Algae issues! [RESOLVED :)]

I've been fighting some algae issues for about a month now, so I think it's time to reach out for some ideas.


Here's my equipment:


28 Gallon Bowfront, HOB fuge (non-name brand. Think it's about 3 gallons) with Chaeto and Mangrove shoots, Remora Pro HOB skimmer, 4 bulb T5HO lighting, 2 Koralia 550 powerheads (controller set to random intervals of alternating and simultaneous flow), ATO. Sand Bed is just under 1 inch deep.


Fish are: 2 Clowns, 1 firefish, a tiny tailspot blenny and a tiny sixline.

Coral: Zoas, Acan, FrogSpawn, Pulsing Xenia, Palys, Mushrooms, Ricordea, Candy Cane, Duncan, GSP, Brain Worm Coral

Inverts: 2 skunk cleaners, 1 Crocea Clam, 1 Anemone Crab, 1 Peppermint Shrimp (recently added)



Background info:

This tank was set up in October, but everything was transfered from a tank that would have been a year old this month. I run Carbon in the return chamber of my HOB Fuge. I change this when I do my normal 3-5 gallon bi-weekly waterchange.

I had old bulbs, and started seeing cyno growth. Replaced the bulbs with ATI ones and the cyno continued to grow and spread. Thinking maybe my old CuC might be partially to blame (hadn’t replenished it in about a year) I replaced it with a new one from reef cleaners.

Tried blasting Cyno with powerhead, with no change. Removed powerheads, scrubbed all the coralline off to be sure that it wasn’t restricting flow at all. Went lights out for about 3 days, cyno was gone. But, of course, quickly came back (took about 3 days). It’s now at about 75% of what it was before the lights out, which was two weeks or so ago, but some hair algae is starting to pop up. I'm fairly confident it's hair algae and not bryopsis because it doesn't look fern like, and I have seen some snails and crabs that appeared to be munching on it. Its really small, but in a couple places across the tank.

I feed only New Life Spectrum Marine food (and worry about underfeeding since the clowns gobble down 90% of what I feed before any of the other fish even realize it has hit the water).



Additional info:


I was using RO water from the grocery store. After all the other methods listed above were exhausted, without change, I broke down and bought a RODI unit. I’ve now done 4 water changes using the RODI water (each between 3 and 5 gallons), and have switched top of water to RODI as well.

I have pulled out the rocks that were easiest to get to and scrubbed the cyno off them (I was having a problem getting it to come off the rocks when I syphoned it, and I didn’t want to spread it anymore). I thoroughly cleaned my fuge and skimmer (which is pulling its normal amount of dark skimmate).

On Monday, I added my first dose of Special Blend after reading of successes with it on this forum. I also shortened my light cycle by about an hour. Last night I added some Hawaiian Zebra Hermits to help with the scavenging effort, as well as a peppermint shrimp to (hopefully) go after a few aptasia I have (I should mention, it appears cyno stresses aptasia into reproducing…)

So far, all my coral, inverts and fish seem happy, except my "tester" sps, that I have lost (pink birdsnest) and the candycane seems unhappy, but it has never seemed happy. However, my tank went from looking like it was making serious progress toward looking "well established" to now looking like a mess of cyno with spots of hair algae.

So, is there anything I am missing or should try or do to help control this besides continued water changes? When would I likely start seeing results from RODI water if the RO water was the culprit?

 

Apparently copying out of MS word made some weird formatting issues and text. Sorry about that!

Also note: My tests for Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite all were 0 (though Algae probably scewed that). I don't have a test for Phosphate.

I don't dose anything, but was about to start adding Kalk in my ATO when the Algae started, so I haven't started this yet.

 

I think you are going through another small cycle. I only say this because you took the rock out and scraped it plus maybe disturbing the sand bed in the process. Changing over to ro/di was a very good call because getting ro water from the grocery stores you dont know if or when they last changed their filters or carbon. You might consider running some gfo to help with the phosphates until it gets eradicated.

 

ok, I have been debating that. Thinking of getting a BRS reactor for it. Just not sure if I can figure out a way to do it without another pump inside tank. If I just add it to a media bag in my fuge, would I see any worth while results?

Also, I scrubbed the rock in the water I had just changed out, would this still cause a minicycle? I also KNOW I've disturbed the sand, as I tried to syphon some cyno off the sand.

Edit: Also my sand bed is probably a little under an inch in depth. Just something I forgot to mention in the initial post.

 

You dont want to put the gfo in the fuge. Place it close to where the flow is present like before a pump or in the section where the return pump resided. As for the rock, that was good I was giving you just a scenario. It also depends on how long the rock was out of the water also.

 

Ok, Thanks for the Advice

 

I have the CPR HOB aquafuge 4.5g-I toss a bag of Chemipure Elite in front of the intake where the water enters the fuge and it works great. As long as its got good flow around it
You could also run a canister filter filled with a phosphate sponge like Kents. I've used this also with a lot of success. I'll run it for about 2-3 days then that's it

 

Install an algae turf scrubber. Easy to make and cheap. this is the only thing that ever fixed my algae problems. And it fixed it permanently. All other things were a waste of time. You can even plumb one in and then take it out when it's all under control.

WS

 

I would say what I did a month ago and I had a real bad outbreak that i fought for like 4+ months.

1.Scrub the algae and do a water change right after at the end of the week.
2.Get a good uv sterilizer. I got a coralife and it worked like a charm in less than 3 days.
3.Contact John in reefcleaners.org i believe and ask him for a cleaning crew for ur tank.
4.Reduce light time? Depends I did by a few hours. Nothing bad happened.
5.Don't over feed, or add too much stuff to your water. The basics will do along with water changes.

That solved my problem.

Good luck.

 

Unfortunately I don't think I have the room for this. I might try chemi-pure elite before getting a reactor if everything else fails. I was just about to start on the planning for an upgrade. Think I'll have trouble selling the idea to the other half if I can't get this algae issue taken care of! lol

Only thing on this list I haven't really done is the UV Sterilizer. I seemed to read a lot of mixed reviews on whether they help or not!

It sounds like I should just keep doing what I'm doing and hopefully it'll go away!