Brown, green hair, lettuce & now bubble algae OH MY!

old_lady_4am

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Hi guys! I need advice on what my next step should be in combating my various algae or should I continue the path I’m on.

Background-3 month old, sumpless 75 gallon, 3 powerheads, Tunze skimmer sits in the tank, cycled with live lfs rock, live Caribsea sand and Dr. Tim’s. I perform 40% weekly water changes using IO reef crystal. After the tank cycled I added my fish, 2 Kessil a500x and a few soft and plating corals (soft doing good, 1 of the 2 plating not). Phosphates were high (.90), brought down to around .15 using a gfo reactor, then lowered to around .04 with PhosphateE. Nitrates were high, brought down using Nopox to a steady 3.7 or so. I haven’t had to dose nopox or run the carbon reactor in about a week. I tried the Santa Monica hog3xx (didn’t grow anything), sea hares (they weren’t interested so brought them back), tuxedo urchins (they only wanted my coralline algae so brought them back too) and a lawnmower blenny (still in the tank, but he’s going back if I can catch him because he’s only interested in the little bit on the back glass).

Readings this morning were (used Hanna):
Phosphates - 0.11 (haven’t dosed in 3 days due to my Amazon order running behind schedule)
Nitrates - 3.4
Alk - 10.7
Cal - 486

Hair algae is still growing. I’ve been blowing and picking it off my corals and now I’ve been seeing bubble algae here and there, which I’ve been dislodging with tweezers and then removing, but some have popped in the tank.

Soooooo…. My questions are: will the gha eventually stop growing and how do I get rid of the bubble algae?? Thank you in advance for any help you can provide!

EBC9E15A-EC12-4D50-9B7C-40EE7D2889E9.jpeg C1C8B3AB-B2D7-48ED-A430-770C3229CA2F.jpeg
 
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Dan_P

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Hi guys! I need advice on what my next step should be in combating my various algae or should I continue down the path I’m on.

Background-3 month old, sumpless 75 gallon, 3 powerheads, Tunze skimmer sits in the tank, cycled with live lfs rock, Caribsea sand and Dr. Tim’s. I perform 40% weekly water changes using IO reef crystal. After the tank cycled I added my fish, 2 Kessil a500x and a few soft corals. Phosphates were high (.90), brought down to around .15 using a gfo reactor, then lowered to around .04 with PhosphateE. Nitrates were high, brought down using Nopox to a steady 3.7 or so. I haven’t had to dose nopox or run the carbon reactor in about a week. I tried the Santa Monica hog3xx (didn’t grow anything), sea hares (they weren’t interested so brought them back), tuxedo urchins (they only wanted my coralline algae so brought them back too) and a lawnmower blenny (still in the tank, but he’s going back if I can catch him because he’s only interested in the little bit on the back glass).

Readings this morning were (used Hanna):
Phosphates - 0.11 (haven’t dosed in 3 days due to my Amazon order running behind schedule)
Nitrates - 3.4
Alk - 10.7
Cal - 486

Hair algae is still growing. I’ve been blowing and picking it off my corals and now I’ve been seeing bubble algae here and there which I’ve been dislodging with tweezers and removing.

Soooooo…. My questions are: will the gha stop growing eventually and how do I get rid of the bubble algae?? Thank you in advance for any help you can provide!

EBC9E15A-EC12-4D50-9B7C-40EE7D2889E9.jpeg
Sounds like a normal start of a new saltwater aquarium. New ones can be a time consuming hobby. To me, what you are doing is fine. And yes, the algae does subside, but be on the alert for recurrences. I have a feeling you’ve done your homework :)
 

Form or function: Do you consider your rock work to be art or the platform for your coral?

  • Primarily art focused.

    Votes: 20 7.8%
  • Primarily a platform for coral.

    Votes: 44 17.3%
  • A bit of each - both art and a platform.

    Votes: 173 67.8%
  • Neither.

    Votes: 12 4.7%
  • Other.

    Votes: 6 2.4%
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