Low Nutrients, lots o' Algae
- Thread starter DrBoxedWine
- Start date
DrBoxedWine
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So I didn't commit to your plan until a few days ago, but now that I have I've noticed something interesting... My PH isn't rising like it normally does throughout the day. Perhaps less photosynthesis is occurring during the light cycle? I killed all whites, reds, and greens.
DrBoxedWine
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No I'm not concerned about it, it's still in a healthy range. But my understanding is that the reason it climbs during the day is that photosynthesis causes it to rise. And that's not happening now... I'm hoping that means the algae isn't growing now
DrBoxedWine
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So I'm skeptical... I just ripped a bunch of algae off last night. I'll give it a bit longer, but i'm not sure it's working, sadly. I do appreciate the suggestion whether or not this works, tho. I'll be cutting feeding in half here too now.
DrBoxedWine
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I took this issue to Dr Randy Holmes over on *********. Have a look at the thread... http://www.*********.com/index.php?threads/202790/
DrBoxedWine
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R2r
DrBoxedWine
New member
I came across some more randy holmes stuff, and i'm cutting feeding in half, and it sounds like some iron supplementing might help my fuge that has sorta stalled out lately...
FYI - GHA is a battle, there is no quick-fix for it. My last battle took a few months to get rid of it and I was very close to just blowing up my tank....thankfully I didn't because it woulda been messy.
Good luck and keep at it - you will feel satisfied once you get it under control, until then drink more and it won't bother you as much
Good luck and keep at it - you will feel satisfied once you get it under control, until then drink more and it won't bother you as much
A few thoughts:
Some algae is oligortrophic( thrives in low nutreint water) even some green ones like bryopsis and ulva for example. Some algaes have rhizopores which embed in the rock and can be very difficult to remove and can pop back up from very small remaining fragments,'quite a few are single celled organisms and justr refgenerate.
Lowering nutreints can affect them all. Everything incuding coral needs some phosphate though ;so, the question is how far can you go with gfo etc without effecting the desireable organisms;0.02ppm seems low enough. Phytoplankton is limited at PO4 below .03ppm.
Appropriately sized UV may effect some spores if the algae you have produces them. It won't erradicate it but might slow it down. It will clear the water of planktonic algae. If you do use it let us know how it works .
PH is important and does not follow alk, calcium magenesium. It's very possible to have high values for all there of those and low pH. PH is driven by the CO2 in the water usually form the surounding air or bioical activity. It usually goes up duirng the day as photsyntetic oprganisms take it up and down at night as they stop taking it up and respire some excess.
At pH below 7.8 coral skelton and other calium carbonate in the tank, rock , sand etc can start to dissolve. As corals calcify they take up bicarboante ( HCO3) and process it to CO3 which is used in the skeletal matrix along wtih calcium and some other lements. When H + is at high levels in the water as it is at low pH it's harder to squeeze out the H from the bicarbonate.
Typically sea water runs around 8.2. Personally I keep mine at 8.15 to 8.35 dirunal swing.
Some algae is oligortrophic( thrives in low nutreint water) even some green ones like bryopsis and ulva for example. Some algaes have rhizopores which embed in the rock and can be very difficult to remove and can pop back up from very small remaining fragments,'quite a few are single celled organisms and justr refgenerate.
Lowering nutreints can affect them all. Everything incuding coral needs some phosphate though ;so, the question is how far can you go with gfo etc without effecting the desireable organisms;0.02ppm seems low enough. Phytoplankton is limited at PO4 below .03ppm.
Appropriately sized UV may effect some spores if the algae you have produces them. It won't erradicate it but might slow it down. It will clear the water of planktonic algae. If you do use it let us know how it works .
PH is important and does not follow alk, calcium magenesium. It's very possible to have high values for all there of those and low pH. PH is driven by the CO2 in the water usually form the surounding air or bioical activity. It usually goes up duirng the day as photsyntetic oprganisms take it up and down at night as they stop taking it up and respire some excess.
At pH below 7.8 coral skelton and other calium carbonate in the tank, rock , sand etc can start to dissolve. As corals calcify they take up bicarboante ( HCO3) and process it to CO3 which is used in the skeletal matrix along wtih calcium and some other lements. When H + is at high levels in the water as it is at low pH it's harder to squeeze out the H from the bicarbonate.
Typically sea water runs around 8.2. Personally I keep mine at 8.15 to 8.35 dirunal swing.
DrBoxedWine
New member
I think it's a negative on the blue light experiment... It was worth a try, and I appreciate the tip, but I think my final verdict is that if it helped, it was negligible. I added some iron to try and boost the fuge. Hopefully that helps. I cut feedings too
DrBoxedWine
New member
Honestly, I think it continued to grow... Sadly. This algae is quite the battle!
DrBoxedWine
New member
My skimmer has been not so great lately... I emailed RO about it, and they said something probably got in the water and isn't allowing the skimmer to work, and to run a carbon reactor. It finally dawned on me... These problems (skimmer, and then algae) started for me right around when I used this coral glue/putty that took my skimmer offline for a few days (would overflow instantly, basically). I have a hunch these are related...
