Need help

Virtualbasil · Dec 8, 2015

I have lately been having problems with green hair algae growing on the substrate of my aquarium. I feed once to twice a day with FROZEN mysis. Sometimes pellets. So far I have done water changes with coral pro sea salt and vaccumed the sandbed. I also moved my maxspect gyre to a different location and turned up the flow. But to no avail.

68 gallon total volume
54 display
11 sump
3 gallon refugium

Parameters :

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate about 3 ppm
Ph 8.4

Measured with API

Phosphate. 0.03

Measured with hanna checker

3.2 dkh
410 Calc
1400 mag

Measured with red sea kit

dakoop · Dec 8, 2015

do you have snails/cuc?

Thunt4jr · Dec 8, 2015

Astrae and Nass will do the work!

trio91 · Dec 8, 2015

What about a tuxedo urchin? Reef safe (may buldoze but not harm) cheap and they eat anything

Virtualbasil · Dec 8, 2015

I have 5 turbo and 3 astrea snails. 8 dwarf hermits, green emerald crab, and a small brittle sea star.

Thunt4jr · Dec 8, 2015

That's not a lot! I have 20 astrae, 20 nass, 15 chestnut, 30 blue legs, 10 white legs, 15 red legs, 3 scarlets and I can't remember what else the wife has put in there!

My tank is a 75 gallon with 40 gallon sump.

Luka · Dec 8, 2015

Get snails up in there!! I have that many snails in my 15 gallon and isn't not even spotless all the time. Its a new tank so I probly will be adding a couple more.

Virtualbasil · Dec 8, 2015

Well I don't believe a clean up crew will stop the cause of the problem
, just cover it up...

Thunt4jr · Dec 8, 2015

This guy right here will do the work! He's about 2 inches

sc8kv123 · Dec 8, 2015

What fish do you keep in your display?

Virtualbasil · Dec 8, 2015

Goldflake maroon clown
Six line wrasse
Blue mandarin dragnet
Benghai cardinal
Kole tang

Virtualbasil · Dec 9, 2015

Anybody? What could the cause be ?

DrayB · Dec 9, 2015

did you put in dry rock...pukani or something similar? if so, did you cure it first or just go straight in (like i did mine) if it was the later then the rock could be leaching phos which will feed the algae, but as the algae is using this fuel as it leaves the rock it won't show on tests.
i didn't see how old the tank was, looks recently setup?

sc8kv123 · Dec 9, 2015

+1 on wondering how long it has been setup. In my tank different algae has came and gone. I picked out the main unsightly clumps and just wait it out. The algae in my tank has always let up with regular tank husbandry and an optimistic approach. Sometimes letting the tank take it's natural course can be the best approach.. for your tank and the your sanity!

Virtualbasil · Dec 9, 2015

I used pukani dry rock and some live rock. I just put the dry rock straight in. But I cooked the live rock for two weeks then cycled the tank for 5 weeks. The system is about 4 months old now.

Virtualbasil · Dec 9, 2015

Guy at LFS said to raise alk. But I'm afraid to as my ph is already borderline high

DrayB · Dec 9, 2015

well...to me it doesn't look that bad

it will sort itself out in time once you tweak all your things...lighting....feeding etc etc.
i had to change a few things to start getting mine looking right, like rinsing off the frozen food before feeding, adding a refugium with chaeto algae, tweeking the lights (dropped the reds right down). i was running two reactors with Phos media but I've now dropped that to one, dossing with lanthanum chloride (which i've stopped doing now) and adjusted my skimmer to have a slightly wetter skimate. all small things but they all help

Virtualbasil · Dec 9, 2015

It's not that bad looking because I just vaccumed it out again and did another 10 gallon water change. I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens