Major algae outbreak!

[Tylermacdonald15]

I had very bad diatom algae problem a little over a month ago, was growing all over my sand, glass...
I got a new RODI and a GFO/Carbon reactor and it all went away within a few days and has been gone for a few weeks.
I went away on a weekend trip and when I got back it was covered in hair algae and some other kinds of brown algae. I'm not sure what else to do, I shouldn't have phosphates. The tank is 150 gallons with no fish. Just inverts and coral.
Is it maybe just going through a algae cycle?


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[Bartmmackey]

I have to say I just went thought this. Raised ph, removed as much slime etc as possible, make sure your running fresh carbon and gfo. The I did blackout for 3days. Yes I tarped the tank. Keep skimmers running wet and make sure your filter sock from tank to sump is clean during this cycle. One week after only running my blue LEDs and not feeding other than a small amount of flake. Also after blackout big time water changes and siphon the heck out of the sandbed and followed the toothbrush with siphon while scrubbing dead matter off rock.

I know others will say this isn't right....but it worked for me. And I'm no French model....but I did read this on the Internet (elsewhere).

 

[Reefing Madness]

GFO is exhausted, replace it. You should get a Phosphate test kit, so you can keep an eye on when you need to change the media out. Oh, and the 3-4 day black out does work. Need to have a really good skimmer to catch all the garbage that dies off though.

 

[Tylermacdonald15]

GFO is exhausted, replace it. You should get a Phosphate test kit, so you can keep an eye on when you need to change the media out. Oh, and the 3-4 day black out does work.

The GFO was in there for about a week and a half. When the GFO is exhausted will it start to leak phosphate back into the water?


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[Reefing Madness]

Im not sure if it will leach back into the water, but I know it all depends on how much phosphates you have in the water that determines how fast it exhausts. I've had people using it and changing it weekly until they get it under control.

 

[mike007]

You need to test all your water parameters. Even your ro water needs to be tested especialy for phoshates. I would not feed anything for a while untill you get it under cotrol. Algae is caused by excess nutrients in the water. I had a problem feeding my corals with a liquid coral food and i had to let up and within days my tank completly cleared up. You have to find the source of the nutrients.

 

[dankreef]

Yes it leaks back into the water. Some brands don't apparently. I just got some stuff on the way called po4x4 phostphate remover or something its suppose to NOT leach p04 back into your system. I havn't tried it yet but I just went through all this and this is the process. When you have high p04 the gfo takes in the p04 when its full it slowly leaches back into your water. If you have high p04 change gfo 1-2 days after using the inital one. I took one out, let p04 drop some and then be steady, and then put more in a couple days later to bring it down to about .05. When its low it takes longer for the gfo to exhaust. But with high p04 the first couple bags are full in a couple days then it leaches back into system. My tank went from .23 to .09 to .26 in like 4 days of leaving the gfo in. So put in for two days, take out, put fresh in, then monitor p04 change as needed.

 

[BCORAL]

How long has you tank been you?

 

[bct15]

How long had your tank been running? What kind of food do you feed your tank and how often?

You can completely rid your tank of hair algae by changing your gfo every other day and covering your tank with a blanket for about three days. Don't feed but once every other day while doing this, then get ready to do a water change when all of the hair algae turns clear. Siphon it all out. You might need to use a toothbrush to brush it off the rocks but it will come right up once it turns clear. To keep it from coming back you'll need to keep your phosphates in check after it is gone.


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