Losing battle against algae, help with next steps

[m3rcfh]

did the NO3/PO4 drop over the 3 weeks using Vibrant. You have a good skimmer and so it should have pulled out more with the Vibrant (carbon dosing). Also, how frequently do you change the filter socks? BRS recommends at least twice a week (otherwise the organics caught in the socks will break down and feed the algae

I didn't notice a drop in Nitrate yet. My sandbed is a little on the deep side, I will start with the sand rinsing.

Om the filter socks, I have nylon mesh ones that I clean throughly with peroxide, rinse and back they go. I only replace them after 6 months or so... I read the same thing about replacing them more often, just couldn't get myself to start buying so many socks

 

[NS Mike D]

Tried brushing the algae a couple of time but made too big of a mess, so decided to syphon only.

Brushing rocks was an effective part of my weekly routine. I would brush the heck out of them, put on new filter socks, turn all teh pumps on and even add a penguin HOB filter to pull all that GHA out of the tank.

I also had nuisance bacteria/algae (cyano/bryopsis/diatoms ?) that would reform right after cleaning. Once I put a filter sock on the brute bucket thinking I would do a massive mechanical filtration and notice the red stuff would go right through the sock and reform in the bucket so I went to PetCo to buy saltwater (I didnt want to make it round the clock) and did 20% water changes twice a week syphoning off as much of that stuff as possible.

My NO3 and PO4 were within range, my battle was getting as much of that stuff OUT of the tank.

I scrubbed my rocks today (algae is way down from before) have the pumps on full and I'll change the socks tonight.

 

[NS Mike D]

Vibrant worked wonders for my tank.

Now I just use NOPOX to keep things in check, along with Phosphate-E as needed.
Allows me to feed heavy.

I am not 100% sure why, but since I included feeding with ROE (I have a madarin) and reef freenzy I notice my algae has receded. My coral growth increased. It's counter intuitive (more feeding less algae?), but I think it might have to do with the addition of the amino acids and other goodies (that a skimmer will remove) that increases coral metabolism which, I think, leads to more NO3 & PO4 uptake by the corals.

Feed the corals, starve the algae

 

[NS Mike D]

I didn't notice a drop in Nitrate yet. My sandbed is a little on the deep side, I will start with the sand rinsing.

Om the filter socks, I have nylon mesh ones that I clean throughly with peroxide, rinse and back they go. I only replace them after 6 months or so... I read the same thing about replacing them more often, just couldn't get myself to start buying so many socks

yup. :Leaving them in for more than a few days is counter productive. It makes no difference if that stuff in in the sand bed or the filter sock. It breaks down and feeds the algae.

I have 3 socks (only one in the sump) and wash in the sink and soak on oxy over night. Don't be afraid of running sock less a few days if you don't have any clean ones on deck. My macro algae seems to be self regulating when I do.

 

[m3rcfh]

yup. :Leaving them in for more than a few days is counter productive. It makes no difference if that stuff in in the sand bed or the filter sock. It breaks down and feeds the algae.

I have 3 socks (only one in the sump) and wash in the sink and soak on oxy over night. Don't be afraid of running sock less a few days if you don't have any clean ones on deck. My macro algae seems to be self regulating when I do.

I wish I had room in the sump or in the cabinet to grow macro algae. It really helps from what I have been reading...

 

[NS Mike D]

I wish I had room in the sump or in the cabinet to grow macro algae. It really helps from what I have been reading...

look up Algae Turf Scrubbers (ATS). They take up little room, don't require a dedicated section (like a fuge) and should fit in your sump.

 

[Garia666]

Or an algea reactor.

This is after 3 weeks, it grows insanly

 

[ericguy1]

Are you feeding any plankton?

 

[ericguy1]

Does the tank get natural sunliy?

 

[ericguy1]

Does the tank get natural sunliy?

Sunlight?

 

[Jamie Allbritton]

I didn't notice a drop in Nitrate yet. My sandbed is a little on the deep side, I will start with the sand rinsing.

Om the filter socks, I have nylon mesh ones that I clean throughly with peroxide, rinse and back they go. I only replace them after 6 months or so... I read the same thing about replacing them more often, just couldn't get myself to start buying so many socks

Look on Ebay for socks, they have multi packs that are very reasonable. Also, change them every 3 days or sooner when tackling algae problems, because it breaks down into nitrates and phosphates. Have you tried a blackout period? What is your alk, calcium, and magnesium levels?

Sent from my SM-G892A using REEF2REEF mobile app

 

[Thaxxx]

@NS Mike D . I saw your post about white algae a while back. Did that ever go away? I have had that but only on the man made rock and the overflow. Nothing on my ocean live rock. Mine is actually a clear white hair like algae. Do you by any chance have homemade cement rock in your tank?

 

[sfin52]

Thats a lot but not the worse ive seen. Mine was worse. Loads of elbow grease

 

[Mical]

Try upping your mag to 1500 for about a week or more. I used Kent TechM and it took about 10 days to rid myself of green hair algae.

 

[RJinPV]

Well, there is a lot of suggestions in this thread. All of these things have been tried and work, some things better than others. I thought I would summarize what was suggested that I know works. It all comes down to excess nutrients that the coral don’t use that the algae does.

Nutrients enter the tank through food and I found out that pellet food and the coral food (reefroids, etc) contains a lot of nutrients and you can more easily over feed with it. I use frozen food, and some coral food sparingly.

Nutrient export comes in many forms. One is good filter socks. If your socks don’t need to be changed every few days to a week then they don’t catch much waste. Someone suggested better socks and that is one I would do. Second is manual removal. I made an airline hose siphon with a rigid 1/8” tube with a toothbrush on the end that I can brush the rocks and siphon the algae out into the filter sock before I change the sock. Critters don’t seem to eat GHA when it is long so you have to remove it. Third export is blowing waste off the rocks with a turkey baster or something like that. GHA creates its own nutrient source by capturing waste in the water column. I would blow off the rocks and GHA every day and then the crud will get picked up and removed by the sock. Fourth is getting the the phosphate and nitrates down. A few people suggested carbon dosing. I use NoPox and it works. Siphoning crud out of the sand bed with each water change helps because the sand bed is a nitrate source. Fifth is a refugium. I just started one and hope it can eliminate the need for NoPox. Sixth is a clean up crew.

Here is a another thread you might look at for ideas:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/1...sing-your-algae-problems.558661/#post-5729717

 

[RJinPV]

Here's a good video from another thread I was just reading. You might have seen this if you were hunting around too:

 

[mr9iron]

look up Algae Turf Scrubbers (ATS). They take up little room, don't require a dedicated section (like a fuge) and should fit in your sump.

I second this.

 

[m3rcfh]

As an update, we finally got rid of all nuisance algae... just by controlling nutrients like you all suggested. I used a little help from NoPoX, frequent water changes and less feeding

Thanks all for the great input, this community is just awesome!!