Identifying the cause of my algae problem

[QuarantinedCorals]

Hi everyone, hope everyone is doing well. I want to start off by saying I have a 55 gallon reef tank, it’s lit with 2 ocean revive lights that hang about 12 inches from the top of the tank, the lights are set to 35 on the blue setting and 15 on the white setting and they run from 3:00pm-11:00pm everyday. My tanks filtration consists of 2 aqua clear 55 gallon hob filters that only have a bag of bio balls in each filter, I also have a 110 gallon aqua clear hob filter which I added later on, I have filter floss, chemipure elite, carbon, and bio balls in that filter. I also am running a reef octopus hob 110 protein slimmer. I want to identify the cause of my algae problem, I have 0 nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, and ammonia in my tank, I feed frozen food but at a very slow pace so I don’t have excess in my tank, I have 5 fish in my tank currently which are all small, and I top off my tank with bottled water. Can anyone with more experience please try to help me pin point the cause of my algae problem! Sorry for the long message in advance!

 

[Billldg]

Odds are that if you have algae in your tank, then your nitrates and phosphates aren't at 0. They may seem like that and test like that, but in reality the algae is actually consuming the nitrates and phosphates causing the 0 readings. What type of algae are we talking about, standard green algae, GHA, Cyano? You said you feed frozen at a slow pace, how do you mean? How much frozen do you feed daily? Also, you said you top off with bottled water, I would use RO/DI water, either from a LFS or made from a RO/DI system.

Sorry for all the questions.

 

[Saltwatertaffy]

Do you have any pictures? How bad is the algae?

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

I’ll post up a picture for your viewing pleasure in a bit, I believe it’s green hair algae but I will need your expert opinion when I post the picture please

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

T

Odds are that if you have algae in your tank, then your nitrates and phosphates aren't at 0. They may seem like that and test like that, but in reality the algae is actually consuming the nitrates and phosphates causing the 0 readings. What type of algae are we talking about, standard green algae, GHA, Cyano? You said you feed frozen at a slow pace, how do you mean? How much frozen do you feed daily? Also, you said you top off with bottled water, I would use RO/DI water, either from a LFS or made from a RO/DI system.

Sorry for all the questions.

Thank you for the reply I appreciate it, I’ll post a picture of it for you to see but I believe it’s green hair algae. I did think it was from the bottled water as well, what do you think about silicates from the bottled water causing algae? I feed about half a cube of frozen mysis,clam, and sponge blend.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

Do you have any pictures? How bad is the algae?

Odds are that if you have algae in your tank, then your nitrates and phosphates aren't at 0. They may seem like that and test like that, but in reality the algae is actually consuming the nitrates and phosphates causing the 0 readings. What type of algae are we talking about, standard green algae, GHA, Cyano? You said you feed frozen at a slow pace, how do you mean? How much frozen do you feed daily? Also, you said you top off with bottled water, I would use RO/DI water, either from a LFS or made from a RO/DI system.

Sorry for all the questions.

I also feed slowly by feeding little bits at a time and not feeding more until all the food is eaten.

 

[Billldg]

T

Thank you for the reply I appreciate it, I’ll post a picture of it for you to see but I believe it’s green hair algae. I did think it was from the bottled water as well, what do you think about silicates from the bottled water causing algae? I feed about half a cube of frozen mysis,clam, and sponge blend.

That's a good possibility, If its possible I would invest in a RO/DI setup, if not then RO/DI water from your LFS will do.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

This is the algae growing on my rocks

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

This is the algae growing on my rocks

I also fed my finger leather reef roids and it closed up to eat and algae started growing over it and now it won’t open up

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

That's a good possibility, If its possible I would invest in a RO/DI setup, if not then RO/DI water from your LFS will do.

I attached some pictures below as well, Im gonna start buying ro/di water from my lfs as well to top my tank off, definitely think I’m introducing some impurities to my tank by using drinking water.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

I’ll post up a picture for your viewing pleasure in a bit, I believe it’s green hair algae but I will need your expert opinion when I post the picture please

Just put up those pictures!