Macroalgae helping tank stay stable.

[kizzy89]

I switched over a 3 gallon pico and a 6 or 7 gallon cube in November to a im nuvo 20 gal aio, it has plenty of corals, 2 clownfish, bicolor blenny, green clown goby and a small 6 line wrasse to get rid of a few flatworms i had, he wont stay in this tank. 5 blue leg hermits, a red fire shrimp, astrea snails and a strawberry conch i just swapped in from my other tank to clean up the sandbed a little. I have dragons breath and red ogo macros on the left side of the tank to keep nitrates under control. Ive been doing weekly 10% to 20% changes, and changing filter floss every other day.

Noopsyche k7 mini- coral side
Aquaknight A029 for macroalgae side
Dkh- 8
calcium- 400
phosphates- 0
ph- 8.
Nitrates- 30 (api test, i know i know)
No dosing of any kind

I feed half a cube between this my 10 gallon and my freshwater tank (they get their own food every other day)
Coral growth is good on some, not do great on others. The anemone is doing amazingly went from the size of dime and bleached to 3 or 4 inches, the high voltage platygyra and pulsing xenia are both 5 times bigger than when i got them last april, the gorgonian is growing great, all the hammers and torches are doing good, the 3 acros i have and all the zoanthids are doing good. The Favia, one of the goniopora, and mushrooms all seem to be stuck at the same size they've been since i got them, very small... i know this is a lot of info just for mushroom and goni's. Two are a phonix firestorm bounce mushroom and tsa laffy taffy goni that i don't expect grow very fast however the no name mushrooms aren't getting bigger either. I got a green hairy mushroom that exploded with growth so this just isn't making sense to me, am i over thinking this or is there something i can do to help them grow?

 

[kizzy89]

Mushrooms are small, platygyra was same size as favla when i got them

 

[Isaac Alves]

I think your PO4 level is the issue. It’s 0?

 

[kizzy89]

I think your PO4 level is the issue. It’s 0?

Yes, steady 0, is my macroalgae causing this? If so how can i fix that and if not whats a good way to raise it?

 

[Isaac Alves]

I coincidently heard a podcast with Sanjay Joshi and Salem Clemens about the use of refugiums and the impact algae’s have on uptake of nutrients and trace elements— stripping it out of the water column.

I don’t recall if PO4 was part of this stripping but it’s possible.

Could increase feedings.

 

[kizzy89]

That would increase nitrates though, so dosing p04 would be about the only solution, if i take out the macros my nitrates will be higher than i would like, then i would be in the same boat just opposite direction...

 

[dvgyfresh]

That would increase nitrates though, so dosing p04 would be about the only solution, if i take out the macros my nitrates will be higher than i would like, then i would be in the same boat just opposite direction...

Not necessarily, you need to feed more foods higher in phosphate concentration like reef roids , or pellets. But if you truly only want to raise phosphate you will need to dose it

 

[vlangel]

That would increase nitrates though, so dosing p04 would be about the only solution, if i take out the macros my nitrates will be higher than i would like, then i would be in the same boat just opposite direction...

Do you prune your macroalgae? Maybe try pruning the dragons breath and red ogo so that they are half the size they are now as it looks like they are growing very well. Macroalgae definitely use PO4 as well as NO3. Limit their growth will limit their nutrient uptake. Then try dosing just a little phosphate until you get a better balance of PO4 and NO3. I often have nitrates as high as 30 ppm, (so don't panic about NO3) but then my phosphates are always detectable, usually .25 ppm or even as high as 1 ppm. Stop dosing when PO4 reaches .25 ppm. Hopefully your coral that are struggling will perk back up. I will say that meeting the needs of different coral and different macroalgae can be tricky as I have discovered. One specie will often outpace others and steal the nutrients that the rest of the tank needs. Still it is worth the effort as a mixed coral/macroalgae tank are beautiful.

 

[Mac8128]

I read somewhere that Red Ogo takes up much more Nitrate than it does Phosphate and that Dragons Breath while looking pretty nice, isn't much of a nutrient sink. Again, just based on research I have been doing on Nitrate and Phosphate in the reef aquarium, my initial take would be that I would try replacing some of the foods your using with pellets or roids that are known for being higher in Phosphates.

 

[Subsea]

I switched over a 3 gallon pico and a 6 or 7 gallon cube in November to a im nuvo 20 gal aio, it has plenty of corals, 2 clownfish, bicolor blenny, green clown goby and a small 6 line wrasse to get rid of a few flatworms i had, he wont stay in this tank. 5 blue leg hermits, a red fire shrimp, astrea snails and a strawberry conch i just swapped in from my other tank to clean up the sandbed a little. I have dragons breath and red ogo macros on the left side of the tank to keep nitrates under control. Ive been doing weekly 10% to 20% changes, and changing filter floss every other day.

Noopsyche k7 mini- coral side
Aquaknight A029 for macroalgae side
Dkh- 8
calcium- 400
phosphates- 0
ph- 8.
Nitrates- 30 (api test, i know i know)
No dosing of any kind

I feed half a cube between this my 10 gallon and my freshwater tank (they get their own food every other day)
Coral growth is good on some, not do great on others. The anemone is doing amazingly went from the size of dime and bleached to 3 or 4 inches, the high voltage platygyra and pulsing xenia are both 5 times bigger than when i got them last april, the gorgonian is growing great, all the hammers and torches are doing good, the 3 acros i have and all the zoanthids are doing good. The Favia, one of the goniopora, and mushrooms all seem to be stuck at the same size they've been since i got them, very small... i know this is a lot of info just for mushroom and goni's. Two are a phonix firestorm bounce mushroom and tsa laffy taffy goni that i don't expect grow very fast however the no name mushrooms aren't getting bigger either. I got a green hairy mushroom that exploded with growth so this just isn't making sense to me, am i over thinking this or is there something i can do to help them grow?

Your display looks great. I don’t see 30ppm of nitrate as too high. @Randy Holmes-Farley has an updated list of recommended parameters and nitrate was listed at 20-50ppm.

I do see zero inorganic phosphate as a concern. I suggest you feed more or dose phosphate. Also, with respect to your red macro algae’s, consider prune & export. Both of your red macros could be sold to hobbiest. Also, know this about nutrient uptake of macroalgae, as a generalization the N:P ratio of most macro is 30:1.