Mr31415
New Member
I would like to ask some assistance in identifying potential reasons for the recent increase in various types of algae that started growing 2 months ago. To get the best possible answer, I realise I need to provide all the information needed to make an informed suggestion.
The Problem: My 14 month old mixed reef 91g aquarium started experiencing a big increase in algae growth 2 months ago. I cannot think of one change that would have caused this. So I am reaching out for opinions.
Setup: 91g RedSea. Using Red Sea salt (non-pro salt). 25% Bi-weekly water changes (every 2 weeks). Mixed softies, some LPS, two dying montipora. Three large pajama cardinals, yellow assessor, two percula clowns, tailspot blenny, starry blenny, purple firefish, large engineer goby, medium snowflake eel and comet. Three emerald crabs, two tuxedo urchins, many hermits, many snails (trochus/strawberry/nassarius/astrea). Two cleaner shrimp, one peppermint shrimp. One serpent star. That is my final stocking list, last addition was Dec last year.
Feeding is three mixed frozen cubes (emerald cuisine/mysis/krill/brine shrimp) daily, fed twice a day. Snowflake gets some silversides and krill when he is hungry, usually twice a week.
Equipment: Two XR15 and one XR30 ecotech LED set to 08:00-16:00 at 30% intensity. Deltec kalkstirrer with 600ml daily total dosed via versa dosing pump 6 times a day. Phosban 150 reactor with Rowaphos set to 16 hours on / 8 hours off. Deltec AR refugium fed from pump in sump. Photoperiod was recently reduced to 8 hours daily. Reefmat 500 for mechanical filtration with GFO underneath (not recently replaced). Daily dosing of RedSea Alk + Calcium via ReefDose. Flow: Two Red Sea ReefWave 45 and one 25. RedSea DC 5500 return pump. 3" aragonite sand bed and 70lb live rock. Temperature is stable 25.0C.
Water Parameters: Pretty stable except for a dip in my alkalinity and Calcium due to me pausing my kalkwasser dosing pump for 5 days. Lowest it got to was 8.2dKH. Current parms: 8.18pH, 33 PSU, 25.0C, 9.2dKH, 431ppm Ca, 1355ppm Mg, 0ppm NO3, 0.11ppm PO4. All tested with Hanna Marine Master photometry kit. pH was checked with calibrated Hanna digital meter, so too was conductivity. I verified the NO3 reading with a fresh Salifert kit. These parameters have been stable for many months.
Interestingly enough - I have not measured any nitrates - i.e. it is exactly 0 - for the past 4 months. Phosphate never exceeds 0.12ppm. I recently removed some chaeto from my refugium as I thought that and the Deltec AR reactor combined were removing too many nutrients. I have not seen NO3 rise since I did this two weeks ago.
Here are some photos. My analysis revealed three major kinds of algae that dominates: Cyanobacteria mainly on the rocks, lots of dinoflagellates on substrate and rocks, green hair algae on rocks.
Tank left for 1 week without cleaning glass:
Green hair algae on rocks:
10x
Dinoflagellates on glass, substrate and rocks
10x
60x
Cyanobacteria on rocks
10x
Sump
Tank after cleaning and water change
Any thoughts?
The Problem: My 14 month old mixed reef 91g aquarium started experiencing a big increase in algae growth 2 months ago. I cannot think of one change that would have caused this. So I am reaching out for opinions.
Setup: 91g RedSea. Using Red Sea salt (non-pro salt). 25% Bi-weekly water changes (every 2 weeks). Mixed softies, some LPS, two dying montipora. Three large pajama cardinals, yellow assessor, two percula clowns, tailspot blenny, starry blenny, purple firefish, large engineer goby, medium snowflake eel and comet. Three emerald crabs, two tuxedo urchins, many hermits, many snails (trochus/strawberry/nassarius/astrea). Two cleaner shrimp, one peppermint shrimp. One serpent star. That is my final stocking list, last addition was Dec last year.
Feeding is three mixed frozen cubes (emerald cuisine/mysis/krill/brine shrimp) daily, fed twice a day. Snowflake gets some silversides and krill when he is hungry, usually twice a week.
Equipment: Two XR15 and one XR30 ecotech LED set to 08:00-16:00 at 30% intensity. Deltec kalkstirrer with 600ml daily total dosed via versa dosing pump 6 times a day. Phosban 150 reactor with Rowaphos set to 16 hours on / 8 hours off. Deltec AR refugium fed from pump in sump. Photoperiod was recently reduced to 8 hours daily. Reefmat 500 for mechanical filtration with GFO underneath (not recently replaced). Daily dosing of RedSea Alk + Calcium via ReefDose. Flow: Two Red Sea ReefWave 45 and one 25. RedSea DC 5500 return pump. 3" aragonite sand bed and 70lb live rock. Temperature is stable 25.0C.
Water Parameters: Pretty stable except for a dip in my alkalinity and Calcium due to me pausing my kalkwasser dosing pump for 5 days. Lowest it got to was 8.2dKH. Current parms: 8.18pH, 33 PSU, 25.0C, 9.2dKH, 431ppm Ca, 1355ppm Mg, 0ppm NO3, 0.11ppm PO4. All tested with Hanna Marine Master photometry kit. pH was checked with calibrated Hanna digital meter, so too was conductivity. I verified the NO3 reading with a fresh Salifert kit. These parameters have been stable for many months.
Interestingly enough - I have not measured any nitrates - i.e. it is exactly 0 - for the past 4 months. Phosphate never exceeds 0.12ppm. I recently removed some chaeto from my refugium as I thought that and the Deltec AR reactor combined were removing too many nutrients. I have not seen NO3 rise since I did this two weeks ago.
Here are some photos. My analysis revealed three major kinds of algae that dominates: Cyanobacteria mainly on the rocks, lots of dinoflagellates on substrate and rocks, green hair algae on rocks.
Tank left for 1 week without cleaning glass:
Green hair algae on rocks:
10x
Dinoflagellates on glass, substrate and rocks
10x
60x
Cyanobacteria on rocks
10x
Sump
Tank after cleaning and water change
Any thoughts?
