cdw79
Well-Known Member
Long post to try and give enough details to help find the issue:
A few weeks ago I noticed little brown spots on the tips of my Digi. They grew a little and I got nervous, so I took it out, gently scrubbed it, and got ride of ~80% of the algae with a toothbrush. A week or so passes, polyps come back over some of the spots where algae was after a few days, yet a few days later I'm back at the same point- algae covered tips. All other corals, including another digi in a different part of the tank, look great (granted these are my only SPS at the moment), though today I noticed the slightest hint of algae on the other.
Tank- Reefer 300XL, been set up for about 6 months. Had a battle with Cyano early on but have been clear of it for many months now. I've had your standard algae on the glass, but also some slightly thicker brown is algae when I leave the glass unscraped for a few days.
Lights- two Hydra 32's, running 7 hrs a day at ~80% intensity with one hour build up and cool down
Fuge- Small standard fuge for the tank, roughly 16 inches cubed. Got a fuge light with red and purple spectrum which runs about 10 hours or so overnight. Chaeto has had very limited growth over 4-5 months- looks barely bigger than it was and never taken any out before. Another strain of chaeto I had in there months ago disintegrated. Ironically I have experienced GHA growing in the sump and even on the chaeto (I can't get it to tumble given the way the water flows from 6 o'clock to 9 o'clock, not straight on) but the chaeto doesn't seem to grow, so not sure what's up with that.
Dosing- via trident / apex
Fish stock- pair of clowns, Bangaii, Leopard Wrasse, yellow assessor, Lyretail Anthias, tiny shrimp goby + shrimp, tiny biota mandarin, bluespotted jawfish.
Parameters:
pH- 8.0 give or take .01
Calcium- 467
Alkalinity- 9.17
Magnesium- 1282 (for the life of me I can't seem to raise it- tried dosing like a maniac and my LFS confirmed it was still the same. Given up on it honestly)
Nitrate- ~10 ppm if my sense of color is right
Phosphate- .11 (Hanna checker)
The obvious concern is the nitrate and phosphate- I got an ICP about a month ago and did not have either issue, so the issue has come up semi recent seemingly. I get green algae across my scape (see pic, not sure why it looks rainbow-y, I assure you it's not!) and have noticed the same algae on the Digi on the rocks toward the top of the tank (also see pic). I have fed a little more than usual in the past week and a half or so to try to wean the jawfish and anthias onto pellets, but I'd doubt the marginal increase would cause this.
Maybe the chaeto needs to be replaced or something? I'd think this is where having the fuge should come into play. Should I get some GFO?
Any ideas on where the problem might be coming from / what to do in the short and long term?
TLDR: High nitrate and phosphate seem to be causing algae growth on my digi, what is causing it and what should I do to fix it?
A few weeks ago I noticed little brown spots on the tips of my Digi. They grew a little and I got nervous, so I took it out, gently scrubbed it, and got ride of ~80% of the algae with a toothbrush. A week or so passes, polyps come back over some of the spots where algae was after a few days, yet a few days later I'm back at the same point- algae covered tips. All other corals, including another digi in a different part of the tank, look great (granted these are my only SPS at the moment), though today I noticed the slightest hint of algae on the other.
Tank- Reefer 300XL, been set up for about 6 months. Had a battle with Cyano early on but have been clear of it for many months now. I've had your standard algae on the glass, but also some slightly thicker brown is algae when I leave the glass unscraped for a few days.
Lights- two Hydra 32's, running 7 hrs a day at ~80% intensity with one hour build up and cool down
Fuge- Small standard fuge for the tank, roughly 16 inches cubed. Got a fuge light with red and purple spectrum which runs about 10 hours or so overnight. Chaeto has had very limited growth over 4-5 months- looks barely bigger than it was and never taken any out before. Another strain of chaeto I had in there months ago disintegrated. Ironically I have experienced GHA growing in the sump and even on the chaeto (I can't get it to tumble given the way the water flows from 6 o'clock to 9 o'clock, not straight on) but the chaeto doesn't seem to grow, so not sure what's up with that.
Dosing- via trident / apex
Fish stock- pair of clowns, Bangaii, Leopard Wrasse, yellow assessor, Lyretail Anthias, tiny shrimp goby + shrimp, tiny biota mandarin, bluespotted jawfish.
Parameters:
pH- 8.0 give or take .01
Calcium- 467
Alkalinity- 9.17
Magnesium- 1282 (for the life of me I can't seem to raise it- tried dosing like a maniac and my LFS confirmed it was still the same. Given up on it honestly)
Nitrate- ~10 ppm if my sense of color is right
Phosphate- .11 (Hanna checker)
The obvious concern is the nitrate and phosphate- I got an ICP about a month ago and did not have either issue, so the issue has come up semi recent seemingly. I get green algae across my scape (see pic, not sure why it looks rainbow-y, I assure you it's not!) and have noticed the same algae on the Digi on the rocks toward the top of the tank (also see pic). I have fed a little more than usual in the past week and a half or so to try to wean the jawfish and anthias onto pellets, but I'd doubt the marginal increase would cause this.
Maybe the chaeto needs to be replaced or something? I'd think this is where having the fuge should come into play. Should I get some GFO?
Any ideas on where the problem might be coming from / what to do in the short and long term?
TLDR: High nitrate and phosphate seem to be causing algae growth on my digi, what is causing it and what should I do to fix it?
