Why is my macro algae looking so meh

[Icedtealeaf]

hey guys, recently i've gotten into salt water aquariums and currently have a 13 gallon AIO tank hosting mushroom corals, a damsel fish, and a few crabs aswell as my macro algae. everything used to look so good but after a while the flame macro started to go opake as well as growing some sort of layer of something. Ive only been dosing chaeto grow. and my salinity is at 1.025. any advice helps!

 

[Crabs McJones]

What are your nitrate levels at? If the algae is consuming it, it's possible nitrate is getting too low to support the algae.

 

[twentyleagues]

Really need the full battery of test results. Lighting some macros like that one need pretty intense lighting to flourish. Flow is also important.

 

[Icedtealeaf]

What are your nitrate levels at? If the algae is consuming it, it's possible nitrate is getting too low to support the algae.

That might be the problem, I have nitrate that I can dose but was scared to start using it, I have no nitrites or nitrates because I’ve got caulerpa and chaeto in there aswell and they just hog nutrients I think

 

[twentyleagues]

That's about 3 weeks of growth in my fuge.
75par of full spectrum lighting
A little over 600gph of flow
Alk 8.6
Calc 400ish
Nitrate around 15
Phos around .03
Had a couple spots of cyano but a 15g water change has it almost gone, I didn't siphon the cyano.
Obviously I added another chunk of dragons breath.

 

[Icedtealeaf]

What are your nitrate levels at? If the algae is consuming it, it's possible nitrate is getting too low to support the algae.

ok so your right i have 0 nitrates or nitrites. i kinda just assumed that the dosing was similar to that of my fresh water tanks. luckily before I did get my tank I got literaly all the ferts under the sun. I was just scared to use them.

 

[Icedtealeaf]

That's about 3 weeks of growth in my fuge.
75par of full spectrum lighting
A little over 600gph of flow
Alk 8.6
Calc 400ish
Nitrate around 15
Phos around .03
Had a couple spots of cyano but a 15g water change has it almost gone, I didn't siphon the cyano.
Obviously I added another chunk of dragons breath.

WOW your stuff looks great! how do I find the part of my light? I have a Twinstar 300EA So far the only thing im my tank thriving is my bubble caulerpa cheato, and blue hypnea. Im so close to getting rid of the cheato because I think its just taking all the nutrients and I hate its stringyness.

 

[twentyleagues]

WOW your stuff looks great! how do I find the part of my light? I have a Twinstar 300EA So far the only thing im my tank thriving is my bubble caulerpa cheato, and blue hypnea. Im so close to getting rid of the cheato because I think its just taking all the nutrients and I hate its stringyness.

Well first off I have a par meter. I didnt know anything about your light before I googled it. Looks like they are about the same wattage. I am able to pick my intensity and kelvin. Mine is 100% at about 7500k. I turned down my pink/red channel to 50% after about 2 weeks. It was giving the feather caulerpa a weird look. My guess even though lights and water clarity are different we are getting roughly the sameish par. We cant rule out lighting but it can go on the back burner. I am using the fluval 3.0 plant light 22w version. I just cut back on the schedule for the light from 12hrs to 9hrs, 30min ramp on both ends. - How long is your light on?

Like @Crabs McJones said it may very well be nutrient based. I typically feed heavy. I feed two pieces of nori a day for the tang, flake on my lunch break and typically a mix of frozen, half cube mysis and half cube of reef plankton or a large squirt of arctipods at night. I feed the lps a cube of brine or mysis 2 times a week. I add 5oz mixed live phyto every other day. The tank is new only about 2 months old with marco dry rock. I have heard it absorbs phosphate but I can detect it on a hannah ulr. I have only done 2 water changes on this tank of 15g each. Its roughly 120 total gallons. Tests come out the sameish weekly 15-20 nitrate and 0-.03 phosphate. It may well be higher if I didnt have macro. - Feed more or dose.

Flow could be an issue too not getting the nutrients to the macro. Years ago I wanted a display fuge but it just kept looking like any other fuge you typically see. Someone with a very nice macro tank said up the flow youd be amazed what that will do so I added a couple power heads didnt have gyres back then. I used 2 maxijets with pvc pipes on the outlet turned into a spray bar type thing. Basically a backyard gyre. I aimed them from the back of the tank to the front across the surface of the water so as the flow hit the front glass it would travel down and back toward the macro. Immediately things looked better not even a week. On this tank the returns dump here first and I used an elbow to aim the flow at the front glass of the fuge section. The flow hits the glass and "rebounds" back toward the back of the fuge. The flow of the sump goes from right to left also. My algae dances gently in the currents created.- May take care of your coating issue.

Hope something from that helps.

 

[Icedtealeaf]

Well first off I have a par meter. I didnt know anything about your light before I googled it. Looks like they are about the same wattage. I am able to pick my intensity and kelvin. Mine is 100% at about 7500k. I turned down my pink/red channel to 50% after about 2 weeks. It was giving the feather caulerpa a weird look. My guess even though lights and water clarity are different we are getting roughly the sameish par. We cant rule out lighting but it can go on the back burner. I am using the fluval 3.0 plant light 22w version. I just cut back on the schedule for the light from 12hrs to 9hrs, 30min ramp on both ends. - How long is your light on?

Like @Crabs McJones said it may very well be nutrient based. I typically feed heavy. I feed two pieces of nori a day for the tang, flake on my lunch break and typically a mix of frozen, half cube mysis and half cube of reef plankton or a large squirt of arctipods at night. I feed the lps a cube of brine or mysis 2 times a week. I add 5oz mixed live phyto every other day. The tank is new only about 2 months old with marco dry rock. I have heard it absorbs phosphate but I can detect it on a hannah ulr. I have only done 2 water changes on this tank of 15g each. Its roughly 120 total gallons. Tests come out the sameish weekly 15-20 nitrate and 0-.03 phosphate. It may well be higher if I didnt have macro. - Feed more or dose.

Flow could be an issue too not getting the nutrients to the macro. Years ago I wanted a display fuge but it just kept looking like any other fuge you typically see. Someone with a very nice macro tank said up the flow youd be amazed what that will do so I added a couple power heads didnt have gyres back then. I used 2 maxijets with pvc pipes on the outlet turned into a spray bar type thing. Basically a backyard gyre. I aimed them from the back of the tank to the front across the surface of the water so as the flow hit the front glass it would travel down and back toward the macro. Immediately things looked better not even a week. On this tank the returns dump here first and I used an elbow to aim the flow at the front glass of the fuge section. The flow hits the glass and "rebounds" back toward the back of the fuge. The flow of the sump goes from right to left also. My algae dances gently in the currents created.- May take care of your coating issue.

Hope something from that helps.

I think your right about flow. I just ordered a 1600 GPH powerhead as i've only been running the original multidirectional filter output. I'm happy about the light and I just dosed some nitrites. Thanks so much!

 

[Icedtealeaf]

Well first off I have a par meter. I didnt know anything about your light before I googled it. Looks like they are about the same wattage. I am able to pick my intensity and kelvin. Mine is 100% at about 7500k. I turned down my pink/red channel to 50% after about 2 weeks. It was giving the feather caulerpa a weird look. My guess even though lights and water clarity are different we are getting roughly the sameish par. We cant rule out lighting but it can go on the back burner. I am using the fluval 3.0 plant light 22w version. I just cut back on the schedule for the light from 12hrs to 9hrs, 30min ramp on both ends. - How long is your light on?

Like @Crabs McJones said it may very well be nutrient based. I typically feed heavy. I feed two pieces of nori a day for the tang, flake on my lunch break and typically a mix of frozen, half cube mysis and half cube of reef plankton or a large squirt of arctipods at night. I feed the lps a cube of brine or mysis 2 times a week. I add 5oz mixed live phyto every other day. The tank is new only about 2 months old with marco dry rock. I have heard it absorbs phosphate but I can detect it on a hannah ulr. I have only done 2 water changes on this tank of 15g each. Its roughly 120 total gallons. Tests come out the sameish weekly 15-20 nitrate and 0-.03 phosphate. It may well be higher if I didnt have macro. - Feed more or dose.

Flow could be an issue too not getting the nutrients to the macro. Years ago I wanted a display fuge but it just kept looking like any other fuge you typically see. Someone with a very nice macro tank said up the flow youd be amazed what that will do so I added a couple power heads didnt have gyres back then. I used 2 maxijets with pvc pipes on the outlet turned into a spray bar type thing. Basically a backyard gyre. I aimed them from the back of the tank to the front across the surface of the water so as the flow hit the front glass it would travel down and back toward the macro. Immediately things looked better not even a week. On this tank the returns dump here first and I used an elbow to aim the flow at the front glass of the fuge section. The flow hits the glass and "rebounds" back toward the back of the fuge. The flow of the sump goes from right to left also. My algae dances gently in the currents created.- May take care of your coating issue.

Hope something from that helps.

Hey also, I was wondering Is my salinity too low? Its at 1.025 right now

 

[twentyleagues]

Hey also, I was wondering Is my salinity too low? Its at 1.025 right now

no that should be fine. I keep mine at 1.026, either is fine as long as you trust your measurement.

 

[Icedtealeaf]

no that should be fine. I keep mine at 1.026, either is fine as long as you trust your measurement.

Ok, i have on of the plastic things with the arrow and so far its been good. what should I avoid? whats too high or too low?

 

[twentyleagues]

Ok, i have on of the plastic things with the arrow and so far its been good. what should I avoid? whats too high or too low?

Those are pretty inaccurate. Get a refractometer. They cost a little but very useful around $50 at brs. 1.024-1.027 is ideal range with .024 and .027 the min and max nether ideal.