PO4 dosing / Brown algae??

Jorge Frazoa

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Hi, everybody!

I need your help!

I have been struggling with high silica and finally managed to find the source (Mantis bio spheres) and eliminate it. I thought that silica was the source of the brown algae that appears in the sand (diatoms). But even with the silica controlled, brown algae continues to appear on the glass and sand (image attached).
My questions are: I have to dose PO4 daily (0.14ppm/day) to keep PO4 constant at 0.047 ppm. Could this be the cause of the algae appearance? Does it make sense to use GFO even though you are dosing PO4? Or reduce or stoping dosing?

On the other hand, I have NO3 at 33.9mg/lt. Could this be the cause of the algae? I've been dosing carbon source for months and I can't lower it. Any reliable NO3-reducing media?

PS: I cleaned the entire sand 2 days ago

Current values:
NO3 - 33.9 mg/lt
NO2 - 0.05 mg/lt
PO4 - 0.04 mg/lt
Silicon - 0.13 mg/lt
Silicate - 0.28 mg/lt

I Have:
1 x Desjardini(M)
1 x Sixline (M)
1 x Scopas (M)
1 x Hepatus (S)
2 x Clowns (M)

Imagem WhatsApp 2023-10-08 às 11.18.25_0bd5aec5.jpg Imagem WhatsApp 2023-10-08 às 11.18.25_329b28ed.jpg Imagem WhatsApp 2023-10-08 às 11.18.25_bc3088dd.jpg
 

Garf

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Hi, everybody!

I need your help!

I have been struggling with high silica and finally managed to find the source (Mantis bio spheres) and eliminate it. I thought that silica was the source of the brown algae that appears in the sand (diatoms). But even with the silica controlled, brown algae continues to appear on the glass and sand (image attached).
My questions are: I have to dose PO4 daily (0.14ppm/day) to keep PO4 constant at 0.047 ppm. Could this be the cause of the algae appearance? Does it make sense to use GFO even though you are dosing PO4? Or reduce or stoping dosing?

On the other hand, I have NO3 at 33.9mg/lt. Could this be the cause of the algae? I've been dosing carbon source for months and I can't lower it. Any reliable NO3-reducing media?

PS: I cleaned the entire sand 2 days ago

Current values:
NO3 - 33.9 mg/lt
NO2 - 0.05 mg/lt
PO4 - 0.04 mg/lt
Silicon - 0.13 mg/lt
Silicate - 0.28 mg/lt

I Have:
1 x Desjardini(M)
1 x Sixline (M)
1 x Scopas (M)
1 x Hepatus (S)
2 x Clowns (M)

Imagem WhatsApp 2023-10-08 às 11.18.25_0bd5aec5.jpg Imagem WhatsApp 2023-10-08 às 11.18.25_329b28ed.jpg Imagem WhatsApp 2023-10-08 às 11.18.25_bc3088dd.jpg
Have you got a microscope?
 

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