Nuisance Algae in Sump... Yes or No?

Well throughout my sump, mainly on my baffles there's some nuisance algae growing, like hair algae, touch of cyano, etc...

Is it OK to let it all grow in the sump? None of its growing in the DT, so its all nicely contained and imhavent seen any at all spread further than the sump...so should I let it be and let it grow and eat up the nitrates? Its a FOWLR and the trates stay around 20. And I don't know for sure if its actually hair algae, it seems too wirey and spread out in the baffles. Looks like grass pretty much, just very short cut lol. I'll try and get a pic if possible, but its hrd to where its at in the bubble trap

 

That's exactly where you want it; in the sump.

 

yes, if it's in the sump, I imagine it can stay there and help keep your tank clear. You can pull some out over time from what I've read if it gets too thick and inteferes with good flow....

 

Perfect spot for it.

 

I've got a bunch of different algaes and aiptasia in my sump. I don't really mess with it. Especially the aiptasia. Don't want to try take it out and the little pieces get sucked into the DT.

 

Any idea why the nitrates are 20?

I certainly agree with the advice

 

Keeping excess nutrients out of the aquarium water is one key element in reducing your nitrates. As you may know, dirty bio media become a nitrate factory, a lot of people don't use any additional bio media besides live rock in their tanks. There are many other things that can add excess nutrients into your tank like some commercial foods which may contain things like nitrates, phosphates etc I rinse my frozen food out before feedingit. Overfeeding the tank is also another factor. Using , RO/DI water, a high quality salt with no NO3, phosphates etc like Tropic Marin or good quality salt should really help too.

 

I'm so sorry it's taken so long to reply back to this thread! I kept checking it for a few days and didn't see any other replies so didn't think much more of it!

My nitrates are actually back down to 0 now. I removed my bio pellets after some problems I was having with them, and shortly after this post added a big ball of chaeto which has taken the trates back down to 0. I think the nitrates were at 20 cuz they were fighting back up after the removal of bio pellets, and an undersized skimmer at the time. Since then I've upgraded the skimmer to one that's more than enough for my tank, and haven't had much other problems.

Most of the nuisance algae in the sump gets removed every couple of weeks cuz ill throw a snail or 2 down there to clean up for a couple days, and they feast for a little bit then go back to the DT

 

Glad you got your situation under control. Sounds like you thought it out well.