Water to Clean?

[ryeguyy84]

I'm having some trouble with hair algae so I'm doing a 20% water change every week, and shortening my light cycle. in doing this my SPS seems to be losing some color. I'm new to SPS so pardon my terms here but the fuzzy SPS are still fuzzy (polyp extension?) and none of them are losing any tissue (RTN?)

Anyone see any impending issues with color loss? or could this just be due to the shorter light cycle.

My Stats:
Biocube 29G HQI
Temp: 77.5 - 78.7
PH - day 8.22 night 8.10
Alk - 8.2
Calcium - 430
ammonia, nitrate, nitrite all acceptable
MG - 1250 (little on the low side)

light on at 2:30 off at 8:30 150W MH

hopefully I hit all the numbers. thanks for looking

 

[29reef]

The magnesium is too low IMO. That would cause corals to lighten and encourage HA to continue growing. Make sure your mixed salt has a concentration of magnesium around 1350-1400. Once you get your magnesium up there and a good CUC in place you should see the HA go away.

6 hour light cycle seems right to me.

 

[ryeguyy84]

I never understood how magnesium works, I just know it somehow allows more Calcium and Alk to be in the water.

I'll raise it up over the next few day, some of the HA is already turning white so I think that's a good sign.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Everything you need to know about magnesium can be found here. an article by Randy Holmes Farley

 

[ati70cutlass]

gfo helped me win the hair battle.

 

[ryeguyy84]

gfo helped me win the hair battle.

Yeah I think my problem is a phosphate packed rock. But I'm using lots of gfo.

 

[ryeguyy84]

Is 20% a week to much?

 

[nonstopfishies]

Yeah I think my problem is a phosphate packed rock. But I'm using lots of gfo.

Using too much GFO could contribute to color loss. It doesn't sound like your water is too clean if you are having problems with algae.

 

[ryeguyy84]

Using too much GFO could contribute to color loss. It doesn't sound like your water is too clean if you are having problems with algae.

Agreed, but... Would a 20% change a week make it to clean? My zoas can handle the big water changes not so confident with the sps. The rock in question came from a lfs with a frag in it. That's the rock that's getting the HA. So I want to nip that before it gets out of hand.

 

[nonstopfishies]

Agreed, but... Would a 20% change a week make it to clean? My zoas can handle the big water changes not so confident with the sps. The rock in question came from a lfs with a frag in it. That's the rock that's getting the HA. So I want to nip that before it gets out of hand.

I don't think the water changes are a problem. Just make sure you match the water as close as possible in ph, salinity, and temp. to the tank water to avoid shocking your corals.

If only that one new rock has it and you haven't had problems with it before you should be fine. Most likely just leaching some phosphates and will clear up soon.

With that large of water changes, I wouldn't use a lot of GFO. A small amount(less than recommend) should be plenty to keep up.

 

[ryeguyy84]

Thank you for your help. I match everything up except alk in the fresh water because it's higher but I just don't dose alk that day.

 

[mahogue]

I would also measure TDS in your RODI water. It has a tendency to seek up and feed HA despite tank PO4 being unmeasurable.

 

[ryeguyy84]

I stopped storing ro/di because of that. I use direct from the hose 0 tds and no phosphate. I tested for that to haha.

I also only have a top off container large enough for 2 days. I completly dump out any remainder and swish around some ro/di to clean it out.

 

[ryeguyy84]

I am at the end of my di resin... That may be feeding it. It still shows 0 tds but the color is totally changed. I'm going to swap out the resin tonight.

 

[danil]

just from my own exp. If you test(s) shows 0 nitrate and phosphate in water column and (as you said) your corals getting lighter in color and HA still there... most likely your problem not in the 'water' its in the rocks and substrate (if you have one). Try clean your sump and substrate from any buildup. Rocks can be 'cooked' to get rid of phosphates but that's required taking them out of the tank...

 

[ryeguyy84]

Yeah I thought about cooking the rock but that frag is glued to it. I'll send a pic later

 

[ryeguyy84]

For some reason the pic won't upload on my computer. The quality is low here but you get the idea. This used to be a brighter pink and you can see a piece of HA in the background.