Clowny88
New member
So I'm fighting algae, have been for awhile, trying to find the source of the problem, not just carbon dose or slap a band aid on and call it a day. I dont have a heavy bioload and i dont see where nutrients would be coming from to feed algae. Here's what I've got.
Tank: 75g with corner overflow. 55g sump teed off feed (left chamber 50% flow, chaeto... Right chamber 50% flow, Reef Octopus 110 skimmer, center chamber bare bottom with live rock and return). No filter socks. Tank was started last December as a 40g, transferred everything to the 75 but rinsed sand first.
Parameters: pH 7.8, nitrates 0, phosphates 0, temp 78-80... Using API test kits, yes yes I know, but whether NO3 or PO4 were showing readings or not, we know its there somewhere feeding algae growth.
Livestock: 2 clowns, 1 firefish, soft corals (Xenia, gsp, zoas), 4 RBTA's.
Lighting: 2x 165w black boxes. Moonlight for 14 hours, Blues (50%) for 12 hours, Whites (40%) for 10 hours. *Just changed lights 2 weeks ago, but cleaned tank and still seeing same rate of algae growth.
Clean up crew: 20+ total... 7 blue leg hermits, 3 emerald crabs, 10 or so snails (including one monster Tonga). Hard to tell because snails always fall down and die. 1 sand sifting star.
Water: RO from supermarket, always tests <5 ppm (usually 0-3).
Flow: Besides return, 2x 850gph Hydro Koralia power heads on each end. Left side pointing down towards the sand, right side pointing up towards overflow.
Feeding: Frozen brine, PE mysis, or Rods. Fed every other day or every third day. Anemones get fed bigger chunks from Rods. I don't rinse my food but i do use tweezers to put the food in the tank (that way I'm leaving that water/thawed junk behind).
Rock: 125 lbs+. All but one 10 lb piece was live rock. 30 lbs from Craigslist, the rest from LFS. Sump has about 30 lbs, dt 90 lbs.
Additives: No dosing, but running GFO in a reactor (fed from and returned to skimmer chamber). Added Chemiclean several months ago due to cyano. Worked like a charm and did a massive water change after.
Water Changes: 10 gallons every 2-4 weeks. Vaccuum sand every time. After water is mixed, I let it sit for 1-2 hours before adding.
Salt: Using Instant Ocean, contemplating change to Reef Crystals.
Problem Areas: Rocks at each end, sand in the front portion of the tank (back side of the tank behind rocks, sand is crystal white).
Recent Changes...
- Added new lights (2 weeks ago). Prior to that had 1 LED bar and 1 50/50 CFL (10 months old).
- Changing sump. Originally went straight to skimmer chamber, then chaeto/rock/fuge chamber, then return. Now goes 50% left (chaeto), 50% right (skimmer), return in the middle with live rock.
- Ran chemiclean several months ago.
My half baked theories:
1) Not enough flow. Even though I'm not overfeeding and have a low bioload, I'm not getting enough circulation to keep nasties suspended in the water column. As a result they collect on rocks in low flow areas, causing algae growth. Not getting enough exported out of the tank to the sump.
2) Sump design is flawed. I moved 50% of my return away from the skimmer, relying on chaeto to export some nutrients. If the chaeto isn't doing it's job efficiently, thats a problem. The center chamber also has some detritus settled at the bottom. Could this be feeding bad shtuff to the DT?
3) Die off. Snails die all the time, like one every 1-2 weeks. They tip over and die. I've had some big turbos in there too. Could this really cause such a spike in a larger system like this? I also seeded twice with pods in the spring, yet I don't see this booming pod population. Could there have been a die off here as well that cause a nutrient spike?
4) Rocks leeching. I doubt this based on how I got them, but can't rule it out.
5) CUC not big enough. Whenever I think of beefing up my CUC though, that means more waste. I don't have a bristle worm factory in my tank so I figured I don't have a lot of extra stuff to compete for.
I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Tank: 75g with corner overflow. 55g sump teed off feed (left chamber 50% flow, chaeto... Right chamber 50% flow, Reef Octopus 110 skimmer, center chamber bare bottom with live rock and return). No filter socks. Tank was started last December as a 40g, transferred everything to the 75 but rinsed sand first.
Parameters: pH 7.8, nitrates 0, phosphates 0, temp 78-80... Using API test kits, yes yes I know, but whether NO3 or PO4 were showing readings or not, we know its there somewhere feeding algae growth.
Livestock: 2 clowns, 1 firefish, soft corals (Xenia, gsp, zoas), 4 RBTA's.
Lighting: 2x 165w black boxes. Moonlight for 14 hours, Blues (50%) for 12 hours, Whites (40%) for 10 hours. *Just changed lights 2 weeks ago, but cleaned tank and still seeing same rate of algae growth.
Clean up crew: 20+ total... 7 blue leg hermits, 3 emerald crabs, 10 or so snails (including one monster Tonga). Hard to tell because snails always fall down and die. 1 sand sifting star.
Water: RO from supermarket, always tests <5 ppm (usually 0-3).
Flow: Besides return, 2x 850gph Hydro Koralia power heads on each end. Left side pointing down towards the sand, right side pointing up towards overflow.
Feeding: Frozen brine, PE mysis, or Rods. Fed every other day or every third day. Anemones get fed bigger chunks from Rods. I don't rinse my food but i do use tweezers to put the food in the tank (that way I'm leaving that water/thawed junk behind).
Rock: 125 lbs+. All but one 10 lb piece was live rock. 30 lbs from Craigslist, the rest from LFS. Sump has about 30 lbs, dt 90 lbs.
Additives: No dosing, but running GFO in a reactor (fed from and returned to skimmer chamber). Added Chemiclean several months ago due to cyano. Worked like a charm and did a massive water change after.
Water Changes: 10 gallons every 2-4 weeks. Vaccuum sand every time. After water is mixed, I let it sit for 1-2 hours before adding.
Salt: Using Instant Ocean, contemplating change to Reef Crystals.
Problem Areas: Rocks at each end, sand in the front portion of the tank (back side of the tank behind rocks, sand is crystal white).
Recent Changes...
- Added new lights (2 weeks ago). Prior to that had 1 LED bar and 1 50/50 CFL (10 months old).
- Changing sump. Originally went straight to skimmer chamber, then chaeto/rock/fuge chamber, then return. Now goes 50% left (chaeto), 50% right (skimmer), return in the middle with live rock.
- Ran chemiclean several months ago.
My half baked theories:
1) Not enough flow. Even though I'm not overfeeding and have a low bioload, I'm not getting enough circulation to keep nasties suspended in the water column. As a result they collect on rocks in low flow areas, causing algae growth. Not getting enough exported out of the tank to the sump.
2) Sump design is flawed. I moved 50% of my return away from the skimmer, relying on chaeto to export some nutrients. If the chaeto isn't doing it's job efficiently, thats a problem. The center chamber also has some detritus settled at the bottom. Could this be feeding bad shtuff to the DT?
3) Die off. Snails die all the time, like one every 1-2 weeks. They tip over and die. I've had some big turbos in there too. Could this really cause such a spike in a larger system like this? I also seeded twice with pods in the spring, yet I don't see this booming pod population. Could there have been a die off here as well that cause a nutrient spike?
4) Rocks leeching. I doubt this based on how I got them, but can't rule it out.
5) CUC not big enough. Whenever I think of beefing up my CUC though, that means more waste. I don't have a bristle worm factory in my tank so I figured I don't have a lot of extra stuff to compete for.
I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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