Are my nutrients high? Nitrate = 5 and phosphate = 0.07?Everything sounds pretty good so I can't really think of an underlying issue. Maybe you can try to extend the period of your refugium to lower nitrates and phosphates. This should have an effect on the algae in the tank. Basically make your chaeto outcompete the other algae's.
I would also recommend to put al pumps of when feeding. By doing so you can make sure al the fish eat the food. Broadcast feeding also feeds your vermetids and some food will break down causing higher nutrients. Vermetids are a pain, I'm battling them right now as well. I had a yellow wrasse in the past who ate them, but my current one doesn't. Bumble bee snails seem to eat them as well, so might be worth getting some of those.
As for CUC it might be more effective to get some algae grazing fish like a foxface or some tangs. I've heard foxfaces also eat bubble algae, which would be a bonus in your case. In addition I would also get a variety of snails to eat the smaller algae and in hard to reach places for fish.
I hope all the information in the thread will help you battle that algae! Good luck and keep us op to date
New guy with a lot of issues
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Lowlandreef
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Your readings aren't high. Phosphate should ideally be 0.03, so it's slightly elevated. But the algae in your tank says otherwise. You will most likely have much higher nutrients, but they are consumed by the algae growing in your tank. That's why your readings are lower. So in order to stop the algae growth you will have to lower nutrients.
IMO test kits can be a little misleading, I've had a tank full of GHA but my tests said my nutrients were zero...
anthonygf
Valuable Member
Raise your magnesium to 1450-1500. I read a thread here some time ago and someone did an experiment and raised mag to 1500 and helped eliminate algae. At this time I am running mag around 1480 and algae is slowly eliminated.
anthonygf
Valuable Member
And maybe that is why my nutrients are dropping. My no3 was running 20ppm and po4 was around 0.12. Now no3 is 10 and po4 is 14 and still dropping, I may have to dose phosphate starting today. Will see what happens.
monkeyCmonkeyDo
7500 Club Member
Its whats in kent m when your raise ur mag to.eliminate the algae not the mag.
Do it right. Dont add bottle crap to fix your tank. Lol.
D
Do it right. Dont add bottle crap to fix your tank. Lol.
D
This ^^^ I am so sick and tired of people with the expert opinion of DOSE DOSE DOSE, We've been doing this for 20+ years through many ups and downs. What is your mag blah blah, how old is this tank? And we are telling him to dose???? That is hot garbage. Get a proper clean up crew, I posted a few suggestions earlier. Do it and let it take its natural course....be happier in the end.
You are providing bad advice for a newb. In fact you are compounding his problem. Way over the top, but well done I expect no less at times....experiments lol, well let's try them out on the relatively new guy when meanwhile the solution is likely far easier....
monkeyCmonkeyDo
7500 Club Member
And its over 1600 with the kent m. Lol.
Something i would not advise any new.person to.do.
D
Something i would not advise any new.person to.do.
D
Lowlandreef
Active Member
I don't have experience using gfo, so I can't tell you too much about it unfortunately. From what I've read it works really well for reducing phosphates which is usually the main cause of algae. It is definitely something worth trying. There are probably plenty of good threads about gfo on R2R.
As for chaeto (I don't know what your current lighting schedule is) you can ramp up the time period over the next few weeks. For instance, if your lighting schedule is now 12 hours a day, extend it for 30 mins a day until you run it 18 hours and see how that works. If needed you can even run the lights 24 hours a day. Make sure your chaeto adapts well to the new lighting schedule, because it can die if you change it too quickly (no risk of it releasing nutrients back to the water). If chaeto is dying it will turn white, if that happens you might wanna stop ramping it up for a bit or even ramp it down a little.
Like I mentioned earlier I would also get some algae grazing fish. The combination of both will probably help a lot. You can also syphon algae out with waterchanges, or take rocks out of the tank to scrub the algae off. Depending on the type of algae, it can release the nutrients back in the water if it dies. So just try to prevent that from happening.
anthonygf
Valuable Member
That is not bad advice! I also have seen no problems with running Mag that high. I did not see anyone here bashing the guy that did this on their own tanks and shared his experience on here, with good success. I'm not suggesting adding any bottled crap like some of you. Just suggesting to run magnesium a little higher than what people say it should be. It is working okay for me, it seems to also be lowering the phosphate which many on here suggest using PhosphateRX, Vibrant etc. etc. which is adding chemicals and I have tried because I was a neewb at one time and was suggested here as well, with poor results. My corals suffered poorly with Vibrant, tossed the stuff in the trash. How is that compounding the problem? I would like to know. Raising mag levels a little higher than normal is a more natural way of controlling algae from what I have seen myself.
anthonygf
Valuable Member
What is kent m? Yes mag at 1600 is way too high. I have not seen any problems yet for close to a year with running mag close to 1500, I run mine at 1440-1480. I also have a squamosa clam that is growing as well so it can't be as bad as you think.
anthonygf
Valuable Member
Before telling someone they are providing bad advice look up the facts for yourself and back up what you say. If you look at Triton ICP tests acceptable range for magnesium is 1300 to 1500. Is that bad information?
blasterman
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I've never seen Bigfoot and I've never seen an Emerald crab do much with bubble algae. I have had them wreck a lot of SPS though when they get hungry.
Bubble algae is commonly driven by elevated phosphate.......not light spectrum.....or having mag at 1290 vs 1300....or playing the wrong type of music. Its best handled by scraping it off and making sure the bits are vacuumed out and elbow grinding. It's not very competitive and slow growing but can get out of control. Dosing vibrant while keeping it scraped off limits its ability for spores to re attach. Dosing peroxide on the spots you've scraped it off also helps, but may not be practical in your case.
Reducing phosphate while battling algae might irk your hard corals for a bit but it might be worth it.
Good old turbo snails mow down most other nuisance algae like a boss. I no longer bother with other types of snails. They just get jacked by hermit thugs anyways.
Bubble algae is commonly driven by elevated phosphate.......not light spectrum.....or having mag at 1290 vs 1300....or playing the wrong type of music. Its best handled by scraping it off and making sure the bits are vacuumed out and elbow grinding. It's not very competitive and slow growing but can get out of control. Dosing vibrant while keeping it scraped off limits its ability for spores to re attach. Dosing peroxide on the spots you've scraped it off also helps, but may not be practical in your case.
Reducing phosphate while battling algae might irk your hard corals for a bit but it might be worth it.
Good old turbo snails mow down most other nuisance algae like a boss. I no longer bother with other types of snails. They just get jacked by hermit thugs anyways.
anthonygf
Valuable Member
Just saying high mag seems to help slow algae growth. I have run my mag as high as 1300 to 1440 for many years and never had bubble algae, or major algae outbreaks. I think low mag like under 1300 is not good for most reefs from what I have seen. Got rid of all my hermits for many of them climbing on my monti breaking off branches. There would be up to 8 at one time, I would remove them and back again next day. So now I advise against them to new reefers if I can and let them make their own decision on keeping them.
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