biopellets/algae help

[Deleted member 24321]

Hello
having some algae issues and I was thinking of adding a biopellet reactor but now having 2nd thoughts. The algae is almost like hair but short and green. Here's my most recent parameters:
ph 8.2
amonia 0-.25
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
calc 450
alk 6.0 dkh 2.17 mq/l
salinity around 1.026
The tank is a 180 gallon, been up for about 6 yrs, mixed reef, Deltec skimmer, 6 bulb ati power module, I run cheato in the sump, dual carbon gfo reactor. Water changes every two to three weeks about 40 gallons. Been blasting my rocks every few days to get rid of the extra crud. Recently did a big water change and scrubbed the rocks to get rid of any algea, two mp 40's for circulation. Any advice would be appreciated, I feed twice a day. Corals every few days. Just trying to figure out if there's anything that looks off here that could be causing the algae. Thanks,
Mark

 

[RicanReefLover]

I'm having some of the same issues. I will watch this post to see who and how it's answered.


Posted from ReefCentral.com App for Android

 

[Pederreefnerd]

Hi mark,

U have Po4, and u should use new GFO or Seaklear to remove it.
Dont use biopellets, it needs Nitrogen, and yr level on No3 is zero.

And u need a testkit to measure Po4 levels - need to be below 0,03

Peder

 

[Deleted member 24321]

thanks Peder
when I measure phosphate it comes up 0, I'm assuming that it's because it's being used to fuel the algae. Question, after about a week my gfo tends to slow down as far as the tumbling is concerned. Does that mean it's exhausted already and I should change it every week until I don't see an issue?

 

[Pederreefnerd]

thanks Peder
when I measure phosphate it comes up 0, I'm assuming that it's because it's being used to fuel the algae. Question, after about a week my gfo tends to slow down as far as the tumbling is concerned. Does that mean it's exhausted already and I should change it every week until I don't see an issue?

Hi again,

Yes, thats correct - actually I dont test for Po4, i check if I have algae....because these hobby testkit, is not very good when it comes to measure Phospate

To be honest I am not a big beleiver of GFO too, I prefer Seaklear myself. i have seen problems in my past with a GFO reactor - and today I rely on Seaklear and a balanced in and output to keep Po4 low.

So, my answer to U about yr reactor, I think U can get better advise from other people.... Since I have not used GFO for a long time.

I think U also might want to raise yr No3 above 0, otherwyse U could have problems with cyano too.

Ofcourse what I write is my personal opinion, and what works for me - other people can have another meaning:bounce1:

I hope I helped U anyway.

Peder

 

[Deleted member 24321]

thanks Peder
so with the Seaklear, how much do you dose? I see that it's for pool, assuming the dosing instructions are on a much larger scale
anyone else on the tumbing of gfo?
thanks,
Mark

 

[Pederreefnerd]

My systems contains 1800 liter of water, and to maintain rich color on SPS and no algae I give weekly 10 ml. Its a lot, but I want my fish to be healthy too

Best of luck to U and yr tank

Peder

 

[Deleted member 24321]

great thanks again

 

[MHG]

Not sure what kind of sand bed you have but I turned a canister filter into a vacuum and started vacuuming my sand bed. I had zero po4 but I had sand on my algae and glass and on anything my lawnmower blenny could not reach. Now that I vacuum it once a week it is a drastic improvement.

I have a shallow sand bed so vacuuming is not a big deal...

 

[Deleted member 24321]

I have a shallow sand bed less than an inch. About 3 months ago I got a diamond goby, and he's been stirring up the sand. He could be potentially releasing a lot of what was built up in the bed. It's very clean since I got him. I typically vacum the sand bed during water changes