GFO, Phosguard, and Brown Diatom on sandbed

[40B Knasty]

Seems like that's the claim. lol

Let us know what you actually experience.

I know! How dare I use something that no one else knows about or the great Randy Holmes-Farley hasn't done a write up about or suggested.
I read your page about understanding algae.
Bottom line. Only thing I needed to understand from what I got out of it is pick your magic potion/reactor and get it under control, because phosphates are always going to be there.
So here is my plan. Since I am not a person for instant gratification looking for the magical cure. Just going to half dose for awhile so I can figure out how long it takes to malnourish the algae as to where I can syphon it easily off the rocks and remove it so it is not becoming more phosphates. If it takes months. So be it. I just need a low phosphate starting point with no gha pulling phosphates quicker than I can test for them. I can't achieve a balance until I know exactly what I am balancing it with.
Picked up an ELOS pro phosphate kit. The only test kit that is NIST.
I am going to do a water change to water change video most likely on YouTube for people to learn from.

 

[GoVols]

I am going to do a water change to water change video most likely on YouTube for people to learn from.

tagging.

 

[Reefltx]

This one is common, but also difficult to determine the 'why' for each case. For my particular reef aquarium, I had this issue for around 8-9 months even though I keep a clean tank so it was a bit of a mystery. I manipulated a number of parameters over time, but the issue just wouldn't go away. However, when I gradually reduced the red wavelengths (reduced 'white' and 'red' channels) in my LED array I started to see improvement. Within a few short weeks the sand bed cleared up completely and has stayed that way ever since. Something to consider...

I'm having the problem as well didn't think about my lights which I recently adjusted a few weeks ago. I increased the reds to get more pop out of my fishs.

 

[GoVols]

I'm having the problem as well didn't think about my lights which I recently adjusted a few weeks ago. I increased the reds to get more pop out of my fishs.

Are you going to tune your reds back?

 

[Reefltx]

Are you going to tune your reds back?

Just did. I'm running ATI hybrid. Normally, red is set to 5%, about a month ago I turned it up to 30% because they make my fishs pop. During this time I also noticed brown algae on my sand bed, didn't put the two together. I figured it could be the increase in nutrients? My tank is 5yrs old and normally the sand bed is clean and I don't have any algae on the rock.

I'll update if the decrease in reds led helped.

 

[GoVols]

I'll update if the decrease in reds led helped.

Thank You!

 

[SpikeWire]

I know it hasn't been long, and it could be a number of things,. It I decreased my reds from 10% to 7% and I haven't seen any brown on my sand in about a week. Take it for what's its worth I guess but I haven't made any other changes.

 

[BlueCursor]

I don't know if my experience will be of any help to you, but it's something to consider to see if you have a similar situation. I have no acceptable solution, though.

I have always had diatoms in my tank. A 4+ year old tank and still diatoms are an issue. My diamondback gobi keeps my substrate nice and clean by constantly turning it over. My float mag takes care of my glass. I have to use it 3 times a week and it is always diatoms I clean off, not green algae. My rocks are usually pretty clean, but if I add a new rock, even a baseball sized one, I get a big outbreak of diatoms on it and some on other rocks. I added some new rock work 9 months ago and am still suffering with lots of diatoms, even on the old rocks. The new rocks are very brown. It does brush off with a toothbrush, but I can't clean the rocks with a toothbrush 3 times a week so I just leave it.

I use GFO, helps reduce diatoms very very little, I have a refuge with macro algae. No substrate in the refuge.

I think my issue was a 2 year overdose of biopellets during the first 2 years of the tank. Once I stopped them, my diatoms eventually "almost" disappeared. My glass even started growing green algae instead of diatoms. But my corals stopped growing (carbon limited, yes they need more carbon than just CO2), and my nitrate began to climb like mad. I switched to other forms of carbon dosing. Corals started growing again and nitrates are back down to decent levels, but diatoms are an issue again. I have tried dosing with alcohol, vinegar, glucose, and combinations of the three. Diatoms seem to not be finicky about their carbon source.

I use RO/RI water and have even tested Si. The test kit reported 0 Si.

I personally think my tank has hit a balance like this because of prolonged overdosing biopellets, and now I need to do something drastic to shift the native inhabitants away from diatoms to green stuff permanently. Just not sure what that may be because being carbon limited is not the answer because I love to see my coral grow.

I have also done bacterial dosing to try to get strains established that will outcompete the diatoms. No success there.

Now I have to admit the red light issue could be something to consider. I run my red lights at the same strength as my whites and have done so since day one. I run my whites close to what I run my blues at, and again this has been consistent since day one. My lighting is AI Hydra 52 HDs. According to the AI app, my peak lighting is at 12,000K. My peak lighting period is 3 hours. Outside of that blue:white ratio is higher, though. Red:White ratio is always 1:1. I will back off my reds to 50% of my whites. I am not going to change my whites at this time. I will see how this works.

 

[SpikeWire]

I don't know if my experience will be of any help to you, but it's something to consider to see if you have a similar situation. I have no acceptable solution, though.

I have always had diatoms in my tank. A 4+ year old tank and still diatoms are an issue. My diamondback gobi keeps my substrate nice and clean by constantly turning it over. My float mag takes care of my glass. I have to use it 3 times a week and it is always diatoms I clean off, not green algae. My rocks are usually pretty clean, but if I add a new rock, even a baseball sized one, I get a big outbreak of diatoms on it and some on other rocks. I added some new rock work 9 months ago and am still suffering with lots of diatoms, even on the old rocks. The new rocks are very brown. It does brush off with a toothbrush, but I can't clean the rocks with a toothbrush 3 times a week so I just leave it.

I use GFO, helps reduce diatoms very very little, I have a refuge with macro algae. No substrate in the refuge.

I think my issue was a 2 year overdose of biopellets during the first 2 years of the tank. Once I stopped them, my diatoms eventually "almost" disappeared. My glass even started growing green algae instead of diatoms. But my corals stopped growing (carbon limited, yes they need more carbon than just CO2), and my nitrate began to climb like mad. I switched to other forms of carbon dosing. Corals started growing again and nitrates are back down to decent levels, but diatoms are an issue again. I have tried dosing with alcohol, vinegar, glucose, and combinations of the three. Diatoms seem to not be finicky about their carbon source.

I use RO/RI water and have even tested Si. The test kit reported 0 Si.

I personally think my tank has hit a balance like this because of prolonged overdosing biopellets, and now I need to do something drastic to shift the native inhabitants away from diatoms to green stuff permanently. Just not sure what that may be because being carbon limited is not the answer because I love to see my coral grow.

I have also done bacterial dosing to try to get strains established that will outcompete the diatoms. No success there.

Now I have to admit the red light issue could be something to consider. I run my red lights at the same strength as my whites and have done so since day one. I run my whites close to what I run my blues at, and again this has been consistent since day one. My lighting is AI Hydra 52 HDs. According to the AI app, my peak lighting is at 12,000K. My peak lighting period is 3 hours. Outside of that blue:white ratio is higher, though. Red:White ratio is always 1:1. I will back off my reds to 50% of my whites. I am not going to change my whites at this time. I will see how this works.

It's always good to hear what folks are doing. I would try the red first as you planned. That being said my whites are barely half of where my blues are and my reds are barely half of where the whites are. I may be wrong (please correct me if I am) but I feel whites are more for show and aren't very beneficial. If anything I think the fuel more algae growth. Again not a scientist just from my experience a and research.

 

[BlueCursor]

It's always good to hear what folks are doing. I would try the red first as you planned. That being said my whites are barely half of where my blues are and my reds are barely half of where the whites are. I may be wrong (please correct me if I am) but I feel whites are more for show and aren't very beneficial. If anything I think the fuel more algae growth. Again not a scientist just from my experience a and research.

Besides Chlorophyll a and c, corals have a variety of minor chlorophylls that use other light frequencies. Some people insist coral grows best under 6500K light. I find it all confusing too since there seems to be a lot of debate and not too much agreement on what is best. I guess we all do agree we hate diatoms and algae.

 

[GoVols]

My diamondback gobi keeps my substrate nice and clean by constantly turning it over.

+1

 

[40B Knasty]

Here is some solid advice. For diatoms. Get a fighting conch. Mine destroyed the new tank syndrome in 2 weeks and now he is begging for more it seems.
Red lights play a major role for any kind of algae.
The best color spectrum for chlorophyll A&B is between 400nM-450nM. The ATI TRUE ACTINIC is 430nM. So it could be arguably the best bulb on the market for the health and growth for corals. I run ATI B+, C+, B+, TA. I started using Reefroids and got 2-3 polyps extra a month. Then added an extra B+ and TA. That added another 2-3 polyps on top of 2-3 from Reefroids. Also found out the peak time for zooxanthellae feeding hours is. Zooxanthellae is the algae on the corals flesh that feeds your corals through photosynthesis. Peak hours are at 10pm and 5pm. Basically when ever you do a dawn and dusk effect. That is when you should rap up your lights. Not during the afternoon when they are not truly interested in feeding.
I know it is hard to change the face to the standards of the hobby. Give it a try. All this info is from BRS, ATI bulb comparison part 1 from Tidal Gardens, and me doing the math and research for the perfect combo. Also I will add that since the peak hour of 5pm is a good time to broadcast feed your phytoplankton of choice. That is when it wants to eat.