Low Nitrate/ Zero Phosphate and tons of algae

linkedsilas

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Like it says, low to no nitrate
zero phosphate (hanna checker)
I have calurpa, gha, red wirey algae.
Obviously there is phosphate. I ran phosguard a while and that didnt do anything.
I was told to dose vibrant, I have for 3 weeks and still no change in anything.
Anyone have any suggestions? Coral is suffering.
After 3 weeks of dosing vibrant( was told to pull phosguard) I am still not getting any reading
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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a rip clean wins about 90% of the time plus we have a thousand links handy for before and afters. likelihood can be established before you begin the cleaning

pics of your tank/number gallons need to see

its nice to know some forms of algae control don't need to know any params, they're an action set.
 
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linkedsilas

linkedsilas

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a rip clean wins about 90% of the time plus we have a thousand links handy for before and afters. likelihood can be established before you begin the cleaning

pics of your tank/number gallons need to see

its nice to know some forms of algae control don't need to know any params, they're an action set.
a rip clean?
I will get some pics (90g)
 

fishhead1973

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You could try carbon dosing. by Red Sea. Half dose when you start has to be done every day to get results.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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given it is so much easier not to rip clean/because that's actual tank surgery but then again check out these results, about 2 days after being invaded:
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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its simply the most decisive action a human being can take in the matter of an invaded reef tank. those reefs were slightly larger.
 
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linkedsilas

linkedsilas

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given it is so much easier not to rip clean/because that's actual tank surgery but then again check out these results, about 2 days after being invaded:
Ive never heard of a "rip" clean unless you mean ripping everything out and cleaning it which is not what I am assuming you mean?
 

Suohhen

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I agree with Brandon simply by the description of 'tons of algae' the only guaranteed (90%) cure is a rip clean. There are tons of less invasive options and by creating a thread about algae you will receive every one of them whether you want it or not and everyone of them will start with 'what worked for me'.
 
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linkedsilas

linkedsilas

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I agree with Brandon simply by the description of 'tons of algae' the only guaranteed (90%) cure is a rip clean. There are tons of less invasive options and by creating a thread about algae you will receive every one of them whether you want it or not and everyone of them will start with 'what worked for me'.
Well, I am starting a new tank soon, I was just trying to get this one under control . I was going to tear this one down eventually, but was wondering if I could get it nice before I did because the corals were suffering.
I have sinced started a frag tank, starting to take out my corals and rehab them back in that.
Im starting from square one with the 30 nuvo l i just bought that hasnt arrived yet.
I was planning on bleaching my existing rock and recycling that
 

fishhead1973

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is that in conjunction with vibrant ?
If it was me I would stop using the vibrant. Be careful with the carbon dosing it’s no joke. It will kill everything in your tank. There’s a couple videos on YouTube just search Red Sea carbon dosing. I start using it about two months ago and my tank is algae free. Make sure you have a very good skimmer because it will put it in over drive.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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be sure and consider the links, those were very detailed works. plus monthslong follow up after, saves a lot of guessing.

yours may be a simpler issue, but as you can see Cook didn't wait until the simple became a forest he knew when to intercept. before the links above, that wasn't even a known option/nice to have an ace card now.

Also we discuss in the thread how we take one test rock, force it to comply, set it back in the tank among the other rocks as you do other methods, then decide in two weeks which rocks look best. so many creative things beyond just the actual act of the surgical cleaning.

but yes its incredibly fun to conduct multi thousand dollar tank surgeries across the globe as I sit and play Mario kart there is a strong bias in the recommend. testing predictive biology on other's tanks feels like dr evil + pinkie
 
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linkedsilas

linkedsilas

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be sure and consider the links, those were very detailed works. plus monthslong follow up after, saves a lot of guessing.

yours may be a simpler issue, but as you can see Cook didn't wait until the simple became a forest he knew when to intercept. before the links above, that wasn't even a known option/nice to have an ace card now.

Also we discuss in the thread how we take one test rock, force it to comply, set it back in the tank among the other rocks as you do other methods, then decide in two weeks which rocks look best. so many creative things beyond just the actual act of the surgical cleaning.
ill check them out. all in all i am starting a new tank in a few months i appreciate the help
 

Suohhen

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ill check them out. all in all i am starting a new tank in a few months i appreciate the help
Recommending drastic action is certainly something that has been raised as an issue many times and I am firmly on the side of taking things slow especially when offering advice to someone from whom I only have the information given in the tread. The issue with algae however is that nutrients always become the center of the discussion however 0 nitrate and phosphate is a symptom of uncontrolled algae so it offers zero indication as to whether or not there is an nutrient problem. Also given that you are going to be tearing this tank down why not do a rip clean as the rip is the barrier that stops most people.
 

Azedenkae

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Like it says, low to no nitrate
zero phosphate (hanna checker)
I have calurpa, gha, red wirey algae.
Obviously there is phosphate. I ran phosguard a while and that didnt do anything.
I was told to dose vibrant, I have for 3 weeks and still no change in anything.
Anyone have any suggestions? Coral is suffering.
After 3 weeks of dosing vibrant( was told to pull phosguard) I am still not getting any reading
Manually remove algae, that should help reduce consumption of nitrate and phosphate. You can also increase feeding of fish if that is viable. And maybe stop dosing Vibrant.
 
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linkedsilas

linkedsilas

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I think Ill just say its a wash since in like 3 months I hope to be setting up the tank.
Thanks all. I just never heard of anyone completely tearing everything down for this issue...
Manually remove algae, that should help reduce consumption of nitrate and phosphate. You can also increase feeding of fish if that is viable. And maybe stop dosing Vibrant.
i tend to be very sparse on my feeding because of the phosphates but I get what you are saying because of low nitrates as well.
 

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