Found the cause for my algae problems!!!

[KenT]

535 mixed reef, heavy bioload. I started with red slime then went on to a 5 month long hair/briopsis outbreak!!! I was in the tank everyday pulling out about 1 qt of algae!!! Finally went away. 1 thing I discovered is my salinity was very high, 1.028. Don't know if this helped with the algae but it sure did kill alot of my best corals!!! I brought the salinity down but started getting algae again.

I have always had a lot of detritis. I have good flow in the tank, but it was getting to the point where it was covering everything. So I did a lot of vacuming and cleaning. I put foam filters over the 1.5 intakes for my closed loop, socks over the drain lines in the sump, and a huge foam block on the intake bulkhead for the pump for the skimmer.

WOW, what a difference!!!!! The live rock looks great, corals look great and the water is crystal clear. I did add 300 snails and are doing a great job. I used to have to clean the front glass EVERY day. It has been a week and I've only had a few small spots.

I thought my skimmer, flow, and critters would do the job of cleaning detritis, but I was wrong.

I've been in the hobby for 10+ yrs. and let this important factor get out of control. I hope my discovery can help others with discouraging algae problems.

 

[Kreeger1]

Bryopsis is the about the hardest battle to beat. I'm fighting that fight myself.
UGH
Erik

 

[Purple Haze]

You went for 5 months without checking salinity? You must trust your equipment.

Nice eflo, btw.

 

[Sparkss]

Thank you for sharing your experiences

 

[KenT]

You went for 5 months without checking salinity? You must trust your equipment.

Nice eflo, btw.

I did a lot of water changes using a hydrometer. Turns out it was not acurate. I'm waiting on a refractometer as we speak.

BTW, the eflo is dead!

 

[mike660r]

Way to close there Kent... lol

 

[anthworks]

I didnt see that you indicated if your tank was BB or sand? Would adding the filter socks cause an algea outbreak to go away? I attrribute your success to the clean up crew.

 

[KenT]

I have a sand bed. I'm not sure it is a good thing. If I stir the bed ALOT of detritis floats out. Not sure what I'm going to do with it.

 

[nreefer]

Sorry I was a little confused, was it reducing the high salinity that caused your tank to improve or the addition of the filter socks and foam block?

 

[KenT]

Not sure. I think the first step is to remove as much detritis as you can. The high salinity may have also helped, but don't know for sure.

 

[ckuhndog77]

usually low alk leads to algae outbreaks.
other suspects - old lights
old ro filters & membrane

cut back on feeding for a week or two may help as well.

Glad to hear things are on a better path - you will love refractometer - I do.

 

[bergzy]

i had even higher salinity issues!!!

1.035 for, i am guessing, months!!!

horrific plating/lettuce algae issues despite alk of 10!

how horrific?

i just grew and grew smothering almost all my zoo colonies! to say it was disheartening is an understatement...

now i have a calibrated refractometer and recalibrate it once a week!

raised my alk to 12 got my salinity to 1.025 via refractometer and plating algae has almost fully disappeared!

i have now adjusted my alk back down to 10 again...

badbones (tony) was more than gracious to help restock my sps that was lost due to my 'episode'. i cant thank him enough for helpin' a brutha out in down times!