Nutrient / algae bubbles in the sump

[Heisenberg 78]

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I was hoping someone could offer some guidance on the state of my sump.

For a good few months i experienced a lot of black / brown Cyano which located on pipes and wires or anything solid it could fix to.. even covered macro algae ..


After a while I decided to remove the cheato because it just harboured detritus and the cyano..

in more recent months it had become overwhelmed with strands of GHA and lots of slimey brown algae.

I bought a new skimmer and within a month or so it’s literally growing on the insides..


I have always had relatively high nitrates circa 30 to 50ppm, but that said I’m pretty lucky that the unsightly side of things stay reserved away from the main display. I do get a brown slimey algae which covered the surface of rocks, you only notice it because the tank looks dark and doesn’t allow the light to illuminate the surface..
it’s not really got to a point where it disturbs my viewing..

the sump however is literally a hot bed of bubbles and slime and horrid algae.. what are your thoughts…?

a few tank shots above and below…

 

[Dan_P]

I think what you are experiencing is what happens when you illuminate surfaces submerged in saltwater. Remove the light and all photosynthetic organisms will disappear.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

​

I was hoping someone could offer some guidance on the state of my sump.

For a good few months i experienced a lot of black / brown Cyano which located on pipes and wires or anything solid it could fix to.. even covered macro algae ..


After a while I decided to remove the cheato because it just harboured detritus and the cyano..

in more recent months it had become overwhelmed with strands of GHA and lots of slimey brown algae.

I bought a new skimmer and within a month or so it’s literally growing on the insides..


I have always had relatively high nitrates circa 30 to 50ppm, but that said I’m pretty lucky that the unsightly side of things stay reserved away from the main display. I do get a brown slimey algae which covered the surface of rocks, you only notice it because the tank looks dark and doesn’t allow the light to illuminate the surface..
it’s not really got to a point where it disturbs my viewing..

the sump however is literally a hot bed of bubbles and slime and horrid algae.. what are your thoughts…?

a few tank shots above and below…

Think you need to ramp up your sump cleaning schedule else what is going on in sump will become more visible and problematic in display tank as well.

Get in there an manually pull out all the GHA you can, but do it with tank off so any bits breaking off have time to resettle in sump and not flow into DT. Siphon your sump during water changes - I'd use an airline hose to suck grime and slime away.

I'd get more chaeto to try and outcompete the other nusance algae. I'd dose LIVE phyto to try and outcompete the other nuisance algae - I get mine from @AlgaeBarn but you don't have to limit yourself to there (right now they're running slow on Ocean Magik deliveries ... site says 1 week delay, but it's been two weeks holding up my order :():

OceanMagik

OceanMagik is a nutritious mixture of four Live Phytoplankton strains (Nano, Iso, Tet, and Thal) that is great for feeding copepods, corals, clams, and other filter-feeding inverts. OceanMagik is a hand-selected blend of the most nutritious Live Phytoplankton strains available.

www.algaebarn.com

 

[Heisenberg 78]

my main objective is to understand why im only seeing this unsightly algea in my sump.
there must be a reason why it is able to reside there yet cannot sustain itself up above..?
Surelyif the chemistry is part of the same tank I should be getting the same conditions everywhere.?


The radion in my sump uses the same lighting programme as the upper level display tank; i have a tunze power head in there to shift the water about.. so it’s not flow related..!

I‘m at a loss why the sumo experiences this mix of cyano, maybe even Dino, and gha..?

 

[Dan_P]

my main objective is to understand why im only seeing this unsightly algea in my sump.
there must be a reason why it is able to reside there yet cannot sustain itself up above..?
Surelyif the chemistry is part of the same tank I should be getting the same conditions everywhere.?


The radion in my sump uses the same lighting programme as the upper level display tank; i have a tunze power head in there to shift the water about.. so it’s not flow related..!

I‘m at a loss why the sumo experiences this mix of cyano, maybe even Dino, and gha..?

Couple things to consider. Is the light intensity, not duration, higher in the sump? Light drives photosynthesis and photosynthesizing organisms are what are thriving.

There could actually be more food in the sump. Macro algae produce carbon compounds that might fuel nuisance organism growth. Algae that is stressed because of too much light or too little nitrate, phosphate or some micro nutrient like iron, will release all sorts of food, resulting in a nasty looking biofilm. The concentration can be much higher in the sump, especially at the surfaces of the sump where the dying algae are attached. This phenomenon is easy to reproduce, but once started can difficult to get rid of.