I need a lil guidance

[The last don]

hello reefers, so am after some help for a while my tank has been plagued with all types of algie to the point it’s upsetting my corels and my tank now looks awaful, I’ve watch video after video read what others have done and I don’t seem to have made a dent anywhere.
I have hair algie and brown algie all over the sand and rocks( until I blow it off) I know the cause but
I just can’t seem to get my water parameters right.
Ammonia 0, nitrite0 nitrate 0 phos 0.5
Alk 8

So I have a 4x2x2 aquarium with a sump, I have some live rock.
Last week I up graded to a bubble magus curve 5, I was running 300ml of carbon a month but have now taken out. I was running seachem phosguard but now switched to nyos phos-x i started with 125ml
I also use purigen, I also have a uv light that stays on. At the moment the sump is more or less bare skimmer and maybe 2 pieces of rock containing sponges ( I hope that’s what they are anyway)

I’ve had these parameters as far back as I can remember.
I was thinking about adding miricle mud, but at this point I feel nothing I try has made any effect, I’ve cut feeding down reduce the power off the lights and shortened the time on it’s highest beam to 5 hours, yet still algie thrives am almost ready to quit. This is going to be my last great attempt. I’ve kept fish for over 20years I am comin up to my 1st year off salt. I would like to mark the first year with a smile. Can anyone walk me through this?
Oooooh I started nopox 4 days ago at half the recommended dosage.

 

[sfin52]

Any pics.

 

[JimmyV]

hello reefers, so am after some help for a while my tank has been plagued with all types of algie to the point it’s upsetting my corels and my tank now looks awaful, I’ve watch video after video read what others have done and I don’t seem to have made a dent anywhere.
I have hair algie and brown algie all over the sand and rocks( until I blow it off) I know the cause but
I just can’t seem to get my water parameters right.
Ammonia 0, nitrite0 nitrate 0 phos 0.5
Alk 8

So I have a 4x2x2 aquarium with a sump, I have some live rock.
Last week I up graded to a bubble magus curve 5, I was running 300ml of carbon a month but have now taken out. I was running seachem phosguard but now switched to nyos phos-x i started with 125ml
I also use purigen, I also have a uv light that stays on. At the moment the sump is more or less bare skimmer and maybe 2 pieces of rock containing sponges ( I hope that’s what they are anyway)

I’ve had these parameters as far back as I can remember.
I was thinking about adding miricle mud, but at this point I feel nothing I try has made any effect, I’ve cut feeding down reduce the power off the lights and shortened the time on it’s highest beam to 5 hours, yet still algie thrives am almost ready to quit. This is going to be my last great attempt. I’ve kept fish for over 20years I am comin up to my 1st year off salt. I would like to mark the first year with a smile. Can anyone walk me through this?
Oooooh I started nopox 4 days ago at half the recommended dosage.

So not to long ago I was in your position with hair algae, brown algae, High phosphats at 0.5 and my nitrates were at 80 ppm. No matter what I did I to couldn't get everything in check. Luckily your nitrates are 0 to low depending on your test kit. Long story short got my nitrates in check. stil with hair algae and brown algae. then it was just my phosphates 0.5 just like yours . I couldnt get them down for the life of me GFO just wasn't working for me . Water change after water change Nope still high phos. so I cleaned and cleaned and then I tried phosphate rx https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Life-US...8&qid=1522541255&sr=8-1&keywords=phosphate+rx followed the directions exactly after two doses my phosphate level was at zero finally getting some where. then I bought a good all around clean up crew from Reef Cleaners, stayed with my water changes and maintenence and after 3 months my levels are still down and and that dang algea is 98% gone. with that said . check your fresh water see if there is phos in it, clean every nook and cranny of your tank and sump, pumps, pipe, clean everything. if your nyos phos-x doesn't help try the phosphate rx. I am happy with the results.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

How are you running the phosphate removers? Reactors?

Are you on rodi?

What’s your clean up crew like?

 

[mike werner]

so you've started some new things that will only show results over time.don't be in hurry to see those results cause you will just stress over it.sounds like your parameters are good and that's the main thing.it's not always the phosphates and nitrates these things feed on however.so with that said STAY THE COURSE.i believe you will start to see some results from these new steps you have taken.
REMEMBER NOTHING GOOD HAPPENS FAST IN A REEF TANK

 

[The last don]

Yes I am using r/o water, never thought of testing that for phos so I will try that.
I try to keep everything clean, saying that after installing the new skimmer I saw quite a bit of detritus that was hidden under the old skimmer.
I don’t have a rector. What I did was I took a old eheim canister filter an placed my bags in there, phos remover purigen. This is connected to my return pump, so from the sump it’s passed through the canister through the uv then back to the tank. I don’t have a lot of space and a huge budget so I tried to use what I had available.

Pics I can do one better
Pardon the the croaky voice, I had a hard night the night before lol
Thanks for the help, really appreciated.

 

[The last don]

A

 

[mike werner]

so i'm thinking one question we did not ask is what kind of lights do you have on this tank?old bulbs or just not enough lighting (par) may be the cause as well adding to the high phosphate problem.did you say it's .05 or .5 of phosphate?that's going to make a huge difference in helping diagnose the problem.

 

[The last don]

I have led lights that ramp up and down throughout the day, I don't have them very bright the moment. Par wise I have no idea what am getting.
0.5 using a API test kit which I will not be reordering. very hard to work out what colour lands where.
my aim is to be in the yellow which indicates I am somewhere under 0.25.
I wouldn't say 0.5 is an accurate reading either but I am defiantly between 0.25 -0.5

 

[mike werner]

i'm going to say that's a real big problem,your goal for phosphate levels should be .05 or less.less is better. until you can get them down in that range you are going to continue to have problems.my suggestion would be major water change #1.#2 dose the nopox as directed and test every 4 or 5 days.after you get your phosphates down maybe a gfo reactor to maintain your levels of phosphates.phosphates are like fertilizer for algae.get those levels down and you should see MAJOR improvement.again this will take some time so expect to see improvement over weeks not days.

 

[The last don]

Oh yeh that is my target but with my current test kit, it starts o-0.25 then 0.5
But I’ve never had a .25 reading so to see it means am heading in the right direction until I get a more accurate test kit.

Am drawn to the idea of adding miricle mud, what’s your thoughts?

 

[najer]

What flow do you have in the display?
I would say yes to mineral mud and macro algae in the sump if you have room.
Will it siphon off? If it will then siphon into a sock in the sump, you can siphon all day if you want then remove the sock and clean it.
I know that sounds basic, sorry, can't help with media as I don't use it.

 

[sfin52]

Oh yeh that is my target but with my current test kit, it starts o-0.25 then 0.5
But I’ve never had a .25 reading so to see it means am heading in the right direction until I get a more accurate test kit.

Am drawn to the idea of adding miricle mud, what’s your thoughts?

Not maricle mud but Fiji Mudd.

 

[The last don]

What flow do you have in the display?
I would say yes to mineral mud and macro algae in the sump if you have room.
Will it siphon off? If it will then siphon into a sock in the sump, you can siphon all day if you want then remove the sock and clean it.
I know that sounds basic, sorry, can't help with media as I don't use it.

Not quite sure what you mean here, I assumed I just placed it in the sump an left it alone.
FLow I think is good I have a mp10 on one side and I Usually use the lagoon setting or long pulse.

 

[najer]

Ok cool, because I don't use media I can't help, mud plus lr and macro algae should sort things but it will take longer to become effective as nutrient export.

 

[JimmyV]

Oh yeh that is my target but with my current test kit, it starts o-0.25 then 0.5
But I’ve never had a .25 reading so to see it means am heading in the right direction until I get a more accurate test kit.

Am drawn to the idea of adding miricle mud, what’s your thoughts?

The Api test are bare minimum ok, they are better than nothing. But the dang colors are hard to read especially if they are hard to distinguish when you have a color seeing issues like I do. I mostly use Hanna checkers because of the digital readouts. They work great. I think the mud whether miracle or Fiji and live rock add some algae ,cheato, culerpa I or the like will work fine. I am pondering those myself. As others said hang in there and nothing happens fast.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Whats TDS on your RO water?

 

[The last don]

The Api test are bare minimum ok, they are better than nothing. But the dang colors are hard to read especially if they are hard to distinguish when you have a color seeing issues like I do. I mostly use Hanna checkers because of the digital readouts. They work great. I think the mud whether miracle or Fiji and live rock add some algae ,cheato, culerpa I or the like will work fine. I am pondering those myself. As others said hang in there and nothing happens fast.

Mmmmm, the mud was more for replacing trace elements, my understanding is it provides food for the corels as well as the other benefits, I’ve tried cheato,before and never had much luck as it died off.
I figure if the mud provides food then I shouldn’t av to spot feed as much. Which should help keep the balance. I was watching a review by reefgirl.
I would love to start a refuge with pods etc but it would have to sit with the skimmer, I hear that’s a Nono.

 

[The last don]

Whats TDS on your RO water?

Tds 3

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yes I am using r/o water, never thought of testing that for phos so I will try that.
I try to keep everything clean, saying that after installing the new skimmer I saw quite a bit of detritus that was hidden under the old skimmer.
I don’t have a rector. What I did was I took a old eheim canister filter an placed my bags in there, phos remover purigen. This is connected to my return pump, so from the sump it’s passed through the canister through the uv then back to the tank. I don’t have a lot of space and a huge budget so I tried to use what I had available.

Pics I can do one better
Pardon the the croaky voice, I had a hard night the night before lol
Thanks for the help, really appreciated.

The canister actually works prettt well.