Nutrient Control and Algae - Have I got this right?

[Punchanello]

Hi all.

I'm a bit confused by all the threads I see where people are desperately seeking help with hair algae etc who have very low nitrates and phosphates. They are often recommended fluconazole or some other bottle based product.

I guess I'd like to understand if my understanding from the reading I've done is correct.

Algae is naturally occurring on reefs so the issue is an aesthetic one. We don't like it in the DT. Algae consumes inorganic nutrients and also employs photosynthesis. If you are reading close to zero phosphates and nitrates and still have a hair algae problem it's likely that it is consuming these nutrients before they register. If you can reduce the biomass of the the algae (and/or its capacity to absorb nutrients and photosynthesise) and introduce some other nutrient consuming life under excellent conditions (like a macro-algae refugium with a powerful light in the right spectrum) it can theoretically out-compete just about any algae.

Lots of reefers I have seen with old tanks who employ this method have had great success. As a new hobbyist, I'd like to understand why so many people struggle with algae issues. Is it new tanks? Is the theory above correct but the implementation difficult? Are there some algae that are just too tough to beat without chemical help?

 

[jda]

What you said is correct.

One of the more recent issues with algae concerns proximity. A lot of people chosen to start tanks with dead/dry rock which can contain a lot of organics and bound phosphates. As these decay and get released, the algae on the rocks is in close proximity and gobbles them up first. This was never a problem when people used real live rock since it was mostly organic and phosphate free out of the ocean. This is a hidden cost of dead/dry rock that keeps on adding up for a long time.

Also, if you starve the algae, you will starve the corals.

Honestly, a lot of people just don't understand that algae in the first year is a rite of passage. Patience and planning are not widely adopted as virtues anymore.

 

[Subsea]

What you said is correct.

One of the more recent issues with algae concerns proximity. A lot of people chosen to start tanks with dead/dry rock which can contain a lot of organics and bound phosphates. As these decay and get released, the algae on the rocks is in close proximity and gobbles them up first. This was never a problem when people used real live rock since it was mostly organic and phosphate free out of the ocean. This is a hidden cost of dead/dry rock that keeps on adding up for a long time.

Also, if you starve the algae, you will starve the corals.

Honestly, a lot of people just don't understand that algae in the first year is a rite of passage. Patience and planning are not widely adopted as virtues anymore.

+100.
As a reefer of 45 years, I am shocked at what some add to their EcoSystem expecting good results. The abundance of threads on fire with their special emergency is proof of the results.

Do not target symptoms with chemicals as a first resort.

 

[ReefkeeperZ]

As a new hobbyist, I'd like to understand why so many people struggle with algae issues.

The most prevalent cause is simply import export balance, nutrients going in feeding fishes etc not being removed/utilized by other means so algae takes hold a lot of people easily feed 6 or 7x a day what their tank actually needs or ver their ability to export and then they have burst of algae growths.

new tanks do tend to go through phases until their tanks balance out, new set up often have exces silicates so they go through a diatom burst etc etc.

 

[Timfish]

The nitrogen and phosphate cycles in reef systems is far more complex than we thought even 10 years ago. Sadly, both those cycles are still presented simply as nitrate and PO4 issues when we need to be thinking off both organic and inorganic forms and sources and indirect effects.
In my maintenance business I have not seen a direct corallation between what we can test for and algae issue. In fact when I've called to fix an algae issue measurable nitrogen and phosphate usually increase after fixing an algae problem. We also now have research done with corals maintained in a ULNS system for a minumum of 2 1/2 years show phosphate deficiency really screws up the coral/zooxantheallae symbiosis. A really good book I highly recommend is Forest Rohwer's "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" (Kindle version is only $10). Here's some links:
http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/Nutrient enrichment.pdf
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d706/f6699d553313e2391945c3007d07f906d0d4.pdf
http://classroom.oceanteacher.org/p...resource/content/1/Jennifer_Smith_Ecology.pdf
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160425141821.htm


Here's two videos that are good introductions to the complexities we're dealing with in our aquariums:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRIKW-9d2xI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R2BMEfQGjU