growing algae problems

[hotelbravo]

Oddly enough im trying to get alot of algae growth on my rocks. I have had my tank for over a year and I havent had an algae bloom I need some algae for my tang and angels to graze on but everything is so baron. I have tiny bit of diatoms but not much. I only have green star polyps as far as coral goes.
My lfs recommended adding phytoplankton to the system to increase the health of the tank and said it might help with algae. I was wondering what some others thought about my odd problem. Should I dose nutrients or what?

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Overfeed your fish, don't do water changes, and maybe get brighter lights. You could add uncured live rock with lots of life on it to seed algae. Trade a handful of sand from a buddy's tank.

Maybe you have too many herbivores for your setup to sustain a descent growth.

 

[FinzAquatics]

You could always try growing some natural macro algae. If you do I found most respond well to iron supplements. Full spectrum lighting. In my macro tanks I actually have an additional led light strip that's designed for fw planted (yellow, white and red LEDs).. Seems to get good growth of my algae

 

[hotelbravo]

I have a pretty big rose bubbletip anemone and I have pretty sufficient lighting to support him so I do not think its my lighting. As far as herbivores go in my tank I have a yellow tang, an angel, maybe 5 small hermits and about 8 snails. I kept my clean up crew small. I also have a few brittle stars. Not much in my tank eats the algae. I tried taking someones rock that had hair algae growing on it. I put it in my tank and the tang cleaned it off before it ever spread

 

[phobos2deimos]

If your nutrients are very low you may need more to sustain algae growth. But you'll still need to let it establish enough to survive the tangs. Maybe try getting a base population of C. Brachypus established in your sump, then seed it through your display. It's the fastest grower that I have, it's quite palatable to fish, and is pretty hardy.

 

[hotelbravo]

Where can I buy this c. Brachypus? I tried looking in the sticky that named a bunch of websites but not many I could view from my phone. Also what should I add to the water to increase nutrients in your opinion

 

[phobos2deimos]

Where can I buy this c. Brachypus? I tried looking in the sticky that named a bunch of websites but not many I could view from my phone. Also what should I add to the water to increase nutrients in your opinion

I'd only dose nutrients if your water tests very low, <5ppm nitrates and <.02ppm phosphates (just as a ballpark range). If that's the case then I'd try dosing KNO3 (Potassium Nitrate) and *perhaps* PO4 (Phosphate). This works very well in my macro-heavy tank (I keep my levels around 15ppm/1ppm), but might not work well in a reef with very few macros. Nuisance algaes could potentially take over, not to mention the effect nutrients may have on corals. I have some softies, RBTA, and LPS that do *okay*, but not great, and it's possible that my nutrients are the cause (although I don't *think* that's the problem).

As Finz said, iron is good. But I don't think that's limiting you right now. Iron deficiency is displayed through most green plants/macros when they have a translucent appearance, and very flimsy/weak structure. Iron is supposed to be beneficial in a reef setting anyways, so it may not hurt to dose it either way.

 

[hotelbravo]

Okay that helps alot. Ill be testing my water tomorrow and ill report back and see what yall think

 

[Saltliquid]

Okay, you have a rose quad and its doing great and near no nuisance algae in play, when you get good algae you will get nuisance algae as well, keep doing what you are doing!! Just tear off some small sections of sushi wrap each day or two or as many times as you like, it can be a hint PH disruptive but not really, anyway squeeze in between fingers in your water and let go and add more algae based foods and filter feeder meats to your frozen food mix and its all good. If you can the easiest is buy a couple of nori/sushi wrap aquarium clips and place in not just nori but some cunjevoi as well if you can get it, there is no better balanced food beyond cunjevoi meat. Oh and i add when needed for my halymenia only, human grade iron.

 

[amber3k]

FWIW, I had high nutrients and no algae growth either. I had three rbta that were very happy so I figured lights were good, new bulbs even in HO T5s. Added a couple metal halide lights, now I have algae....

 

[FinzAquatics]

I have a pretty big rose bubbletip anemone and I have pretty sufficient lighting to support him so I do not think its my lighting. As far as herbivores go in my tank I have a yellow tang, an angel, maybe 5 small hermits and about 8 snails. I kept my clean up crew small. I also have a few brittle stars. Not much in my tank eats the algae. I tried taking someones rock that had hair algae growing on it. I put it in my tank and the tang cleaned it off before it ever spread

Although you may have proper lighting for anemones and coral, lighting required for algae growth is slightly different. For my macro tanks, I use full spectrum lighting that is technically designed for freshwater planted tanks.. Seems to promote very good growth of macro algae.

 

[hotelbravo]

I threw a t5 fixture on my sump to give some light to the refugium. I bought some macro from a fellow reefer. (Caulerpa brachypus) im just gonna grow it out down there and move to the dt every now and then