Need suggestions on how to get rid of alage.

[Aidanwolf]

A cuc is more for management of a balanced system, you need a reset button!

But in the future, turbo snails/tuxedo urchins

just follow the recommended instructions for dosing Fluc, your corals/fish will be just fine.

Yeah I had a pink urchin that would mow down any alage.

 

[chris k.]

Crabs and snails and a good scrubbing. I have phosphates in my city water that the rodi will not remove. I had to add phosguard to the rodi unit.

 

[Passedyouby]

I would like to get hanna checkers but man fifty bucks a pop is expensive.

The nice thing about hanna checkers is when you dont want them any longer they still hold resale! You can sell them easily for $30 on the forum. Think of hanna checkers as costing $20, not $50!

 

[Passedyouby]

I agree with everyone else though that the algea you see is comsuming the nitrate and phosphate in your aquarium giving you zero readings. A good explanation of this can be found on the bulk reef supply youtube page. Check out the ones discussing nuisance algae.
My suggestion is grab 1 or 2 turbo snails, reducing excess feeding, and do 3 large water changes over the course of a week while cleaning the glass/rocks each time. This should remove the mess while stopping it from coming back, plus turbos are awesome!
If you arent willing to do the water changes, at least do one big change and dose vibrant.

Good luck! You've got this!

 

[MabuyaQ]

Don't blindly look at the results of your testkit. 0.0 NO3 and 0.0 PO4 with inwanted consumers like algae don't say anything. What you measure in with a testkit is what is left after import minus export. It says nothing about the amount of import the amount of export and where import and export are coming from.
Clearly though in your case unwanted algae are contributing to the export. So go back and look into these imports and exports. How much do you feed and what, is there a buildup of detritus (dirty sand), do yoy use anything to export PO4 (GFO), do you do anything to stimulate export of NO3 (carbon dosing)?

In all honesty to me this looks like a badly cycled aquarium where the bacteria haven't been able to become the main exporters and the focus should be to make them the main exporters.

Also any reef without algae consumers will have algae.

 

[iko2thdk]

Hello, I have this alage that wont go away. I use rodi water for water changes and the water parameters in the tank are close to 0 phosphates but it grows like crazy. It has grown on and killed most of my corals

Cutting your lighting down by 50% may help. If you are using filter socks make sure they are changed fairly regularly. We all get these outbreaks especially when our tanks are young? How old is the tank?? Water change regularly as well.

 

[Aidanwolf]

Cutting your lighting down by 50% may help. If you are using filter socks make sure they are changed fairly regularly. We all get these outbreaks especially when our tanks are young? How old is the tank?? Water change regularly as well.

I dropped the whites down to 0 and I am slowly bringing them back up.

 

[Aidanwolf]

Don't blindly look at the results of your testkit. 0.0 NO3 and 0.0 PO4 with inwanted consumers like algae don't say anything. What you measure in with a testkit is what is left after import minus export. It says nothing about the amount of import the amount of export and where import and export are coming from.
Clearly though in your case unwanted algae are contributing to the export. So go back and look into these imports and exports. How much do you feed and what, is there a buildup of detritus (dirty sand), do yoy use anything to export PO4 (GFO), do you do anything to stimulate export of NO3 (carbon dosing)?

In all honesty to me this looks like a badly cycled aquarium where the bacteria haven't been able to become the main exporters and the focus should be to make them the main exporters.

Also any reef without algae consumers will have algae.

I only feed a small amount of pellet food daily and I try to put in a cube of mysis weekly for the Duncan coral. The only thing that I have to export nutrients is cheato, I have GFO and nitrate removing media but I stopped using it when there was no alage and low nutrients.

 

[MabuyaQ]

I only feed a small amount of pellet food daily and I try to put in a cube of mysis weekly for the Duncan coral. The only thing that I have to export nutrients is cheato, I have GFO and nitrate removing media but I stopped using it when there was no alage and low nutrients.

If the underlined part is true and this means you have no skimmer as well and you fully rely on chaeto to export nutrients we found the source of your problem. Running a skimmerless system isn't exactly easy, because it means all nutrients imported into the system will have to go through the entire nitrogen cycle because the only means of export will go through the consumption as nitrates.

That is the longest route of export and increases the likelyhood of undesired algae as there is always plenty of nitrate available for them to outcompete denitrifying bacteria. These bacteria are the 'slowest' to develop in the cyclying process and require carbon as food to function optimally (something most aquaria don't have enough of so has to be dosed as ethanol, acetate) for them to be able to outcompete algae (especially hairalgae).

What also matters is the kind of algae you use, hair algae in general tends to outcompete chaeto, so if you want to rely on algae as main means of export you may be better of with an ATS. Chaeto is great as a support in the export of nutrients next to a skimmer so it can help keep nutrients under control.

Duncans will grow faster like all LPS when you feed them, but they don't need to be fed. They will do fine on random leftovers they catch, fish waste, detritus stired up, etc. Also a cube is enough food to feed duncan the size of you entire aquarium.

 

[Aidanwolf]

If the underlined part is true and this means you have no skimmer as well and you fully rely on chaeto to export nutrients we found the source of your problem. Running a skimmerless system isn't exactly easy, because it means all nutrients imported into the system will have to go through the entire nitrogen cycle because the only means of export will go through the consumption as nitrates.

That is the longest route of export and increases the likelyhood of undesired algae as there is always plenty of nitrate available for them to outcompete denitrifying bacteria. These bacteria are the 'slowest' to develop in the cyclying process and require carbon as food to function optimally (something most aquaria don't have enough of so has to be dosed as ethanol, acetate) for them to be able to outcompete algae (especially hairalgae).

What also matters is the kind of algae you use, hair algae in general tends to outcompete chaeto, so if you want to rely on algae as main means of export you may be better of with an ATS. Chaeto is great as a support in the export of nutrients next to a skimmer so it can help keep nutrients under control.

Duncans will grow faster like all LPS when you feed them, but they don't need to be fed. They will do fine on random leftovers they catch, fish waste, detritus stired up, etc. Also a cube is enough food to feed duncan the size of you entire aquarium.

If you didnt know from the pictures I have a Biocube 32 so there really isnt room for a skimmer and I have been told a skimmer on that size tank isnt necessary. Also the cube of mysis is very small and I use it to feed the whole aquarium that day.

 

[MabuyaQ]

If you didnt know from the pictures I have a Biocube 32 so there really isnt room for a skimmer and I have been told a skimmer on that size tank isnt necessary. Also the cube of mysis is very small and I use it to feed the whole aquarium that day.

I am not familiar with these systems (never seen them here in the Netherlands) but it looked like a small AIO without a skimmer, and your wording suggested skimmerless as well.

Without a skimmer biological filtration of nitrates with bacteria and/or algae (and large frequent waterchanges) are your only options. This is also why I don't like these small systems. Fish and corals won't stay smaller, will need just as much food, take up more relative space which results in less relative space for filtration, making export and stability a real challenge (especially without prior experience). Luckily, with some extra effort and help that can be fixed.

Do regular water changes (at least 10% weekly, best 5% (bi)daily) and make sure you use 0 TDS RODI. Harvest as much of the algae as possible during water changes. Get a small urchin (tuxedo stay small enough) and a couple of T snails (any of these species Turbo, Tectus or Trochus) so you have herbivores in your reef. Read up on carbon dosing (for which you technically need a skimmer), but with a small daily dosage of a carbon source (something like the starting dose and building this up to no more than double this dose) you will help the denitrifying bacteria compete with the hair algae.

I am also certain somebody must have found a way to fit a small skimmer like a Tunze DOC 9001 or similar neatly in this system, so you may want to look into that as well.

 

[Aidanwolf]

I am not familiar with these systems (never seen them here in the Netherlands) but it looked like a small AIO without a skimmer, and your wording suggested skimmerless as well.

Without a skimmer biological filtration of nitrates with bacteria and/or algae (and large frequent waterchanges) are your only options. This is also why I don't like these small systems. Fish and corals won't stay smaller, will need just as much food, take up more relative space which results in less relative space for filtration, making export and stability a real challenge (especially without prior experience). Luckily, with some extra effort and help that can be fixed.

Do regular water changes (at least 10% weekly, best 5% (bi)daily) and make sure you use 0 TDS RODI. Harvest as much of the algae as possible during water changes. Get a small urchin (tuxedo stay small enough) and a couple of T snails (any of these species Turbo, Tectus or Trochus) so you have herbivores in your reef. Read up on carbon dosing (for which you technically need a skimmer), but with a small daily dosage of a carbon source (something like the starting dose and building this up to no more than double this dose) you will help the denitrifying bacteria compete with the hair algae.

I am also certain somebody must have found a way to fit a small skimmer like a Tunze DOC 9001 or similar neatly in this system, so you may want to look into that as well.

It is possible to fit a very small skimmer into the Biocube like you said, but the effectiveness isn't great from what I have read.

 

[Bret Brinkmann]

I have a 29G with a 10G refugium both with a 4" DSB and no skimmer. I use macros for export and do not perform water changes. My export is so high that I actually have to dose nitrates and phosphates to prevent dinos and have enough in the water column for the corals.

Test kits do not detect organic sources of nitrate and phosphate, only inorganic. So 0 isn't absolute 0. But I advise against additional exporting from the water column when you have a reading of 0 to help prevent dino blooms. With new rocks, there is stored nitrates and phosphates that are extracted by algae as they grow on the rocks. That is why you can get nothing on the glass or sand but tons on the rocks. There is no way I know of to test how much N and P are in your rocks sort of a mass spectrometer.

Chemical and bacterial solutions can work if you know what you're doing and follow instructions. But they usually require you to maintain treatment, even if not regularly. But a grazer is ALWAYS in your tank ready to eat.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I'am using Api test kits for phosphates and nitrates, that's why I said it was close to 0 not exactly 0.

With that amount of algae your likely to see zero on test kits. The algae is effectively filtering the decomposing organics left in the tank

 

[Aidanwolf]

With that amount of algae your likely to see zero on test kits. The algae is effectively filtering the decomposing organics left in the tank

Some other people where also saying that. I was thinking the same thing as well.

 

[Brian Kennedy]

Roger that. That is actually a relief if you can believe it.

How old is tank?

If it is bleaching, then you may be gradually starving it out. If you go too aggressive in stripping the water of nutrient you can get into some trouble (dinoflagellates) but gradually and consistently managing your nutrient import/export is the safe way to. It just feels like forever.

Vibrant can accelerate things a little bit and is not too harsh.

Lastly, there is fluconazole. I have dosed it to several customer tanks (mostly against bryopsis) with no coral deaths experienced. It does require a bit more attention to exporting as the stuff dies off. Depending on the type of algae, it can go quick or gradual, but there was always improvement. It is not a long term solution just a temporary (and effective) restart opportunity.

For phosphate testing, it is really Hanna ULR checker you want. Get some extra reagents while you are at it.

What is the correct dose of reef flux fluconazole for turf algae? Considering this is not its intended use, the bottle says 1 capsule per 10 gallons.

 

[ScottB]

What is the correct dose of reef flux fluconazole for turf algae? Considering this is not its intended use, the bottle says 1 capsule per 10 gallons.

Sorry I dropped off this thread somehow and need to catch up tomorrow mid day. Also had a colleague report a bad outcome with some SPS following a fluconazole dose on Thursday so trying to learn about what went wrong there and feeling suddenly skittish about something I have used without trouble 4 times on other tanks with SPS & LPS without any casualties. Saw it myself 3 days after treatment; not good. No clue yet what went wrong but something did in this instance.

Recent NO3 and PO4 still zero correct?

 

[Aidanwolf]

I haven't tested again since friday, but I will do another test in a bit.

 

[Aidanwolf]

Sorry I dropped off this thread somehow and need to catch up tomorrow mid day. Also had a colleague report a bad outcome with some SPS following a fluconazole dose on Thursday so trying to learn about what went wrong there and feeling suddenly skittish about something I have used without trouble 4 times on other tanks with SPS & LPS without any casualties. Saw it myself 3 days after treatment; not good. No clue yet what went wrong but something did in this instance.

Recent NO3 and PO4 still zero correct?

They appear to read 0.

 

[ScottB]

Oh. From the pictures, I thought it was GHA not turf. I missed that, sorry.

For turf, I'd lean more towards Vibrant, reserving Flux for bryopsis and hard GHA resets.

The flux I've used comes in powder form with small scoops to measure it out by gallon volume. But you should be able to find the capsule conversion with a google search on reef2reef or RC.