Snot Otter
Community Member
Hi! I'm relatively new to the hobby and this website. I made a similar post in the Nano forum, so I apologize for double dipping. If it's against the rules, I will delete this one.
A few weeks ago, I started noticing brown algae spreading across the surface of the sand. The algae has since worsened but tends to disappear at night before returning during the day with the lights on. The algae is spreading to the glass, rocks, and random flow generator. My obvious concern is dinos, but hopefully what I'm seeing is diatoms (or even cyano). My tank (a Fluval Evo 13.5) is about four months old, and green algae is just now appearing. Inhabitants include two clown fish, one emerald crab, one blood-red fire shrimp, and one nassarius snail. They eat like pigs and look healthy. Oddly, about a month before the algae outbreak, I lost two trochus snails and one other nassarius, but my tank was clean, probably too clean, so I think they may have starved to death. My parameters, listed below, are pretty good, though the ratio of nitrate to phosphate could be better. I tried a three-day blackout and did not feed during that time, but the brown algae returned after a few days. I've increased flow to eliminate dead spots, which seems to be helping, and started dosing phytoplankton after introducing copepods. Also, I stir the sand regularly and dust the rocks with a baster almost daily. I run mostly blue lights (AI Prime HD 16) for about nine hours a day, ramping up in the morning and down in the evening. I feed TDO pellets 2-3 times a week, with the occasional algae disc thrown in, and do a 30% water change each Sunday. My next goal is to increase CUC numbers and add frags, preferably zoas or GSP. I would appreciate any help, guidance, or insight you can offer.
In-tank Chamber One:
Sponge (changed twice a week)
Poly-Filter (changed every 3-4 weeks), and Chemi-pure Blue and Phosguard as needed
Biomedia (washed in dirty water once a month but not all at once)
In-tank Chamber Two:
Biomedia
Chamber Three:
Syncra Silent 0.5
Heater
Temperature probe
Parameters:
Temperature - 79 degrees
Salinity - 1.024
pH - 8.0
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 1.4 ppm
Phosphate - 0.04 ppm
RODI TDS - 0
Thanks!
A few weeks ago, I started noticing brown algae spreading across the surface of the sand. The algae has since worsened but tends to disappear at night before returning during the day with the lights on. The algae is spreading to the glass, rocks, and random flow generator. My obvious concern is dinos, but hopefully what I'm seeing is diatoms (or even cyano). My tank (a Fluval Evo 13.5) is about four months old, and green algae is just now appearing. Inhabitants include two clown fish, one emerald crab, one blood-red fire shrimp, and one nassarius snail. They eat like pigs and look healthy. Oddly, about a month before the algae outbreak, I lost two trochus snails and one other nassarius, but my tank was clean, probably too clean, so I think they may have starved to death. My parameters, listed below, are pretty good, though the ratio of nitrate to phosphate could be better. I tried a three-day blackout and did not feed during that time, but the brown algae returned after a few days. I've increased flow to eliminate dead spots, which seems to be helping, and started dosing phytoplankton after introducing copepods. Also, I stir the sand regularly and dust the rocks with a baster almost daily. I run mostly blue lights (AI Prime HD 16) for about nine hours a day, ramping up in the morning and down in the evening. I feed TDO pellets 2-3 times a week, with the occasional algae disc thrown in, and do a 30% water change each Sunday. My next goal is to increase CUC numbers and add frags, preferably zoas or GSP. I would appreciate any help, guidance, or insight you can offer.
In-tank Chamber One:
Sponge (changed twice a week)
Poly-Filter (changed every 3-4 weeks), and Chemi-pure Blue and Phosguard as needed
Biomedia (washed in dirty water once a month but not all at once)
In-tank Chamber Two:
Biomedia
Chamber Three:
Syncra Silent 0.5
Heater
Temperature probe
Parameters:
Temperature - 79 degrees
Salinity - 1.024
pH - 8.0
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 1.4 ppm
Phosphate - 0.04 ppm
RODI TDS - 0
Thanks!
