Persistant Algae

[Qirko]

Hello.

My tank has been setup for about 7 months now. For the past 2 months or so I have been battling Algae that only really seems to grow on the back wall of the aquarium. Hermits will eat what they can reach, Snails won't touch it.

I use RO/DI water, i'm currently running a HOB skimmer, and daisy chaining GFO reactors, the first has GFO, the second has Carbon. My parameters are all good:

PH 8
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5ppm
Phosphate 0 per API, and .01 per Hanna Phosphorous. Odds are that's not accurate and the algae is taking it up
​

But, enough of that, a picture is worth 1000 words, so here are three:
Wide shot of the back glass. Photobombed by a clown


This is a macro shot up close of the back glass


Macro shot of the intake for the Skimmer


Everything is healthy in the tank, fish are happy, coral are good, but its rather ugly. The bubbles seem to only be on the intake for the skimmer, so I don't think its Dinos (i hope). Replacing the GFO powder recently helped slow them down a bit, but its still at the point of having to scrub it off every other day.

Help

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

wow thats obnoxious. Are you running a sump? what are you feeding and how much whats the bio load of fish, and how big is the tank.
May I see a FTS?

 

[Qirko]

No Sump. Its a 55 gallon tank, i feed once a day, rotate from Thera +a, Mysis shrimp and another frozen option "Formula 2".

I currently have: 2 Clowns, 1 Blenny, 1 Watchman Goby / Pistol shrimp pair, a Tiny little Cardinal fish, a handful of Hermits and snails, and a Cleaner Shrimp

Full tank shot:

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

double check your foods and amounts. Shelled animals do have a higher Po i belive. I have mandarins so when mama overfeeds its a bloom.
Whats your water source for mixing salt. and top off Rodi I hope. Also hows your skimmate?
Are you on a canister filter? not shaming, i just pulled mine off the 30g and am using the Aquaclear now that the dust has settled from the transfer.

 

[Qirko]

The only Filtration i have is a Reef Octopus BH100 HOB protein skimmer, and two Phosban 150 reactors. All the water that enters the tank is from my tap, run thru RODI filtration of course, TDS of zero when its done.

I could probably stand to reduce the feeding a bit, either switching to every other day, or just reduce the amount. The Skimmate is hit or miss. Sometimes its running really dry, othertimes it gets really wet, i'm working on finding a magical balance point for the cup. But other than that, its skimmate, smells funky sometimes and looks nasty

 

[Vaughn17]

Money or ring cowries will mow thru your hair algae unlike any other snail (except maybe a fighting conch).

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

yea its just odd you seem to have litttle corraline algae. the only times I have seen that and still do here is when there's a water problem. maybe thats light and camera though.

Have you considered a hob refugium?

Not that this is the prob but,This is just me, but I personally wouldnt run reactors on a new tank as theres really nothing to pull. is it gfo? one on carbon prob yea.

And yea skimmers are like that. or mine alwasy have been

 

[Qirko]

Money or ring cowries will mow thru your hair algae unlike any other snail (except maybe a fighting conch).

I'm still new to the hobby, so problem number one for me was IDing the algae, from there i face problem number 2. I live in the middle of nowhere (2 hours to the nearest LFS) so getting the crew to eat it becomes trickier

yea its just odd you seem to have litttle corraline algae. the only times I have seen that and still do here is when there's a water problem. maybe thats light and camera though.

Have you considered a hob refugium?

Not that this is the prob but,This is just me, but I personally wouldnt run reactors on a new tank as theres really nothing to pull. is it gfo? one on carbon prob yea.

And yea skimmers are like that. or mine alwasy have been

There is some corraline algae on the rocks, skimmer parts, and tank, good eye. I have researched HOB refugiums a bit, but i'm not sure i want to go that route, or maintain with what i have. its getting crammed behind the tank! The reactors are a new addition, i added them about a month ago. I was having issues with Phosphates and algae everywhere. The GFO took care of that, ideally i would stop running them full time once this is taken care of, and use them as needed.

 

[Live Water]

I run ozone for an easy but slightly expensive fix

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I'm still new to the hobby, so problem number one for me was IDing the algae, from there i face problem number 2. I live in the middle of nowhere (2 hours to the nearest LFS) so getting the crew to eat it becomes trickier




There is some corraline algae on the rocks, skimmer parts, and tank, good eye. I have researched HOB refugiums a bit, but i'm not sure i want to go that route, or maintain with what i have. its getting crammed behind the tank! The reactors are a new addition, i added them about a month ago. I was having issues with Phosphates and algae everywhere. The GFO took care of that, ideally i would stop running them full time once this is taken care of, and use them as needed.

yea at seven months my corraline is usually NUTS. my 30g rebuild has 1/4 in spots on the back Glass already (i have never clean it esp new as a barometer) and its two months.

My first five tanks were hob aquaclears and hob refugiums. the only time we got into trouble was from mama overfeeds and skipping water changes. so reactors and such I dont get. That was 5 years like that the longest was the 30 at 3 and a half years.

really All I can say is double check the water, bad stuff can stunt the cycle and feed algae like that, my current 55 & the demise of the 30 actually from water.
Turn down the white as algae does prefer the R Y & O
Not pretty but a cardboard to shade the back wall.
Manually siphon of course
Some bacterial supplement Dr T I love Fiji Mud, I think it works, it has some crazy corraline in it and its from the ocean. Amazon.

Yea you shouldnt really be having a phosphate problem. theres nothing in there. If you were overfeeding like mad youd have cyano first or both.
Its been my experience in a tank with algae like that should be having a lot of other yuck too.
thus my evaluation the cycle is stunted or you over stripped the PO and the algae is gettin whats left. its a small chance its dinos I suppose as they pretty much can live in space.

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

Maybe nutrients? This bit of info might be helpful:

Nutrient Export

What do all algae (and cyano too) need to survive? Nutrients. What are nutrients? Ammonia/ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate and urea are the major ones. Which ones cause most of the algae in your tank? These same ones. Why can't you just remove these nutrients and eliminate all the algae in your tank? Because these nutrients are the result of the animals you keep.

So how do your animals "make" these nutrients? Well a large part the nutrients comes from pee (urea). Pee is very high in urea and ammonia, and these are a favorite food of algae and some bacteria. This is why your glass will always need cleaning; because the pee hits the glass before anything else, and algae on the glass consume the ammonia and urea immediately (using photosynthesis) and grow more. In the ocean and lakes, phytoplankton consume the ammonia and urea in open water, and seaweed consume it in shallow areas, but in a tank you don't have enough space or water volume for this, and, your other filters or animals often remove or kill the phytoplankton or seaweed anyway. So, the nutrients stay in your tank.

Then, the ammonia/ammonium hits your rocks, and the periphyton on the rocks consumes more ammonia and urea. Periphyton is both algae and animals, and is the reason your rocks change color after a few weeks from when they were new. Then the ammonia goes inside the rock, or hits your sand, and bacteria there convert it into nitrite and nitrate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.

Also let's not forget phosphate, which comes from solid organic food particles. When these particles are eaten by microbes and clean up crews, the organic phosphorus in them is converted into phosphate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.

So whenever you have algae or cyano "problems", you simply have not exported enough nutrients out of your tank compared to how much you have been feeding (note: live rock can absorb phosphate for up to a year, making it seem like there was never a problem. Then after a year, there is a problem).

So just increase your nutrient exports. You could also reduce feeding, and this has the same effect, but it's certainly not fun when you want to feed your animals

~SF