algae Problem!!! BRYOPSIS??

Hello Everyone from 3reef i have a problem with my friends tank, here are his params.

350g tank 30g sump
2little fishes 150 reactor - ecobak biopellets
current USA skimmer rated for 150g ( he is upgrading)
5 LED fixtures 1w each 120watts


Salt 1.025
Ca 470
Mg 1050
Alk 8.8
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Nitrate .5
Ph 8.3

it is a 350G Reef W/ fish tank, the tank is approximently 4 months old, the He is running 5 LED 1watt 120W system, it is above the Water line 4 Inches the lights are about 1-2 months old. they are running about 10Hrs a day, 9am - 9pm

i hope it is bryopsis... but its really hairy and it doesnt look like cyano aglae.. here is some pictures if you guys need better pictures to ID this i will do!

please help me out! i know its usual for algae outbreak for the first couple months but he is already noticing brown algae. this algae is annoying him. he cleans it off 1 day and it comes back right after. i will hopefully do a black out for 5 days if its neccessary but not sure how long to black out for..

any input is appriciated!..

 

Looks like GHA ,
There is nutrients in his water
1. Black out for a few days
2. During blackout 25%water change with RO/DI
3. Run GFO
4. Feed less
5. Skim more
6. Do 15-20% water changes one week after the first and kept that up Till it reside
With all the above your friend should be able to win the battle

Also 9-9 is a twelve hour photo period I'd reduce that by half starting back out after the black out

 

I second the GHA... looks like some good stuff!

I wouldn't resort to a blackout as the first thing on my list. Test for phosphates, and see where those are at. If they are high, try running alot of GFO. Is he running a fuge with macroalgae?

Try to ID the source of nutrients and eliminate that. Overfeeding, lack of proper water change routine, poor husbandry, no filter media, poor skimming, etc....

 

UPDATE! i turned off the lights last night and waited 5 minutes and tested phosphates.... it was at 5 ppms! off that was super blue! tested it with salifert. so i told him to buy some gfo. i have a question with the gfo do you just place whatever amount your tank volume water has or do you place little by little at a time? because i hear gfo bleaches some corals?

 

GFO is best ran in a reactor so it can tumble. Yes you can just put it in a sock in a flow area of your sump but it will start to clump & lose the amount of surface area the water contacts. Definitely shorten up the light cycle for a while and the skimmer upgrade is gonna make you big money. Some chaeto/ulva in the fuge will help as well if you have it lit where they can grow.

depending on your stocking choices there are severl live options that would love to snack away on that as well.

 

It is recommended that phosphates do not drop by more than 1ppm per day. Given that you have 5ppm, I would do a few things. First, grab a small chunk of live rock that doesnt have too much life on it, shake it off really well, rinse it in clean (new) saltwater, and then place it in a small container of new saltwater (should be 0ppm phosphate, test to make sure) . Let it sit for a few hours or overnight, and test again. If the phosphates spiked, this means that the phosphates have been high for so long in the tank you have phosphate deposits in the rock (bad).

If there is not much different between tests, I would run the cheaper Phosguard or something of that nature, and underdose, replacing the media every other day or so. Once the phosphates are under 1ppm, then start to use the more expensive GFO. Of course, you could run GFO the whole time, its just cheaper to use the AO stuff for quick cleanups.

Let us know how it goes.

 

thanks for the tip! but he aquascaped his rocks and glued it together, he didnt use glue tho some epoxy thing for marine tanks. hopefully there isnt any deposites on the rocks! ill let everyone know how it goes, i put the lights from 9-5 maybe i should shorten it even more. but the gfo is a must!

 

Ok soo here the update. I bought a reactor and added another bbubble magus skimmer. Kept the old one and I bought the produuct wm PHOSar from warner marine I hope it workes[SCROLL][/SCROLL]