Help please

[sfniners84]

So need some assistance, I have a a thin film of algae on a lot of my zoas and rock and I cant figure out why. I can blow it off but a short while later it comes back. Very stringy which continues to irritate my corals. The only thing not affected is my meteor shower frags and sunset monti. About two weeks ago I started to ramp up my chinese led lights pretty quick but notices fading so turn it back down. I could have fried the benificial bacteria on the surface areas, which would cause the algae to grow there now.. Any other ideas and or suggestions?? How much longer will this continue??

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 2
PH 8.4
phos 0
Temp 78
kh 12
mag 1350
cal 420

 

[lynchmob3000]

Are you running gfo or carbon right now?

 

[lynchmob3000]

I dunno how bad it is but if it's causing corals harm I may think about using a brush, scrubbing it off the rocks then sucking it all out while doing a wc.

 

[Wills612]

Sounds like Dino algae.

 

[sfniners84]

Not horrible and it will come off when I use a baster... Not running carbon.. I am using chemi pure..

 

[psykobowler]

It is possible you may not have adequate flow in your display tank. If it can be removed by a turkey Baster it will be removed by a properly placed powerhead or wave maker.

 

[greenhead]

Does sound like dinos. Been battling all sorts of algae myself since I started having source water issues . To battle the algae on the frags I have had to lightly brush them with a soft toothbrush. I did notice the emerald crabs help quite a bit. Even though inverts tend to shy away from dinoflagelates. Try getting a batch of small emerald crabs and try keeping all of your mechanical filtration clean. Like filter socks and any sponges in your system. Also cut back on feeding any dry food and rinse any frozen food with RO water until water is clear to prevent adding any nutrients to system. Back up these things with a good beneficial bacteria like Bactiv8 from Julian Sprung. I use special blend from microbe lift. But I have also started using top off water from Your Reef to lower the nutrients going in. Like Lynch mentioned new gfo and carbon helps a lot also.

 

[greenhead]

Also even though your tests read low there is still probably quite a bit of po4 in your system. It's just being bound up by the algae. That's why I use the look of my tank to tell me when to change my gfo and carbon rather than a test kit. If you can't go at least 4 days before cleaning the glass your nutrients are high.

Also after blowing everything off change your socks. That is after all the blown off algae makes its way to your filter socks. Or as it dies it will release the nutrients back into your system.

 

[sfniners84]

Flow shouldnt be the issue, I have a jabeo 25 in there now along with an upgraded maxi 1200 for mreturn pump.. its only a 29 gallon biocube. I have two emerald crabs now I can try a few more.. Could that be true on killing the benifical bacteria which would cause the alage??

 

[sfniners84]

Ok I will try the added carbon along with cleaning filter socks more often..