Help with Green hair algae

[DukeLeto]

Hi Everyone. I have a 50 gallon tank at my office that house housed saltwater fish and Fuji rock for 3 years now. It has a 2 Kessil A 360 Wide LED's 1 foot above the waterline. I recently added a spectral controller and the programming is 6:00 0 Color 10% intensity; 9:00 30 40%; 11:00 60 70%; 12:00 80 100%; 17:00 50 50%; and 18:00 off.

Tank also has an Aqua Clear 70 with Marine pure balls (on left side) and charcoal and an oversized Reef Octopus HOB protein skimmer on right side.

Finally there is a Ecotech mp10w programmed in nutrient export mode on the left side of the tank about 2/3 up from the bottom (just over the rock lines). Also about a 1 inch sandbed.

I am setting up a reef tank at home and wanted to maybe be able to use the office to transplant items that grow to quickly at home so I seeded the with Corraline algae three weeks ago after doing three 30% water changes.

Current tank parameters: dKH 8.0 Salinity 1.025 Calcium 400 Magnesium 1280 Nitrate 20 and for the first time today I had a test kit to measure Phosphate and it was at .99 ppm.

We have a 6 stage RODI unit which we use to treat the water that goes into the tank. I have been using red sea purple bucket salt.

The tanks has 1 regal (blue) tang; 1 orange clownfish; 2 yellow-tailed damsels; a dwarf angelfish of some variety; 3 peppermint shrimp, 4 snails and 3 hermit crabs. All tank inhabitants except the angelfish (1 month) are over a year old.

Fish are feed 1/2 frozen cube 4 days a week and a full cube on Friday.

Right side of tank has coralline algae beginning to grow intermixed with thin patches of green algae. The left side of the tank, just under the Aquaclear filter and Ecotech the green hair algae is growing thick and has nearly covered the rock looking like a carpet.

Nitrate levels have always been around 20 in this tank regardless of water changes. I understand the Phosphate level is very high.

It will be several months before I need to transplant any corals (softies, zoa's) into this tank.

How should I go about dealing with the phosphates in this tank?

I plan to do a 20% water change Friday and will try to get some of the algae off the rocks then.

Should I cut back on the light programming hours or intensity? Will that effect the coralline growth?

Should I try some carbon dosing to get the levels to a safer level?

I would think 3 cubes of food a week would not be to much but am I overfeeding?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks, DukeLeto
PS forgive the long description but I wanted to include everything that I thought might be pertinent.)

 

[Rollman]

Water change would be my initial reaction before taking a chemical approach. Any pics of the algae? Can you remove the rock and scrub? If not I’ve used phosphate rx with success as a bandaid

 

[DukeLeto]

High Rollman, thanks for dropping by. My son will be moving this week taking a job near you (Arlington). I am attaching a picture from just putting my cell phone against the glass...its not a high quality image but here it is on the highest point of the rock.

 

[Bret Brinkmann]

Looks like a type of gha that snails would eat and I would think your tang. Have you seen it eating any?

0.99 ppm phosphates isn't crazy high, but a 50% water change will only drop it to .5 roughly. You could watch what happens to the food and any that goes uneaten will contribute to nutrients as well as other trace elements. (Food is more than just nitrates and phosphates.) I personally go for the chemical route with GFO or Phosban. I've had really good luck with this method. I alternate between the two because GFO can add a little iron which Phosban can remove and Phosban can add a little aluminum which GFO can remove. Or so I've been told. Still verifying this on my tank. But I can confirm Phosban leeches Al from my Triton testing.

I wouldn't recommend light adjustments. Just remember it's only algae not the plague. You can overcome this if you don't overcompensate. Your coraline is happily growing, so keep the lights as is.

Carbon dosing is an alternative to water changes and reactor media. Don't do all 3 just pick one. Which ever you decide make sure you research and measure progress so you don't over shoot. BRS has some good videos on these topics.

 

[4ddiction]

Look into carbon dosing. Your levels are probably higher than what you tests because the algae is using up most of it. Try to get phos to .03 and nitrates to 2-5

 

[mta_morrow]

Can I ask what test kits are you using for nitrates and phosphates?

Are they within the expiration dates?

What type of nutrient export are you using now?

3 years of fish only may very well mean your rock are phosphate sponges and may leach out phosphates for a very long time.

We can figure this out!

 

[Bdog4u2]

Your rock will absorb and leach phosphate so it will take a little time to get numbers down really low but I'd pull the rocks and scrub them and swish them around in salt water to get all the detritus that's inside your rocks and after 3 years it can be a good amount. When I do water changes I take a strong pump to my rocks to blow out all the crud that settles.

 

[Midrats]

Two A360WEs at 100% intensity is a heck of a lot of light for a 50G. There have been reports of running Kessils over 50% color encourages algae growth, I haven't experienced that though. Have you been running the lights that white and bright from the get go, or only since the commissioning of the spectral controller?

 

[DukeLeto]

Nitrate kit is Read Sea (along with calcium, magnesium)
Phospahte and Alkalanity are Hanna
They are all withing dates.

Only filtration is oversized Reef Octopus skimmer and an Aquaclear 70 with marine cure balls and a charcoal pad.

 

[DukeLeto]

Two A360WEs at 100% intensity is a heck of a lot of light for a 50G. There have been reports of running Kessils over 50% color encourages algae growth, I haven't experienced that though. Have you been running the lights that white and bright from the get go, or only since the commissioning of the spectral controller?

Prior to the controller I ran the lights just M-F from 9 to 5 and off on weekends. I varied the color on different days but intensity was pretty low.
I programmed the lights just based on a training by BRStv on how to use the controller.
I have scaled the lighting programming back this morning to max the intensity at 50%.
I will be doing a good clean up and 50% water change tommorow...mixing the salt now.

 

[DukeLeto]

The plan is to change out 20 gallons of water in the morning, getting as much of the algae as I can and check the phosphates levels in the afternoon. I have ordered some carbon that should arrive tomorrow and may swap the charcoal pack out of the aquaclear for a pouchfull of carbon and test again on Monday.

The recent water changes have done little for the Nitrate levels, so the rock may indeed be a storage facility for nitrate and phosphate.

 

[mta_morrow]

Nitrate kit is Read Sea (along with calcium, magnesium)
Phospahte and Alkalanity are Hanna
They are all withing dates.

Only filtration is oversized Reef Octopus skimmer and an Aquaclear 70 with marine cure balls and a charcoal pad.

The plan is to change out 20 gallons of water in the morning, getting as much of the algae as I can and check the phosphates levels in the afternoon. I have ordered some carbon that should arrive tomorrow and may swap the charcoal pack out of the aquaclear for a pouchfull of carbon and test again on Monday.

The recent water changes have done little for the Nitrate levels, so the rock may indeed be a storage facility for nitrate and phosphate.

Ok, read your responses. Carbon will do nothing for these issues.

I would do water changes for nitrate reduction for a while. For phosphates of this magnitude, I would recommend using rowaphos.

Rowaphos will suck out phosphates faster than me with a straw and a milkshake.

So if you have corals or nems, be sure to use it per the instructions.

The concern may be how much is absorbed into your rocks, and how many rocks do you have. It may take some time if indeed that’s the issue.

 

[DukeLeto]

Ok, read your responses. Carbon will do nothing for these issues.

I would do water changes for nitrate reduction for a while. For phosphates of this magnitude, I would recommend using rowaphos.

Rowaphos will suck out phosphates faster than me with a straw and a milkshake.

So if you have corals or nems, be sure to use it per the instructions.

The concern may be how much is absorbed into your rocks, and how many rocks do you have. It may take some time if indeed that’s the issue.

Thanks mta_morrow. You are not too far from me! I live in Bamberg.

There is a good amount of rock in the aquarium, I dont't remember the poundage but its about 1/3 of the tank volume.

There are no corals. not sure what the abbreviation nems is, but nothing in the tank but the fish, a few snails and hermits, and 3 peppermint shrimp.

I am just trying to get it closer to reef specs so anything that overflows at home can be transplanted here. Just ordered the Rowaphos....they don't give that stuff away do they

 

[mta_morrow]

Thanks mta_morrow. You are not too far from me! I live in Bamberg.

There is a good amount of rock in the aquarium, I dont't remember the poundage but its about 1/3 of the tank volume.

There are no corals. not sure what the abbreviation nems is, but nothing in the tank but the fish, a few snails and hermits, and 3 peppermint shrimp.

I am just trying to get it closer to reef specs so anything that overflows at home can be transplanted here. Just ordered the Rowaphos....they don't give that stuff away do they

Nems is for anemones

GFO gets used up very quickly and will actually cost more than rowaphos.

I simply use the provided cloth bag and hang it in a filter sock.

 

[mta_morrow]

Here is an easy to use rowaphos calculator

RowaPhos calculator

 

[mta_morrow]

Had to look and see where Bamberg was. Relatively new down here. Not far away at all!

 

[DukeLeto]

mta_morrow thank you for the link. No, not to far away. Might catch you at a reef club or frag swap sometime.....that is if the my reef tank ever gets off of backorder!

 

[DukeLeto]

Hi everyone. I did a 20 gallon water change at 1:00. The green algae is well attached to the rocks, no easy putting the syphon over it and sucking it up! Four hours later I tested the water.

dKH 8.7 Phosphate .64 Nitrate testing between 4 and 8.
I've never had a nitrate reading that low, so I will retest everything Monday afternoon and see if these numbers hold or if it leeches back up.

 

[4ddiction]

Takes a while for phosphate to come down due to it leeching from the rock. You can try rowaphos to bring the phosphate down to .03

 

[DukeLeto]

Hi everyone, I tested the tank this morning, no feedings in the tank since last test on Friday. Alkalinty up to 8.8 from 8.7, Nitrates remain in the 4-8 range, and phosphates up from .64 to .80. I have not topped off the tank yet, but it is only about a gallon below the normal level, so yes some phosphates may have creeped from the rocks, but not a lot. The Rowaphos should arrive today or tommorow.

I do see a liitle more coralline algae today and maybe a bit more green hair as well. My protein skimmer has considerably more gunk in it this morning than usual.

For now I will keep the lights with the new programming and see what happens with the Rowaphos. I will do another water change on Friday, but will wait to see what the parameters look like (and Rowaphoe instructions) before deciding how large of a water change to perform.

Thanks for all the assistance!