phosphates / algae

[Charliegirl2u]

The guy at the fish store said that I have brown and green algae because my phosphates are too high, I told him that I tested and it says that I have close to no phosphates, plus I have a phosphate pad that absorbs them. I have brown covering the gravel/sand everywhere that my power head doesn't hit with good water flow and I have some bubble algae I think it is on some of the live rock and the back of my tank. I scrubbed the glass yesterday and everywhere that I missed is green again today. I have been adding purple up everyday since friday and this is not helping but I had the algae before I started using this. I was told to cut back on my lighting by an hour and I have cut it back by two hours and this isn't helping. I have a 55 and 90 gallon running off the same sump and the 90 gallon has no algae, this is stumping me too ha. I have compact fluorescents on the 55 which has the algae. Anyone have any ideas how to stop this without defeating my trying to get coralline algae to grow?

 

[Rick83]

How old are the bulbs on the compact fluorescents? I know if they are really old they can contribute to algea growth. Is the tank near a window where it is getting a lot of daylight?

As to where phosphates are coming from, you might be feeding too much or feeding foods that are high in phosphates. Also the phosphates could be coming from your top off water, do you have an RO/DI unit?

I dont think Ive ever seen a phosphate kit read more than zero so I would think any reading over zero would be a problem.

Im not sure about the purple up as Ive never used the stuff but wouldnt think it would be a problem since its probably mostly calcium in there.

 

[Charliegirl2u]

I have an ro/di system and I have a zero reading on phosphates, the light is only 2 weeks old, any other suggestions?

 

[Tbohinc]

how long has the tank been running if you have new substrate in your tank that could happen also

 

[anaelitz]

your phosphate can be zero even if there are phosphates. What happens is as phosphates become available, the algae will "eat" it, thus giving you a zero reading. I had to hook up a phosban reactor..that did the trick. The pads work for smaller systems, but are no where near as effective as a reactor or even a small bag, that you would use for charcoal, in a small whisper filter or something like that.

 

[84chris]

Is this a new tank?

 

[lawdog]

What test kit are you using for Phosphates? Unless you are using a high end kit like Lamont you will get false readings from most test kits.

Also, I second the how old is the tank question... sounds like a diatom outbreak in a new tank... only time and full cycling will correct it. How much liverock do you have in the tank?

 

[Dtip]

Phosphates are indeed notoriously difficult to get a good reading on.

I'd also be careful with the purple up: it's basically nothing more than a calcium spiker, so you'll want to watch your levels. There are probably safer and more robust ways to increase calcium levels.

I third the tank age question. If its relatively new, this could just be part of the inevitable algae cycle, which mostly clears up on its own over time as these things use up all the extra nutrients from cycling, and then crash... which can then spike a different sort of algae... and so on.

 

[Charliegirl2u]

the 55 gallon has been up and running for almost 2 years but we just bought a 90 gallon and we built a sump that runs both tanks so the 90 gallon has new live sand and crushed coral and some live rock and 1 fish, my tank has mostly soft corals, mushrooms and 2 fish, I had an ich outbreak and put all the fish in a hospital tank and needless to say they all died so I am starting over with the fish. I had some algae before we hooked up both tanks to the same pump and the green slime algae was starting to get on all my live rock, which is when I bought the phosphate pad. The green algae is not everywhere anymore but the brownish red is. I have two different phosphate tests and have tried both and they both give me no reading and I am doing weekly water changes. The algae really started covering everything with the new light. I guess I'll just have to wait and see if this will just go away in a couple of weeks and maybe buy some phosban?

 

[CleveYank]

Double check TDS output of your RO/DI to make sure you are not adding right at the start.

Make sure you are not being to heavy handed with the feeding.

Bump the flow up within and or tank turn over and add some GFO via a reactor or canister that other's mentioned.

If things continue then you may also have to go to 3 day lights off and then bring photo period gradually back up. And linked with this a hefty water change since the nutrient stored in the algae will be added back into the tank's solution when the algae or cyano kicks.

ALSO...you mention crushed coral...if that is more crushed coral than sand then the large size can act like a food/waste trap and build up very quickly which can store nutrient that the algae/cyano will then feed on grow and store. A substrate if you have one should be as fine as possible to limit this nutrient sink issue. Although I don't believe it is the case 100% of the time, some even say that any substrate at all is a nutrient store/warehouse. But that is a whole other topic altogether.

Hope you find the key to get things in synch.