do you guys keep nutrients at the right level?

 

[ahiggins]

It’s all about balance. I’ve never had dinos in an established tank because other (good) bacteria keep it in check. I’ve had cyano though in those tanks.
Only time I ever had dinos was when I used 100% dry start and no nutrients. Once I got them up, I battled the hair algae and finally won after scraping and really putting work into the tank to get rid of it. Dinos have been back since. I keep nutrients at 5-10 nitrates and I feed “dirty” meaning frozen food without washing to keep up the phosphates. I also run very low stock fish wise so I’m able to pretty much tailor what I want nutrients to be-I don’t run any chemical filtration only filter floss.

 

[BitFix]

It’s all about balance. I’ve never had dinos in an established tank because other (good) bacteria keep it in check. I’ve had cyano though in those tanks.
Only time I ever had dinos was when I used 100% dry start and no nutrients. Once I got them up, I battled the hair algae and finally won after scraping and really putting work into the tank to get rid of it. Dinos have been back since. I keep nutrients at 5-10 nitrates and I feed “dirty” meaning frozen food without washing to keep up the phosphates. I also run very low stock fish wise so I’m able to pretty much tailor what I want nutrients to be-I don’t run any chemical filtration only filter floss.

I did start my tank with dry rock and 0 nutrients, but I would think my tank was somewhat established at this point, instead I am now getting dinos once again. I try to keep my nitrates in the range of 5 ppm and phosphates in the range of 0.03 or so, but they stay at 0 most of the time and whenever I can detect any amount of either of them, I already see signs of algae.

I feed flakes, pellets and homemade frozen foods (just choped up sea food), I ran out of the frozen food since corona started and haven't been able to get more, so i'm feeding flakes, pellets and reef roids.

 

[brandon429]

post tank pics you'd be amazed at what unspoken details convey. I would assume this tank has been hands off/water only adjustments until now

that's only 50% of your options base.

the other half is direct cleaning of the tank, so that there is zero invader, and no more clouding comes from rocks shaken about midwater or by grabbing and dropping sand

nanos allow that kind of easy access. deep cleaning doesnt caues dinos, it has cured them in quite a few nanos when applied thoroughly. something to consider...deep cleaning never harms, its life-extending, its just more work compared to water only controls. It sure produces nice sharp after pics, within about 3 hours of application. we directly dislodge, and kill algae on rocks while outside the tank

the reassembled tank looks as you want it to. any possible negative you could imagine for the approach has already been worked out in the sand rinse thread...time to apply the awesome sauce here imo, sight unseen. any tank you want to pep up benefits by deep-cleans, pics wont matter they just reveal specifics in your system that are markers for storage or nonstorage of waste.

 

[aqua_code]

algae free tank would be a disaster!

I recommend a UV sterilizer to keep dinos under control. Also limit water changes while they are still in the ecosystem. Every water change gives them new nutrients. After the tank has matured - you won't have a problem with them. Microbacter 7 and OceanMagik also helps.

After you get UV running - just target the GHA. I personally use GFO to keep GHA very whispy and light looking. That's when I know my phosphates are in the correct range.

 

[BitFix]

post tank pics you'd be amazed at what unspoken details convey. I would assume this tank has been hands off/water only adjustments until now

that's only 50% of your options base.

the other half is direct cleaning of the tank, so that there is zero invader, and no more clouding comes from rocks shaken about midwater or by grabbing and dropping sand

nanos allow that kind of easy access. deep cleaning doesnt caues dinos, it has cured them in quite a few nanos when applied thoroughly. something to consider...deep cleaning never harms, its life-extending, its just more work compared to water only controls. It sure produces nice sharp after pics, within about 3 hours of application. we directly dislodge, and kill algae on rocks while outside the tank

the reassembled tank looks as you want it to. any possible negative you could imagine for the approach has already been worked out in the sand rinse thread...time to apply the awesome sauce here imo, sight unseen. any tank you want to pep up benefits by deep-cleans, pics wont matter they just reveal specifics in your system that are markers for storage or nonstorage of waste.

I don't really understand what you mean. Are you suggesting I restart the tank? If so that's an option I'm trying to avoid. I am not that worried about beating dinos itself, I had it in the beginnings of the tank and was able to beat it with not many issues (hopefully I'll have the same luck), my main problem is the general balancing of nutrients in the tank.

 

[brandon429]

Ok.

 

[BitFix]

algae free tank would be a disaster!

I recommend a UV sterilizer to keep dinos under control. Also limit water changes while they are still in the ecosystem. Every water change gives them new nutrients. After the tank has matured - you won't have a problem with them. Microbacter 7 and OceanMagik also helps.

After you get UV running - just target the GHA. I personally use GFO to keep GHA very whispy and light looking. That's when I know my phosphates are in the correct range.

I am trying to minimize the amount of different equipment running in my tank, so I'll use an UV sterilizer only as a last alternative. My dinos are the ones that go away at night, so I imagine an UV filter would be very effective.

The chaeto in my system is usually enough to keep my nutrients near 0, but if I have a bloom of GHA I use GFO to limit their growth. This time in specific it led to dinos for some reason.

 

[aqua_code]

I am trying to minimize the amount of different equipment running in my tank, so I'll use an UV sterilizer only as a last alternative. My dinos are the ones that go away at night, so I imagine an UV filter would be very effective.

The chaeto in my system is usually enough to keep my nutrients near 0, but if I have a bloom of GHA I use GFO to limit their growth. This time in specific it led to dinos for some reason.

Most likely the GHA is out-competing the dinos for nutrients. May want to consider keeping around the GHA for a few months until the dinos are completely gone.

 

[DangerDave]

I welcome algae, it’s part of a healthy mature reef tank. If you dont have enough nutrients to grow algae, you don’t have a enough to grow coral. Having the right inhabitants that can keep it algae in check is the key in my opinion.

 

[BitFix]

I welcome algae, it’s part of a healthy mature reef tank. If you dont have enough nutrients to grow algae, you don’t have a enough to grow coral. Having the right inhabitants that can keep it algae in check is the key in my opinion.

I don't worry much about small patches of algae, but the issue is that the GHA was starting to grow over my zoas and killed a lot of my eagle eyes. I have about 4 hermits, 10 trochus snails and a red mithrax crab, but none of them seem to really eat the algae. What animal do you recommend?

 

[aqua_code]

a specimen is not the answer to your GHA problems. More of a bandaid. Lawnmower blenny, tangs, sea hare all eat GHA.

The problem is you need phosphate at .01. Sounds like you are going between 0 and .03, which will result in either the low or high end of the phosphate spectrum.

 

[Dan_P]

My tank is almost 1 year old, it is a 25 gallon mixed reef. I have a 10 gallon sump, most of which is a refugium (but no skimmer). I sometimes also add GFO if algae seems to be taking over.

I was away for the first month of this year and left my tank with no water changes and only an auto feeder for about 4 weeks, so I wasn't surprised when my tank was full of GHA. I was able to beat it quite quickly, but I was afraid of getting dinos again and decided to feed a bit more than I used to, which led to another algae bloom, this one took a bit longer to finally beat and I just about managed to, but after running some GFO the dinos are back. I had already had dinos when I first setup the tank and it had a minimal bioload.

How do I keep my tank algae free? It seems if my nutrients raise a bit GHA comes and if they dip Dinos will come. How do you guys keep nutrients at the right level?

Are your snails not eating enough algae to keep it down?

 

[BitFix]

Are your snails not eating enough algae to keep it down?

They love to eat film algae, but won't touch any other type of algae.

 

[Dan_P]

They love to eat film algae, but won't touch any other type of algae.

I added 15 Mexican turbos to a fish only tank that was heavily infested with GHA. I thought that was a good number. In one week, all the GHA was gone. In two to three weeks, all the surfaces were completely clean. Guess what? I now have 15 snails to feed every day!

 

[BitFix]

I added 15 Mexican turbos to a fish only tank that was heavily infested with GHA. I thought that was a good number. In one week, all the GHA was gone. In two to three weeks, all the surfaces were completely clean. Guess what? I now have 15 snails to feed every day!

I'll try to get a hold of some, since my tank is very small 1 or 2 should be plenty.

 

[Dan_P]

I'll try to get a hold of some, since my tank is very small 1 or 2 should be plenty.

They are reported to be little bulldozers. I guess a small tank with small rocks might be at some risk.

 

[Pyrosteve]

I'm having the same issue. Algae-Dino yo-yo. Simliar set up as you. I had to reboot the tank after a bad dino outbreak and let turf algae take over the tank for a month until I thought the dinos were gone. I added 4 Mexican Turbos and in a few days it was spotless of any and all algae. Then the dinos were back. I dosed N & P until GHA started in the sump (Turbos were still keeping the tank clean) and dinos disappeared. Then the fuge started to get overrun and my macros were getting covered in GHA. I trimmed and cleaned the sump and the dinos started to come back so I'm dosing N & P again. I'm still trying to find the balance between the two. I don't want my fuge to look like a swamp but dinos killed some of my corals and my CUC. I think you'll need some algae just to keep the dinos at bay, it's the lesser of the two evils.

 

[Rjmul]

For what it's worth. This is what worked for me. UV sterilizer for the dino. Don't go crazy. I bought a green killing machine at pet smart and it stoked them out in a few days. I also used the dr tims method of waste away and refresh. I also carbon dose with nopox.

I still have some hair algae but that's ok

 

[ahiggins]

The only thing that worked to get rid of the dinos I was talking about earlier was a combo of dosing phos and uv sterilizer. I was obsessive for a month about both of them. The next month I was clear but continued to run both. After that, nutrients kept it in check. I still have some small spots of algae growth in the sump but nothing in the display. It’s been almost a year now and it works great.