Finding that balance.... (hair algae and pale corals)

[RRaider]

I have an Oceanic 156g brick (5x2x2, 3/4" glass, no center brace) with a 40 breeder sump set up for just over 1 year after transferring everything over from my 29g that was just completely over grown with coral, couldn't even clean the front glass any more.

I'm dealing with two separate, yet related issues. First is hair algae, second is pale colors in some of my acros. My alk is steady at 9dkh, cal is 440, mag 1400, nitrates undetectable but obviously there and phos is at .03 according to hanna meter. I'm running gfo, and rox gac. Use dosing pumps to dose once every hour to keep levels steady. Have an octopus extreme 200 skimmer that I just upgraded a week and a half ago with a Bubble Blaster 3000 pump and gatevalve upgrade from Coralvue (made a big difference). I have 9 fish, all small except a 4" regal tang and a 3 1/2" foxface.

Lighting is two 250w Radiums in Lumenbright reflectors on each end with a 250w phoenix in the middle in a pendant with two 48" t5's for actinics. I run the actinics 10hrs a day and the radiums 6. All bulbs just replaced a month ago except the phoenix which I'll order this week.

I feed a mix of pellets at noon and dose 1-1.5 ml Brightwell AA in the evening along with an occasional feeding of Rod's food and coral frenzy.
I have three mp40w's that I run at 80-100% for much of the day to help prevent detritus from building up in the tank.

This weekend I removed the live rock I had in the sump, vacuumed out all the water and a ton of detritus that was trapped in and under the rock that I believe was helping to feed the algae. I added a powerhead to keep that section clean along with a small ball of cheato. There was some grape calerpa on the rock I removed but elected not to use it.

That was Sat and already my pale corals are even paler. Too soon to know how much effect this will have on the algae. I'm thinking I need to feed more, but don't want to feed the algae...

 

[JT3069]

how deep of a sand bed do you have?
when a sand bed matures it will make the tank act like it's running ulns

 

[RRaider]

about 1" of sand. I occasionally install a filter sock and stir a portion of it up to keep it from collecting too much waste.

 

[stevedola]

1. what light did the 29g have over it?
2. did you acclimate your corals to the new lighting?(if its new-if so how?)
3. DId you get a cycle from the transfer and adding new LR and LS?
4. How much GFO are you using? and why? you only have 9 fish in a 156g tank...do you drastically over feed? your skimmer should keep up with that amount of livestock.

 

[stevedola]

about 1" of sand. I occasionally install a filter sock and stir a portion of it up to keep it from collecting too much waste.

I would prolly just get a dozen nassarius snails and let them stir it up (as bob marley says):smokin:

 

[RRaider]

The move was over a year ago so I don't think the light acclimation and possible cycle have anything to do with my current issues. I've been running gfo because my phosphates would climb up to .1-.08 and because I have hair algae. I think my issue was the rocks collecting all the crap in the sump so i may not need it going forward. I may have been over feeding. It seemed like when I would feed more the coral would start coloring up, but the algae would begin to grow and thrive as well. I'm hoping the improved skimmer and removal of the nutrient sink in the sump help. Some of my coral look great, others are pale and seem to stay that way whether i move them to low or high light. Some of them went pale about 2 months ago when I allowed the salinity to creep up to almost 1.030, several others i have never been able to get to color up. I did have redbugs and i'm sure they contributed to the issue. I wiped them out a couple of months ago with interceptor. I observe my corals almost daily with a magnifying glass to make sure they haven't returned.

 

[stevedola]

Yeh, I wasnt sure how long it had been.

It almost sounds like the steril tank syndom where the corals are starved for nutirents and turn pale but that cant be. I think that the steps youve taken will help but I would try taking the GFO off and try using waterchanges to knockdown the PO4. To attach your Hair Algea get a good clean up crew...plenty of scarlets hermits, nerite snails, margarita snails, trochus snails, nassarius and cerith snails. You need to try something different. Im sure the sump full of waste and live rock didnt help but after overcoming redbugs, alk swings, sg swings, poor nutrient export and nutrient sinkholes my suggestion couldnt hurt. Patience and time will heal all wounds...be diligent and patient.

 

[JT3069]

the algae probably is starving your coral of n and p
they do need sum
alot of the time if your water has lil phosphate, then your rock and/or sand will begin to leech phosphates that are bound to it.
hanna meters do have a high margin of error!!!
you may need more flow, food maybe settling some were (posssibly)
just take a look see if you notice anything
you could possibly be on the right track,and not know it
some times the best cure is simply, just leave it alone

 

[Ralph ATL]

please keep the gfo (change every 10 days or so along with Rox), do water changes every 7-10 days, change out some sand and rock on occasion, and have your MH Bulbs on at least 8-10.....more flow too! good to go.

 

[RRaider]

Update time.
In the last two months or so I have cleaned up the sump, switched to vho super actincs from t5's, preformed more regular water changes, upgraded my skimmer with a bubble blaster 3000 and gate valve, replaced old mh bulbs, and lastly switched from dosing 2-part to a calcium reactor.

I am definitely beginning to see improvement in my colors and I'm slowly winning the war on the hair algae.