Algae in nano reef

[Mmoreno1368]

So I have had my 30 gallon nano reef running for about 4-5 months now...Ive been adding to the system slowly over time. Im currently fighting so algae that i cant seem to get rid of... it turns my live rock to like a brown/greenish color...This is not my first reef tank but i do not remember fighting this sort of algae before. I use ONLY RODI water in my tank, i use a Tunze ATO andn dose kalkwasser with the ATO. I have a small DIY refugium that doesnt seem to be very efficient at growing macro algae. I am using a Coralife 65 skimmer, BRS media reactor with carbon and GFO mixed. My perameters appear to be testing fine with no detectable nitrates or phosphates although i continue to grow this grown/green stringy algae on my glass and rocks (will not grow on my sand bed):fun5: I do notice that if i move any of the rocks, that it does not grow where light does not touch....my live rock came from one of my old tanks...I had a nano reef before that i had to tear down. I had placed the rocks in a bucket where they ultimately became dry. I placed these rocks directly in my tank to start this...Im wondering if the issue is from bacteria from the live rock (i would imagine that the bacteria on the rocks would have been taken care of when the tank cycled.) The only other thing that i suspect is that my lighting schedule is off... I pretty much run my Fluval LED lights for about 10-12 hours a day at 100% intensity (since there is only an on, off and Blue setting.) I just ordered a kessil A360WE Tuna Blue with a spectral controller which i am hoping that a better lighting schedule will be better at controlling the algae as well as for my coral. My fish and coral all appear to be doing fine BTW...Any suggestions??? I will post pictures.

 

[zachfishman]

Everything looks healthy. You will not have a reef devoid of algae; none of us do (your rocks looks pretty clean BTW). You just want to keep algae under control so that it is not taking over, irritating corals, etc.

With the exception of certain types that tend to take over (Valonia, Caulerpa, many macroalgae), I recommend having a diverse assemblage of algae in a tank. Diversity can help keep one type from taking over.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Taking rock out of a tank, letting it dry, and then reusing it without any cleaning or curing effort means that all the life it once had is now dead, which means the rock is covered in die off - aka nutrients.

At this point you just need to continue to battle the nutrients. They're not showing on test kits because the algae is able to consume directly off the rock before anything is dissolved and measurable.

If it gets out of hand, consider a bigger cleanup crew. Cleanup crews do not solve the nutrient problem directly but by eating the algae and popping the nutrients back out, they help get the nutrients into a form where your export methods can be effective.

And next time you hold rock like that, cure or at least clean it well before reusing it.

 

[JammyBirch]

Get used to the fight

Get used to the fight

I've had a nano up for 4 years now and the battle with algae in these tanks does not end. Unfortunately nanos are so small that some of the animals that eat algae cannot live in such small tanks for long.

GFO is a waste of money, IMO...i have a turf scrubber in my sump to grow algae on and use it to help manage nutrients in the tank. Works well. Aside form bubble algae, the worst curse a NANO can have, all other algae grows in the sump for me.

Good luck...you'll have to learn to control it and live with it.

 

[Mmoreno1368]

Thanks so much for your replies. So at some point will all of the nutrients in the rock eventually die off? Ive read that taking the rock out and giving it a quick spray of H2O2 can be effective....im willing to try anything as i would much rather have a much more visually appealing Coralline algae growing all over my rock...at this point i would assume that the other algae is out-competing the coralline.
Thanks!

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

You're asking questions without straightforward answers. You're also experiencing what most or all people experience. Some call it "new tank syndrome" but I think that's a silly term.

Tanks go through nutrient cycles. Some of this is natural as the tank matures, but some (most?) of it is based on how the reef keeper learns to observe and react to his/her system. Yes, it's quite possible this will recede over time. It's also possible that it'll slowly get worse and completely take over. The nutrients already in the system, and those you add via food and other sources, are half of the equation. The other half is what you do to process and export nutrients.

The good news is, you're doing a lot of the right things already. Keep doing what you're doing, and react appropriately if or when things get worse, and it's very likely that this film algae will slowly go away as the nutrients in the rock are depleted. I don't think your issue is really that bad, and I don't think it's out-competing coralline. Coralline is slow to get established, but once it's widely present it can grow very fast. It's probably just not at that point yet.

Algae growth tells us two things. One, algae is present in the system. You can't do anything about that. Two, the conditions are right to fuel it's growth, at a rate faster than it is being consumed or removed. You CAN do a lot about those factors. You don't have to accept an algae-ridden tank, but I don't think you're really at that point right now. You may have to accept some temporary explosions of different types of algae, as you learn what fuels them and how to combat them.

But the good news is, generic strategies work most of the time - keep nutrients under control, don't use dirty rock, and if a specific algae gets a foothold, do your best to remove it or introduce critters that feed on it. Rinse, wash, and repeat.