Hair algae help - lots of information and photos inside

[Yeh]

Hey everybody!

I posted on Reddit last night and was told I should post here for some more input. In need of some advice on how to tackle this green hair algae problem. I can’t seem to get rid of it and from what I can tell my parameters are pretty good (I know phosphate is a tad high but water change day is coming up). I’ve tried using a tooth brush, turkey baster, black out period. I just can’t seem to get rid of them. I also think I have red cyno starting on my sand. Any advice would be so helpful and appreciated! I’ll try to give you as much information as needed here but feel free to ask questions.

Tank Bullet points;

• Evo 13.5g tank
• Roughly 4 months old
• Started with dry rock and live sand
• Wave maker
• Sicce 1.0 return pump with a RFG
• AI prime light - modified Saxby settings (still on acclimation mode plus setting tweaks - included in link down below)
• Kraken lid
• Duoetto ATO
• InTank 1 and 2 chambers. Filled with filter floss, gems, chemipure blue, left over dry rock from initial setup
• Alternate between a 1/4 cube of frozen mysis shrimp and bloodworm flakes every 3 day

Livestock;

• 2 Chocolate Clowns
• numerous zoas
• 2 ricordea mushroom
• various CUC - snails and crabs
• 1 Duncan
• 3 GSP frags

Parameters as of 30 minutes ago;
Phosphate - 2ppm
Nitrate - 75ppm
Calcium - 445ppm
Magnesium - 1440ppm
pH - 8.2
Alk - 11.65 dKH
Salinity - 1.025
Temp - 78.3

Here is a set of pictures AND a screen recording of my lighting schedule. I recently removed some algae from the sand and turkey basted the rocks, so the corals are ***** and glass is dirty. First pic is from last night without messing with stuff;

If you have read it this far I appreciate it and will ask another question, are the frags optimally placed? I’ve had great growth with a few but some are meh.

Thank you all so much in advance! All questions and advice is welcome!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Not as bad as imagined
This is manageable and simply pull as much as you can by hand. Any on glass scrape off with a plastic putty knife and then reduce white light intensity or number of hours the white is on.
add snails such as: astrea, ninja star, turbo, nerite, cerith and nassarius
Also a pin cushion urchin will do wonders
-Is tank at or near a window?
-Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet?
- check to see if your phosphate is elevated

 

[sixty_reefer]

Your phosphates reading is wrong, could you tell me how you doing it.

 

[Yeh]

Not as bad as imagined
This is manageable and simply pull as much as you can by hand. Any on glass scrape off with a plastic putty knife and then reduce white light intensity or number of hours the white is on.
add snails such as: astrea, ninja star, turbo, nerite, cerith and nassarius
Also a pin cushion urchin will do wonders
-Is tank at or near a window?
-Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet?
- check to see if your phosphate is elevated

I did modify the CW in the Saxby settings, I could try to go lower and reduce some of the on time. I believe the highest I have it is at 24% but is usually in the low teens. My schedule is linked in my post.

I already have a few astrea and nassarius snails and a few blue legged hermits. Thinking about adding a turbo to help out the with sand.

Tank is across the room from a window in my man cave, window is covered with blackout vinyl and black out curtains so I do not think that will be a cause.

RODI in the ATO and I use RODI water when I mix my salt every week. I use IO reef crystals.

Your phosphates reading is wrong, could you tell me how you doing it.

I use the Salifert kit and follow their instructions, not sure how I could be doing it wrong. If you have any suggestions I can run it again tonight and report back!

 

[homer1475]

I see hardly any algae in that pic?

The 75 nitrates, and 2 phosphates is whats growing it.

With 13G, I would dump the entire tank, put corals, and fish in a tub, scrub rocks with stiff bristle brush in old SW, and change 100% of the water to drop those nutrients.

 

[Yeh]

I see hardly any algae in that pic?

The 75 nitrates, and 2 phosphates is whats growing it.

With 13G, I would dump the entire tank, put corals, and fish in a tub, scrub rocks with stiff bristle brush in old SW, and change 100% of the water to drop those nutrients.

The algae is mainly on the front middle rock island with the GSP and on the right lower side by the mushroom. It is off the main rock work.

 

[homer1475]

Simple GHA, just yank it out by hand, do a massive WC to get those nutrients down.

The general consensus on nutrient levels:

Nitrates in the 5 to 10ppm range(your way above this obviously)
0.03 to 0.1 phosphates. Again at 2ppm, your way above this.

Of course some deviation in those numbers is fine, but not to the extreme your at.

 

[homer1475]

Just keep in mind.....

If you can't grow algae, you can't grow corals. Every healthy thriving reef tank has some algae in it somwhere.

 

[Yeh]

Thanks for the help everyone. I obviously did not want to start dumping chemicals and stuff into this and find the root cause. I think I will mix up some extra salt water today or tomorrow and do a 25% water change this Friday instead of my usual 10%. Then check again in a few days and see where everything is at.