Lack of algae... Seriously, why?

[ScottR]

My tank just reached 6 months old. Oddly I’ve never really ran into algae problems. And I’ve been keeping SW and FW for 20+ years. My tank is eerily almost squeaky clean. I actually want more algae as my dry rock is soooo white. I scrape my glass at most, once per month because it gets a film. Running 40g BB

Fallow tank. Various inverts.
2 shrimps
3 turbo snails plus lots of baby ones
1 porcelain crab (great filter)
1 large feather duster (many smaller ones)
Tons of copepods, isopods and amphipods as no fish to eat them.
A good amount of spirorbid worms
Small amount of hydroids (hope they stay low)
7lbs Live rock
Couple of asternias
Various corals as seen in pic. Xenia’s (also filter feeders)
I understand I have a good filtering crew which probably help/hurt.

PO4 .03 - I regard this as almost useless as algae can eat what’s available and an elevated number could read as lower than what it actually is.
NO3 <25 - higher surprisingly

I feed LRS reef frenzy alongside Reef-Roids and phytoplankton 2-3 times a week. I’m afraid to feed more as I don’t want the spirorbids and hydroids to grow out of control.

Question is: does anyone else run into this? Should I feed more? Just wait it out?

(Sorry for the horrible pic, not a photographer)

 

[Peace River]

My tank just reached 6 months old. Oddly I’ve never really ran into algae problems. And I’ve been keeping SW and FW for 20+ years. My tank is eerily almost squeaky clean. I actually want more algae as my dry rock is soooo white. I scrape my glass at most, once per month because it gets a film. Running 40g BB

Fallow tank. Various inverts.
2 shrimps
3 turbo snails plus lots of baby ones
1 porcelain crab (great filter)
1 large feather duster (many smaller ones)
Tons of copepods, isopods and amphipods as no fish to eat them.
A good amount of spirorbid worms
Small amount of hydroids (hope they stay low)
7lbs Live rock
Couple of asternias
Various corals as seen in pic. Xenia’s (also filter feeders)
I understand I have a good filtering crew which probably help/hurt.

PO4 .03 - I regard this as almost useless as algae can eat what’s available and an elevated number could read as lower than what it actually is.
NO3 <25 - higher surprisingly

I feed LRS reef frenzy alongside Reef-Roids and phytoplankton 2-3 times a week. I’m afraid to feed more as I don’t want the spirorbids and hydroids to grow out of control.

Question is: does anyone else run into this? Should I feed more? Just wait it out?

What about your lighting (what type, how long is it on per day? What is the intensity if it is adjustable, etc.)?

 

[ScottR]

What about your lighting (what type, how long is it on per day? What is the intensity if it is adjustable, etc.)?

Good one. I’ve got a 48w led. I have no idea about my PAR. I’ve adjusted it overtime to make corals most happy. It includes 4 channels. Light blue, royal blue, white and red/green/UV. I have blues at about 75 to white at 25. Only dialed up red/green/UV to lowest setting as it’s mostly useless.

 

[ScottR]

What about your lighting (what type, how long is it on per day? What is the intensity if it is adjustable, etc.)?

Oh. And it’s only 11.5 hours a day. I get a lot of ambient lighting from the sun in the room too. Not directly on the tank but really lights the side of the tank up.

 

[loui]

You have no fish? No fish means no waste, which will almost always mean no algae. Why are you feeding LRS reef frenzy with no fish? Also no fish with a bare bottom tank will also mean no algae. Your nitrate reading as you stated is very surprising. It almost looks like your tank hasn't fully cycled yet. I would recommend getting a couple of fish to get the tank to fully cycle.

 

[ScottR]

You have no fish? No fish means no waste, which will almost always mean no algae. Why are you feeding LRS reef frenzy with no fish? Also no fish with a bare bottom tank will also mean no algae. Your nitrate reading as you stated is very surprising. It almost looks like your tank hasn't fully cycled yet. I would recommend getting a couple of fish to get the tank to fully cycle.

I have various inverts that eat waste. I had quite a few fish after tank cycled that lived for a couple of months before getting ich. Tank looks no different than then.

Also, feeding the tank adds uneaten food which in turn equals waste.

But perhaps adding fish will help a bit. Waiting for the 76 fallow period which ends soon.

 

[ScottR]

You have no fish? No fish means no waste, which will almost always mean no algae. Why are you feeding LRS reef frenzy with no fish? Also no fish with a bare bottom tank will also mean no algae. Your nitrate reading as you stated is very surprising. It almost looks like your tank hasn't fully cycled yet. I would recommend getting a couple of fish to get the tank to fully cycle.

Let me rephrase this: I feed reef frenzy for the shrimps mostly but also to feed the corals.

 

[loui]

Bare bottom takes for ever to get running and without fish it takes even longer if you had even a small amount of sand it would probably get results you are looking for quicker. I just setup a tank myself it is my first one with dry rock and bare bottom it took which seemed like forever (9 months) before the tank started to go in the right direction and that is with fish. With out being able to get live rock the way that we once did this was already a hobby off patience, but now it will take even more.

New tanks with bare bottom and dry rock can take a year to setup, but in the long term has a better chance of success. Tanks that start off with sand will setup faster, but may have issue the longer they are set up.

I think your tank is doing fine and you are doing it right not to add anything since you had ich, but until that ammonia from fish waste is added it will be a game of patience for sure. Of course there are quick cycle products that may help some like Dr Tims.

 

[ScottR]

Bare bottom takes for ever to get running and without fish it takes even longer if you had even a small amount of sand it would probably get results you are looking for quicker. I just setup a tank myself it is my first one with dry rock and bare bottom it took which seemed like forever (9 months) before the tank started to go in the right direction and that is with fish. With out being able to get live rock the way that we once did this was already a hobby off patience, but now it will take even more.

New tanks with bare bottom and dry rock can take a year to setup, but in the long term has a better chance of success. Tanks that start off with sand will setup faster, but may have issue the longer they are set up.

I think your tank is doing fine and you are doing it right not to add anything since you had ich, but until that ammonia from fish waste is added it will be a game of patience for sure. Of course there are quick cycle products that may help some like Dr Tims.

Thanks for the advice. This isn’t my only tank. I have a tank with sand as well.

My tank is cycled of course. I have lots of live rock with coralline coverage and the coralline has spread to some spots on the dry rock. I have tons of creatures in this tank. If fact, I think it’s worth mentioning that I seeded my tank with ocean water to start it. Ocean water from a mile off land or so. I’ve had so many things show up. Munnid isopods being one. I understand they eat algae but I find it hard to believe they’ll eat enough to keep the tank this clean. We’ll see what happens when I add some fish

 

[ScottR]

@loui I appreciate your feedback. Always good to hear a second opinion.

 

[BestMomEver]

Bare bottom takes for ever to get running and without fish it takes even longer if you had even a small amount of sand it would probably get results you are looking for quicker. I just setup a tank myself it is my first one with dry rock and bare bottom it took which seemed like forever (9 months) before the tank started to go in the right direction and that is with fish. With out being able to get live rock the way that we once did this was already a hobby off patience, but now it will take even more.

New tanks with bare bottom and dry rock can take a year to setup, but in the long term has a better chance of success. Tanks that start off with sand will setup faster, but may have issue the longer they are set up.

I think your tank is doing fine and you are doing it right not to add anything since you had ich, but until that ammonia from fish waste is added it will be a game of patience for sure. Of course there are quick cycle products that may help some like Dr Tims.

I disagree with your statement that tanks with sand “may have issues the longer they are set up.” If you practice proper husbandry, the sand in your tank will last forever.

 

[RJinPV]

Good one. I’ve got a 48w led. I have no idea about my PAR. I’ve adjusted it overtime to make corals most happy. It includes 4 channels. Light blue, royal blue, white and red/green/UV. I have blues at about 75 to white at 25. Only dialed up red/green/UV to lowest setting as it’s mostly useless.

48 watts of lighting does not seem like a lot to me. A tank your size would need more than 1 AI Prime and they are ~100 watts each. What's the brand of light? Maybe someone uses something similar and can give you some input

 

[ScottR]

48 watts of lighting does not seem like a lot to me. A tank your size would need more than 1 AI Prime and they are ~100 watts each. What's the brand of light? Maybe someone uses something similar and can give you some input

This is my light. I’d like to add another light but I’m afraid of overdoing it. This one isn’t even dialed in all the way. But here’s the info.

 

[RJinPV]

I am not familiar with that light but I just looked at it on Amazon. I think it may be too little. Your tank looks like it has nutrients so light is probably the limiting factor. I think you should add more light, especially if you want better coral growth. Let's see what others might think

 

[ScottR]

I am not familiar with that light but I just looked at it on Amazon. I think it may be too little. Your tank looks like it has nutrients so light is probably the limiting factor. I think you should add more light, especially if you want better coral growth. Let's see what others might think

Thanks for the help. I’m trying to grab another light now.

 

[tautog83]

Ya that light isnt going to cut it

 

[Saltyreef]

FWIW, i have a 40b Barebottom with starboard and 2 months into the refresh/fallow period, have tons of coraline algae growing. I feed the tank every week for the corals and inverts.
I believe the light may need upgrading too but in no way should it take that long for any algae(even neussance) to grow.
Coralines growing on the brightest parts of my tank. 2 weeks in, after 2 back to back feedings i got a very bad outbreak of bryposis looking GHA that lasted for a few weeks until the mexican turbo snails i bought took care of the left overs from manual removal.
Right now my nutrients are at zero too. (Used gfo after the refresh)
I think elevated levels of MAC helped as well as the light spectrum for the coraline.

 

[cracker]

Hey Scott . my 180 is about 2 years old. How ever It's fish only & the lighting is turned all the way down. I'm terrified to turn then up cause it will cause algae to burst out ! Do You have coral's ?
I t's possible your light aren't enough to grow a bunch og algae. But reading what You have going could be you nailed nutrient levels perfectly .

 

[ScottR]

Hey Scott . my 180 is about 2 years old. How ever It's fish only & the lighting is turned all the way down. I'm terrified to turn then up cause it will cause algae to burst out ! Do You have coral's ?
I t's possible your light aren't enough to grow a bunch og algae. But reading what You have going could be you nailed nutrient levels perfectly .

Hey @cracker I’ve got mostly LPS and a few softies. I have my lights up as far as the corals like them. The corals are the most important so I’m not going to crank the lights up anymore. I have bits of coralline growing on some pieces of dry rock which is nice. I also have some light growth of green algae on the tops of the rocks. But some rock is just sooo white. I’ve just never had a tank look so clean in my life ;Woot

 

[Nami]

The algae will definitely come, provided conditions favor them. My tank was pristine for months with 8 hours lighting and 3 fish. Over time I added a few more corals and up to 8 fish. I also bumped lights to 12 hours (6 hours peak). The algae sort of exploded. Now I'm fighting to contain it.