Adopted tank, algae problem.

[MattPLaw]

Hello All!
About a month and a half ago I purchased an already set up and cycled tank. It is a 45gal red sea e170.
The tank had been set up for about two years, but was not in great balance when I got it. I kept the sand and the live rock and about 30% of the original water. I kept all this as to not shock the one coral and two fish that came with it.
For the first month everything was fairly stable, but I was battering insane phosphate and nitrate. No nitrite or ammonia that I could measure. For the first month or so my nitrates were around 40, and my phosphate around .8ppm.
Over the last week and a half I have finally been able to get both under control. For the last 3 or 4 days I have nitrate at about 10, and phosphate at about .08.

My question is, if it keeps stable now how long will it take for my corals to start taking off and especially, how long will it take for this algae to go away. It is brown, and everywhere. The algae on the sand comes back in just a couple days after cleaning. And the hair on the rock keeps growing despite repeated manual removal.
Should I be okay now that my parameters are lower,m and if so how long should I expect it to take?

I have attached a few pictures of the algae.
Thank you!

 

[lapin]

I would add a bunch of snails that live in and on the sand. They will help keep it stirred up.
Over time you should see a reduction in algae growth if you are lowering nutrients.

 

[MattPLaw]

I do have 4 or 5 Nassarius snails to turn the sand over. 1 tiger conch, 1 turbo snail, about a half dozen blue leg hermit crabs, I emerald crab. 2 cleaner shrimp, and about a dozen Nerite snails.
So sounds like I should be patient and it will clear up in a week or two?
Thanks!

 

[Pod_01]

Question, how did you get from;

my nitrates were around 40, and my phosphate around .8ppm.

To:

For the last 3 or 4 days I have nitrate at about 10, and phosphate at about .08.

From description it sounds like it was done in a month or so.
I am curious how you did that?

Going that quick with NO3 and PO4 (especially PO4) can lead to very unpleasant results.
In general if tank is in bad shape it got there over long time, so to go from bad to good one should take it slow as well. With reefing slow wins the race.

Since you mentioned brown algae, two types come to mind, diatoms and dinoflagellates. Maybe Cyanobacteria, due to the quick change in nutrients. Look them up and see if that is what you have.

Good luck,

 

[MattPLaw]

It's been a lot of research and I have been trying to do it slowly, but it's hard.

I started with better mechanical filtration and mechanically removing waste and algae from the rocks.
Then I added a refugium with chaeto. I have tons of pods now, every morning they are all over my glass.
Then I added phosguard to my media tower.
And I have been dosing half the recommended dose of nopox over the last two weeks. Now I am weaning off the nopox. Here is a table of my levels every couple days over the last month.

 

[Pod_01]

Just a suggestion, I would remove the phosguard since your phosphate is low. I have PO4 running at 0.1-0.2. Corals are ok.

Levels below 0.05 are really for established reefers. Also keeping phosphate low will starve corals long before it starves algae.

Reduce you NOPOx but do dose maybe 0.2/0.5ml a day. This should feed your bacteria and in turn corals will feed on the bacteria. Not for nutrition control.

I don’t run fuge but if it works for you keep it running. Eventually you want the corals to become the main filter so as your coral mass increases you might need to cut back on the fuge. Also building coral mass should discourage algae.

Good luck,

 

[MattPLaw]

Just a suggestion, I would remove the phosguard since your phosphate is low. I have PO4 running at 0.1-0.2. Corals are ok.

Levels below 0.05 are really for established reefers. Also keeping phosphate low will starve corals long before it starves algae.

Reduce you NOPOx but do dose maybe 0.2/0.5ml a day. This should feed your bacteria and in turn corals will feed on the bacteria. Not for nutrition control.

I don’t run fuge but if it works for you keep it running. Eventually you want the corals to become the main filter so as your coral mass increases you might need to cut back on the fuge. Also building coral mass should discourage algae.

Good luck,

Thank you for the advice! Removing the phosguard will also give me less variables.