Take action or ride it out?

StrangeDejavu · Jul 17, 2016

So my BioCube 29 is just over 4 months old at this point. In the last week or two, i've seen just about every type of algae pop up. Up until now, the only thing i've dealt with were diatoms and dinos. I beat the dinos and diatoms were the only things that remained. I got a little zealous with coral feeding recently and I think that's what spurred the current algae bloom i'm seeing. It started out as hard, green algae on the glass right along the sand level. As hard to scrape as coralline, but not actually coralline. Shortly after that, I began seeing GHA and spirulina (cyano). I caught 3 pearls of bubble algae growing on a frag plug and tossed it before it could get going (well, hopefully, lol). Now i'm seeing a coarse, green algae pop up on the back wall and along the bottom of the glass, pretty sure it's bryopsis. I do weekly 25% WC with Reef Crystals religiously, haven't missed one since I set the tank up. Nitrates float between 2 - 5ppm but I never get a Phosphate reading on my Hanna ULR, likely because algae has it locked up. The Spirulina I plan to take care of with Chemiclean once i'm done stocking with coral. I'm about 99% sure I got it from my LFS, so I don't see the point in treating, adding coral, and needing to treat again in a few weeks.

Is this just a phase a young tank must go through on its way to maturity or should I be adding GFO and considering the Tunze 9001 right now? My coral look very happy and are growing well (5 new heads on the Acan already, 1 on the duncan, 4 - 5 on the hammer, decent polyp extension on the Monti until the algae started) so I don't want to change much unless it benefits the tank long-term.

twilliard · Jul 17, 2016

Oh my it is keeping you busy!
Can you bullet point exactly what you are wanting to battle first?

FL_Reefer · Jul 17, 2016

If you can get a pic of what you think is bryopsis too that will help confirm if it is or not

StrangeDejavu · Jul 17, 2016

twilliard said:
Oh my it is keeping you busy!
Can you bullet point exactly what you are wanting to battle first?

I know! lol. I got carried away feeding the Acan and Duncan, 3 times a week was apparently way too much for this tank. I'm feeding the fish less and only feeding the coral once a week now.

Ideally, the dinos need to be the first to go. They aren't bad yet, really nothing in the tank algae wise is bad yet but I don't want it to get to that point if I can help it. Only problem with starting treatments now is i'm going back for more frags in a few days, i'll probably be close to stocked at that point.

Let me try and get a pic or two.

Lionfish Lair · Jul 17, 2016

You know how got you there.... overfeeding. What can get you out... stop overfeeding and step up the maintenance until you get it taken care of.

StrangeDejavu · Jul 17, 2016

This is the coarse stuff growing on the glass, reminds me of freshwater staghorn algae rather than being fern-like.

And the spirulina.

StrangeDejavu · Jul 17, 2016

Lionfish Lair said:
You know how got you there.... overfeeding. What can get you out... stop overfeeding and step up the maintenance until you get it taken care of.

Right, but I never went through a green algae bloom that I always read about with new tanks, so I wasn't sure. It seems like the spirulina gets worse with each water change too, so I guess I should test my stored water.

Taso1 · Jul 17, 2016

Magnesium levels?

StrangeDejavu · Jul 17, 2016

Taso1 said:
Magnesium levels?

Haven't tested in a few days, but these were my params last week:

Temp: 78
Salinity: 1.026
pH: 7.9
Cal: 430
Alk: 9.4
Mag: 1290
Nitrate: 5
Phos: 0

twilliard · Jul 17, 2016

StrangeDejavu said:
This is the coarse stuff growing on the glass, reminds me of freshwater staghorn algae rather than being fern-like.

And the spirulina.

Bryopsis and, can't remember if you have done the test, spirulina?

Lionfish Lair · Jul 17, 2016

The picture in the first post, is that your tank now? Is the stuff all over your rock at the moment?

Taso1 · Jul 17, 2016

tweak your levels a bit to get them "correct", maybe try removing it by hand or add someone to eat it? whenever i do algae cleaning, wipe downs, etc, I do a water change afterwards, change my mechanical filtration like socks and pads.

StrangeDejavu · Jul 17, 2016

twilliard said:
Bryopsis and, can't remember if you have done the test, spirulina?

Bah. Yeah, under the microscope it looks like a pink hued guitar string. Moves like a helix. I PMed you a few days ago and you confirmed spirulina.

@Lionfish Lair, that was the tank a few days ago, looks the same only the last inch or so all the way around the glass is green/brown.

StrangeDejavu · Jul 17, 2016

Taso1 said:
tweak your levels a bit to get them "correct", maybe try removing it by hand or add someone to eat it? whenever i do algae cleaning, wipe downs, etc, I do a water change afterwards, change my mechanical filtration like socks and pads.

I recently switched over from regular IO to RC so parameters are still leveling out.

Lionfish Lair · Jul 17, 2016

Your tank is beautiful. I wouldn't "wait it out", but would get aggressive with the maintenance for a bit. It's only 4 months old and it has a lot of growing pains to go through yet.

StrangeDejavu · Jul 17, 2016

Lionfish Lair said:
Your tank is beautiful. I wouldn't "wait it out", but would get aggressive with the maintenance for a bit. It's only 4 months old and it has a lot of growing pains to go through yet.

Thanks! Will do. I change my filter floss every 3 days and ROX carbon biweekly but i'll have to hit it harder. I just didn't want to fight something that might be natural, or as you worded it, growing pains.

Edit: Just tested my stored DI water and PO4 is reading 0.00 so looks like it's time to buckle down on feeding and dig in on maintenance.

StrangeDejavu · Jul 17, 2016

Would you guys add a skimmer if you were in my shoes? I'd like one for removing food before it breaks down and increased oxygenation. My only concern is making the tank too clean and the coral not being as happy as they are now. I've seen excellent growth and polyp extension so far without one but I don't know how much of that happiness comes from DOCs and slightly "dirty" water.

Salty1962 · Jul 17, 2016

Your tank is young so your going through some of the natural issues of new tank setup. As mentioned, keep up with aggressive maintenance and remove manually as much as you can. A skimmer is very good at removing No3 which is one of the main fuels for algae. GFO in a nano tank is touchy, so I'd hold off until you see if you an control through good husbandry practices. Keep up your water changes. Your tank looks very nice! JMO

Taso1 · Jul 17, 2016

Skimmer question: many years ago, I wouldn't think twice about not using a protein skimmer, and I wouldn't heavily counsel aquarists who didn't use one or want to buy one. I suggested heavy water changes as a possible option to not having a skimmer.

But nowadays I don't want to even humor a person's questions about their aquarium if they don't have a protein skimmer. Yes, nano-tanks are all the rage and many of them do not have skimmers. And I am not trying to bust your beans for not having a skimmer, but they are an incredibly important part of a reef tank or FOWLR tank. Just the amount of oxygen they help to infuse your water is so important. Get a skimmer my man, it will help you out so much.