Question(s) about nutrients/algae

[jlmawp]

Bit long of a post, but I like to be thorough, so stick with me.

I have a 9-gallon nano that's about 6.5 months old now. I have made some minor mistakes as things have progressed, the biggest of which was overstocking. I've learned my lesson, and have been on a mission to reduce algae/nutrients in the water, mainly because I'd like to extend the time between thorough cleanings of the tank.

I'll list specs and stock below, but I have brought bio-load way down in the last few months, and have lightened up quite a bit on feedings (every 2 days now). Despite all of this, I'm still seeing significant algal growth 1.5-2 weeks after a thorough cleaning/rock blowing/siphoning/2 gallon water change. I'm running carbon, which I change every month, and clean the filter sponge every week. Water changes every 2 weeks. I even bought a large frag with some red macro on it to help soak up some nutrients, but it's growing fairly slowly so far.

Most of the algae (or maybe diatoms) i see grows on my substrate is brown, where the light hits. I get the thin green haze on my glass as well, and a little bit of growth on the rocks, but nothing terrible or even really noticeable.

Does this indicate that nutrients are mainly leaching from my sand, causing more growth there? Or is it maybe because there is much more surface area on the bottom that is exposed to light? I siphon the crap out of the sand, but as we all know, the crud down there is almost never-ending.

I'm trying a switch to Purigen for a cleaning cycle or two, to see if it has the ability to remove more nutrients from the water and stave off the algal growth for a longer period than my current setup. I'm guessing I'll continue to see algae growth on the substrate, since I'm convinced all the nutrients are coming up from underneath, but I figured this would be a good experiment.

Does anyone have any other methods or advice for helping out with this?


Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-5
Phosphate: 0-.25
Calcium: 420
pH: 8.2
Ro/Di water

Livestock:

Six-line wrasse
porcelain crab
pom-pom crab
2 blue hermit
4 astrea snails
2 nassarius snail

1 Duncan
3 Zoa pods
1 Torch
1 hammer
1 acro

8 lbs live rock
8 lbs substrate

 

[CarrieB]

I'm sorry, but it sounds like your tank is in pretty good shape to me.


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[mcgyvr]

diatoms feed on silicates.. which can be present in the sand.. the glass of the aquarium,etc...

Personally with only a 9 gallon nano I'd be doing weekly water changes for sure..
I'd probably do about 3 gallon changes weekly..

But yeah.. Sounds like you don't have a bad problem (or any problem) at all and just have a normal "young" tank..

 

[OrQidz]

That sounds...kinda normal as far as algae goes. If you do have/did have excess nutrients, it can take a while to remove them, so keep doing what you're doing.

 

[jlmawp]

Thanks everyone. Guess I'm on the right track and should just settle down with my perfection complex. Appreciate the feedback.

 

[KaZeR.UK]

I've read several articles in the past that says, silicates leached from sand and glass is almost non existent in the amounts needed to cause algae problems, despite what a lot of people say. If you use common sense that would make perfect sense.l or you would quite likely see glass and sand dissolve over time (which in our timescale it almost certainly would be minuscule amounts) I wouldn't worry about sand and your tank sounds healthy anyway tbf.

 

[jlmawp]

I've read several articles in the past that says, silicates leached from sand and glass is almost non existent in the amounts needed to cause algae problems, despite what a lot of people say. If you use common sense that would make perfect sense.l or you would quite likely see glass and sand dissolve over time (which in our timescale it almost certainly would be minuscule amounts) I wouldn't worry about sand and your tank sounds healthy anyway tbf.

I can understand that glass and silicates themselves don't give off anything, but does this also include the detriment that had settled into the sand? I have about 1.5-2.0 inches down there, and it holds quite a bit of junk. I'm just wondering if that is accelerating the algal growth.

Basically, if that's the case, then no amount of further water quality efforts will help too much since my problem isn't the water column, but the crud underneath that is degrading.