hair alage normal

[chris31]

hey so my tank is on the newer side and after it had cycled i had a outbreak ok diatoms which is to my understanding normal in a new tank correct? well anyway that cleared up within a week-two weeks with no problems. Now i have a outbreak of hair algae is this normal? I just got back into this hobby and if i remember correctly i believe it is normal. i mean all the fish and corals that i have seem to be doing great my clowns just started hosting in the anemone that i had got for them, i added a frogspawn frag and a starburst frag and they both opened up day after i put them in the tank and they are both fully open, and all my fish are swimming around and happy and so are my inverts like my cleaner shrimp and all my snails. So is this hair algae normal?


PS i also do weekly 5 gallon water changes it is a 29g biocube.

 

[chris31]

bump

 

[stingythingy45]

Nuisance algae is normal for the first year.
Just make sure you're keep nutrients down.
Don't feed too much and check PO4 and NO3.
Do you use ro/di water?

 

[sporto0]

How many fish & what others besides the clowns? It is fairly common to have an initial outbreak of nuisance algae because a new tank will produce a fair amount of nitrates & nutrients until your bacteria colony grows to handle your bio-load. However a 29g tank is rather small, if you don't have a sump or refugium, you should at least try to run a HOB skimmer, it will be difficult to keep algae at bay if your nutrient levels, including nitrates & phosphates, remain medium to high due to fish waste & uneaten food, it is easier to get a handle on these levels with a larger volume of water, so you may have to dilligently keep an eye on these issues. If you can maintain proper water parameters & low levels of nutrients, the algae will either wither away or be eaten by your snails or hermits.

 

[chris31]

i just tested my phosphates and there a little high i do run purigen, a skimmer, and a uv steralizer. I have 5 fish i know thats a lot the plan was to only have 4 but i thought i lost a dracula goby but all of a sudden he appeared while i was away. I feed 2 flakes in the morning and 1/3 cube of frozen brine and 1/3 cube mysis mixed together at night. Like i said i do religious water changes every week. What else can i do to lower the phosphates? is it normal in a new tank to have high phosphates?

 

[chris31]

my nitrates and nitrites are both at 0.

 

[sporto0]

i just tested my phosphates and there a little high i do run purigen, a skimmer, and a uv steralizer. I have 5 fish i know thats a lot the plan was to only have 4 but i thought i lost a dracula goby but all of a sudden he appeared while i was away. I feed 2 flakes in the morning and 1/3 cube of frozen brine and 1/3 cube mysis mixed together at night. Like i said i do religious water changes every week. What else can i do to lower the phosphates? is it normal in a new tank to have high phosphates?

If your phosphates continue to run high, you can purchase a gfo/media reactor, BRS sells a very decent moderately priced unit & run the GFO (granulated ferric oxide) or a phosphate sponge & that will help lower your levels. I would wait a month or so & see how things go before getting one.

 

[chris31]

phosphate sponge you me like poly filter? ive heard some good things about that stuff or should i add like chemi pure?

 

[sporto0]

phosphate sponge you me like poly filter? ive heard some good things about that stuff or should i add like chemi pure?

Do a little research on phosphates first Chris, this site has dozens of threads on this topic. I would not add chemi pure at this point & there are different types of phosphate removers, GFO & Phosphate sponge (just small bits of ceramic) are only two of them.

 

[chris31]

so after talking to a reefing buddy of mine i believe i have found the source of the problem. After talking for a while we had decided that i was not over feeding and my fish load is large but deff not uncommon or unheard of. After further discussion we decided to test my RO/DI water to see if something was up with that and there wasn't the water was at a dead 0 on the p04 test. So finally i believe we have found the source there is one large piece of rock in my tank which is where the hair algae started and this particular piece came from a old tank of mine where i had a major p04 and algae problem simply because i was using tap water. That tank was eventually broken down and the rock sat in a garbage pale in my shed for about 2 years. So since i decided to use this rock as back rock in this tank the phosphates from this rock are most likely leaching out into this tank. So i added a product called phosguard which my friend said he has had much success with and has heard great things. So i will give this some time to work and then i will test again.