Santa Monica Filtration RAIN2 Algae Scrubber?

Gary Ellis

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Hello, I've had my Rain2 for about 6 months and I'm having trouble growing algae with it. I'm using 2 of the 4 led strips installed. Hanna test says 0.07 phosphates. The algae on my rock is minimal and I can live with that, but can't keep it off my gravel. I syphon it off every other day. I have 2 Maxpect wavemakers. I don't overfeed and do water changes once a week. I have a BRS RODI system. I'm not running whites or reds on my Hydro 26's. I am using Vibrant once a week. The aquarium is 2 years up and running. How can I get the Rain2 to do it's thing?
 

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Is the algae on the gravel red or maroon? If so it is Cyanobacteria. Vibrant and other carbon dosing will starve green algae and overdoing it will cause a phosphate/nitrate imbalance that favors cyano. I would cut back on vibrant or take a break dosing it. You might want to dose nitrates to fuel green algae. Cyano is a nitrogen fixing bacteria which tends to outcompete green algae of nitrates are low.
 
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Gary Ellis

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Is the algae on the gravel red or maroon? If so it is Cyanobacteria. Vibrant and other carbon dosing will starve green algae and overdoing it will cause a phosphate/nitrate imbalance that favors cyano. I would cut back on vibrant or take a break dosing it. You might want to dose nitrates to fuel green algae. Cyano is a nitrogen fixing bacteria which tends to outcompete green algae of nitrates are low.
No, it's not Cyano. It's pale green and not hairy. Just lightly covers the gravel and can be syphoned off easily. With the blues on it looks almost black and when I turn on the whites is when I see the pale, almost jade-looking color.
 

HuduVudu

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but why does it grow on my substrate?
Algae grows where conditions are amenable for it's growth.

When you measure levels in your tank you are measuring a moment in time and also a point in space. First to a moment in time imagine a bucket that has a drain at the bottom and is filling up and at the same time draining out. If the flow in exceeds the flow out the level rises. If the opposite happens then the the level falls. BUT if the flow in raises (or lowers) at the same time the flow out raises by the same amount the bucket level stays the same. When you test in your aquarium you are testing for the level in the bucket not the flow of the tested item. Second when you test you are testing the value of the water column at the specific point that you draw the water, with mixing from the rest of the water column of course. This will not account for localised conditions in any one particular area. Diffusion is slow and there are areas in your rock and sand for example that might have different levels than what you test for in the water column. Also the algae maybe consuming the nutrients before you can test for them.

TL;DR; Your sand is probably the kitty litter box that is producing the food the algaes need.
 
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Gary Ellis

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So how do I stop my sand from being a kitty litter box? Here are 3 pictures. One with the blues on and one with the white on and one of the whole tank. I just syphoned the sand one day ago.

DSCF0694.JPG DSCF0696.JPG DSCF0699.JPG
 
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HuduVudu

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So how do I stop my sand from being a kitty litter box? Here are 2 pictures. One with the blues on and one with the white on. I just syphoned the sand one day ago.

DSCF0694.JPG DSCF0696.JPG
Ok, first I have to laugh. For me that isn't really that much algae. I guess people have different tolerances to things.

To help with the sand you will probably want to drop the sand height. Second you will want to do gravel vacs with you water changes. Third you will want to regularly stir the sand. I mean really stir it so that the tank gets cloudy. The cool thing about stiring the sand is after a few hours the tank is crystal clear. It is really a sight to behold.

Animals that will disturb the sand are conches nassarius sand sifters. I wouldn't buy those creatures just to stir the sand because if you don't have enough stuff in your sand you will kill them and then you will make the problem worse, but they can be fun additions that will help.

Also remember, time heals all wounds. You need some more time on your tank. Very mature tanks rarely have problems with algae. I am currently in that situation and I am dosing nitrate and feeding like crazy to ensure proper nutrient levels. My tank is 6 years old.
 
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Gary Ellis

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Ok, first I have to laugh. For me that isn't really that much algae. I guess people have different tolerances to things.

To help with the sand you will probably want to drop the sand height. Second you will want to do gravel vacs with you water changes. Third you will want to regularly stir the sand. I mean really stir it so that the tank gets cloudy. The cool thing about stiring the sand is after a few hours the tank is crystal clear. It is really a sight to behold.

Animals that will disturb the sand are conches nassarius sand sifters. I wouldn't buy those creatures just to stir the sand because if you don't have enough stuff in your sand you will kill them and then you will make the problem worse, but they can be fun additions that will help.

Also remember, time heals all wounds. You need some more time on your tank. Very mature tanks rarely have problems with algae. I am currently in that situation and I am dosing nitrate and feeding like crazy to ensure proper nutrient levels. My tank is 6 years old.
Wow 6 years old. I'm only 2 years. I guess I have a ways to go. Yes, I try very hard to keep it clean. Maybe too much. Am I possible not feeding enough? You mention you were feeding like crazy.
 

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Wow 6 years old. I'm only 2 years. I guess I have a ways to go. Yes, I try very hard to keep it clean. Maybe too much. Am I possible not feeding enough? You mention you were feeding like crazy.
Your tank will mature to a point where you struggle to keep the nitrate up. Mine takes about 3 days to drop from 25ppm to 1ppm. You want to be a bit more judicious about feeding until you start to notice this trend. I can't say exactly when mine started doing that because I don't pay very close attention to the nitrate, but I can say that my tank seems more nutrient starved as time goes on. I worry about this because I have very interesting and cool herbivores and I don't want them to starve out.
 

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