.25 phosphates and green hair algae

mikee002

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I’ve been battling what I would assume is green hair algae for a bit now. It’s dark green, attached to rocks/back wall, and grows quite long (3” or so). I got tired of looking at it so I took rocks out and scrubbed them clean, within a week it’s growing back quickly.

Tested parameters today, .25 po4 was the only remarkable result. Other nutrients and ammonia were 0.

I have no skimmer. Chaeto in the fuge which grows quickly, fuge also growing lots of dark green algae in the section where water drains into. Light period in the fuge is approx 8 hours. Small bio load... 3 fish and inverts. A few softie coral. I didn’t think I was feeding heavily, but idk where else the phosphates could be coming from.

I don’t want to start dosing and chasing numbers, but if that is the best solution I can. What else can I try? I’m going to do a large water change and possibly black out.

Thanks
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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If this is a nano you have far better fix options vs responding to phosphate

or testing for anything, or buying offsets


nanos have the direct kill option, we handle the cause by cleaning out all the algae fuel in the system, which is any form of clouding caused by handling substrates in the tank water.


in a nano, we reverse that clouding, kill the algae, fixed no delay.
if it’s a large tank then we could be looking at weeks of experimentation, coral bleaching, always keeping the cloud inside the tank to compound since work is too hard to rid it

three fish = nano?

we can do more for a nano tank by reducing waste compaction + direct kill than we can with test kits readings.
 
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mikee002

mikee002

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Yes, 35 cube and probably 10g water volume in the sump.




If this is a nano you have far better fix options vs responding to phosphate

or testing for anything, or buying offsets


nanos have the direct kill option, we handle the cause by cleaning out all the algae fuel in the system, which is any form of clouding caused by handling substrates in the tank water.


in a nano, we reverse that clouding, kill the algae, fixed no delay.
if it’s a large tank then we could be looking at weeks of experimentation, coral bleaching, always keeping the cloud inside the tank to compound since work is too hard to rid it

three fish = nano?

we can do more for a nano tank by reducing waste compaction + direct kill than we can with test kits readings.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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to add to my story above, in my opinion it does no good to respond to param readings before the deep cleaning, as thats the ideal condition. To take a reading on a totally cleaned tank if very opposite to where you are now above, all reef tanks store up waste such that twisting rocks and sand in the mid water column will cause clouding.

but recently rip cleaned ones do not do that to any degree

and when you kill algae in the forced oligotrophic condition, then it really helps for a fresh start.

Finding ways to prevent regrowth by managing phosphates in the clean condition is always a better outcome for a nano reef than managing them where shaking rocks and sand mid tank at all times causes a near fatal cloud. this status is 97% of any reef on this forum, the other 3% are clean nano reefers and Jon Malkerson, his 120 runs as clean as a pico reef he's in the cool group lol. and his reef is 100% purple coralline and rocks and sand and corals large.

its not that cleaned-all-at-once is the only way, its that its the best way with about 100 ready examples of before and after. the only factor needed to know about your tank was its volume, no other detail needed. accessibility creates a new way of controlling algae, and we extend the lifespan of the reef markedly by making a reef go from eutrophic state to oligotrophic state, instead of just dosing fluconazole and compounding the current clouding (97% of all reefs would do that)

the hobby used to be really big on fixing causatives before reef flux came along and we threw that out the door.

if I had a 500 gallon tank, you can bet some reef flux would be in the drawer lol but as a matter of nano pride, never.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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= 100 work examples.

it says peroxide in the title. we never dump peroxide into a reef there. we rip clean reefs there, peroxide is the 1% cheat action that you put on clean rocks, externally, after all else is rip cleaned, and then rinse and put back perfect rocks. the thread is 99% nano rip cleans and 1% peroxide use, it should be titled the rip cleaning thread. After pics and follow up are there posted
 
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mikee002

mikee002

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Thanks for your time replying, I appreciate it!

= 100 work examples.
 

blasterman

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You can scrub all you want.

With .25 phosphate you can nuke the tank with plutonium and the algae will just come back.

Check your salt mix before doing a wate4 change which will also verify your source water. Then test the food you use. That phosphate has to be coming from somewhere.
 

brandon429

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this used to be very controversial stuff to recommend.
appreciate you considering the work, each new addition makes patterns we can use for prediction.

being able to do one tiny test rock is nice. we dont attack your whole system like the stone ages of peroxide work. we pre model.

its merely one way among many. there are complete and total benefits to being able to run a reef without having to deep clean it to make it run like we want, but this clean + reset saves tanks from loss and owners from headaches until we can prevent needing the cleaning somehow

Having nine years of outcomes to track is very handy. saves having to guess about causatives
 
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mikee002

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Thanks, I will check the fresh mixed water before I change it. I have all new media on my rodi system and never had po4 issues in the past so I’d be surprised if it was that. Good thing to check though

You can scrub all you want.

With .25 phosphate you can nuke the tank with plutonium and the algae will just come back.

Check your salt mix before doing a wate4 change which will also verify your source water. Then test the food you use. That phosphate has to be coming from somewhere.
 
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mikee002

mikee002

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So the algae obviously continues to grow... it’s back and more prolific than before.

At this point I’m absolutely not over feeding. I tested fresh water and got no PO4 readings, 2 different test kits.

Based on reading the thread you posted, and other examples found searching here... it looks like pressure washing the rocks would be a solution for complete removal, while not killing the bacteria in the rocks?

Of course I’m still obviously not treating the cause I guess since I don’t know the source?



to add to my story above, in my opinion it does no good to respond to param readings before the deep cleaning, as thats the ideal condition. To take a reading on a totally cleaned tank if very opposite to where you are now above, all reef tanks store up waste such that twisting rocks and sand in the mid water column will cause clouding.

but recently rip cleaned ones do not do that to any degree

and when you kill algae in the forced oligotrophic condition, then it really helps for a fresh start.

Finding ways to prevent regrowth by managing phosphates in the clean condition is always a better outcome for a nano reef than managing them where shaking rocks and sand mid tank at all times causes a near fatal cloud. this status is 97% of any reef on this forum, the other 3% are clean nano reefers and Jon Malkerson, his 120 runs as clean as a pico reef he's in the cool group lol. and his reef is 100% purple coralline and rocks and sand and corals large.

its not that cleaned-all-at-once is the only way, its that its the best way with about 100 ready examples of before and after. the only factor needed to know about your tank was its volume, no other detail needed. accessibility creates a new way of controlling algae, and we extend the lifespan of the reef markedly by making a reef go from eutrophic state to oligotrophic state, instead of just dosing fluconazole and compounding the current clouding (97% of all reefs would do that)

the hobby used to be really big on fixing causatives before reef flux came along and we threw that out the door.

if I had a 500 gallon tank, you can bet some reef flux would be in the drawer lol but as a matter of nano pride, never.
 

Paulie069

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So the algae obviously continues to grow... it’s back and more prolific than before.

At this point I’m absolutely not over feeding. I tested fresh water and got no PO4 readings, 2 different test kits.

Based on reading the thread you posted, and other examples found searching here... it looks like pressure washing the rocks would be a solution for complete removal, while not killing the bacteria in the rocks?

Of course I’m still obviously not treating the cause I guess since I don’t know the source?
Get fish/ inverts that eat algae and let Mother Nature take care of it
 

stylolvr

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You mentioned 3 fish. What fish? And what other critters? CUC? Inverts? If not already in the tank, a small addition of algae eaters like Paulie mentioned may be an easy win.
 
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mikee002

mikee002

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Mandarin
2 clowns
2 Cleaner shrimp
Various hermits
Hermits and cleaners ate most all snails I had.



You mentioned 3 fish. What fish? And what other critters? CUC? Inverts? If not already in the tank, a small addition of algae eaters like Paulie mentioned may be an easy win.
 

Paulie069

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I don’t believe there is anything that can/will eat the amount of long hair algae I have... at least not that I can put in a 35g tank
Lawnmower blenny, Mexican turbo snails,, both small and eat algae all day n night
 
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mikee002

mikee002

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Ok thanks. I’ll check for a quarantined lawnmower. I had a bunch of Mexican turbos... they were crab food, that was a while ago.

Lawnmower blenny, Mexican turbo snails,, both small and eat algae all day n night
 

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No nitrates? That's not very good for your corals, or your tank in general. If you get your nitrates to a reasonable level, it can help different types of algae show up, ones that compete with the hair algae. You know how established tanks tend to have rocks that are a lot of different colors, and if hair algae shows up, it has a hard time spreading? That's the non-pest algae. It doesn't do well in low nutrients, is the problem.
 

Paulie069

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No nitrates? That's not very good for your corals, or your tank in general. If you get your nitrates to a reasonable level, it can help different types of algae show up, ones that compete with the hair algae. You know how established tanks tend to have rocks that are a lot of different colors, and if hair algae shows up, it has a hard time spreading? That's the non-pest algae. It doesn't do well in low nutrients, is the problem.
Wow very informative good to know,, still learning everyday
 

vetteguy53081

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I personally would reduce white light intensity for a few days and add some cleanup crew to your existin such as:
Astrea, trochus, nassarius and nerite snails and a handful of blue leg hermits.
Are you using tap water from faucet or RO water ?
Is tank at or near a window?
 

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