Can someone help with this algae/parameter problem?

kenzielauren8 · Aug 25, 2021

Reef tank is 8 months old.
Parameters:
ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 1
Phosphate: 0 (undetectable)
Alk: 8.0
salinity: 1.026
Temp: 79
So I have this fine hairy algae all over the sand bed. I’ve added another power head which you can’t see in the photo to add more flow. I do 10% water changes weekly to siphon the sand bed. 3 fish 2 shrimp and 6 CUC. My corals are not doing good either. The hammer and Duncan stay closed. The ricordia has shrunk. The finger leather opens up every now and then. But the zoas, toadstool, and GSP open daily. I’m at a loss I don’t know what else to do to get my corals back happy. I have looked in at night and see no pests or anyone bothering the corals. I have an AI prime running on this 13 gallon tank. (The white is on to show algae)
Any ideas wht kind of algae this might be? It’s not on the rocks. Only the sand bed. And I had my diatom bloom 3 months ago.

dwair · Aug 25, 2021

kenzielauren8 said:
Reef tank is 8 months old.
Parameters:
ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 1
Phosphate: 0 (undetectable)
Alk: 8.0
salinity: 1.026
Temp: 79
So I have this fine hairy algae all over the sand bed. I’ve added another power head which you can’t see in the photo to add more flow. I do 10% water changes weekly to siphon the sand bed. 3 fish 2 shrimp and 6 CUC. My corals are not doing good either. The hammer and Duncan stay closed. The ricordia has shrunk. The finger leather opens up every now and then. But the zoas, toadstool, and GSP open daily. I’m at a loss I don’t know what else to do to get my corals back happy. I have looked in at night and see no pests or anyone bothering the corals. I have an AI prime running on this 13 gallon tank. (The white is on to show algae)
Any ideas wht kind of algae this might be? It’s not on the rocks. Only the sand bed. And I had my diatom bloom 3 months ago.

Does it have bubbles? Could be Dino's especially with your parameters. Long stringy brown with bubbles or no bubbles could be dinos.

Your nitrates and phosphates are extremely low which is prime territory for Dino's.

kenzielauren8 · Aug 25, 2021

dwair said:
Does it have bubbles? Could be Dino's especially with your parameters. Long stringy brown with bubbles or no bubbles could be dinos.

Your nitrates and phosphates are extremely low which is prime territory for Dino's.

Nope no bubbles it’s very hair and when I turkey baste the sand it comes up in like clumps

dwair · Aug 25, 2021

kenzielauren8 said:
Nope no bubbles it’s very hair and when I turkey baste the sand it comes up in like clumps

Could also just be GHA. Which would also explain low nutrients, cause the GHA is eating them all up. Either way the fix is the same. Siphon them out during a water change and up your nutrients. Either by Dosing or feeding more. Its a balancing act.

kenzielauren8 · Aug 25, 2021

dwair said:
Could also just be GHA. Which would also explain low nutrients, cause the GHA is eating them all up. Either way the fix is the same. Siphon them out during a water change and up your nutrients. Either by Dosing or feeding more. Its a balancing act.

I will def try that. I have neonitro I can start dosing. Would you dose phos too?

Jonas Bergkvist · Aug 25, 2021

You should keep the Phosphate at around 0.05 ish. At least detectable.

I’ve been dosing Neophos daily for two weeks because i had zero Phosphates. I started at 4 ml and now i’m up at 8. Still zero on Hanna checker.

dont be surprised if you need to add daily for a long period. The rocks could be what absorbes it, and not so much living organisms. Because your tank is new. There is a big thread here that covers all you want to know about that

am on the phone but i can give you the link tomorrow if your interested?

My tank is also 8 months old. Tiny amount of brown diatome on the back glass. It cant be that diatome consuming 8ml a day.

But do start slow with Phosphates, and keep adding it but only just detectable.
Ps. I also got a little dino (maybe dino) in sump and cyano in DT. Not so sure if Cyano was there because of no Phosphates honestly. But its gone now after dosing Phosphates!

Edit: what tests are you using for phosphates? There is a risk you have phosphates but your test wont detect it unless you have UL or LR checker. Ul is the better one….

Lavey29 · Sep 17, 2021

I had similar issues on 6 month old tank. Once I dosed nitrate and phosphate to get numbers off 0 tank improved a lot. Still not perfect but my glass stays clean all week now and sand is 80% clean now.