need opinions on biopellets/algae

[earl123]

Hello
having some algae issues and I was thinking of adding a biopellet reactor but now having 2nd thoughts. The algae is almost like hair but short and green. Here's my most recent parameters:
ph 8.2
amonia 0-.25
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
calc 450
alk 6.0 dkh 2.17 mq/l
salinity around 1.026
The tank is a 180 gallon, been up for about 6 yrs, mixed reef, Deltec skimmer, 6 bulb ati power module, I run cheato in the sump, dual carbon gfo reactor. Water changes every two to three weeks about 40 gallons. Been blasting my rocks every few days to get rid of the extra crud. Recently did a big water change and scrubbed the rocks to get rid of any algea, two mp 40's for circulation. Any advice would be appreciated, I feed twice a day. Corals every few days. Just trying to figure out if there's anything that looks off here that could be causing the algae. Thanks,
Mark

 

[Greagzter]

I am not an expert, but this is just a thought. You lights, how long ago have you changed them? And have you tried running GFO?
I have been reading mixed things about the biopellet reactor. Besides you levels seem to be good, as far as I understand a biopellet reactor is used to promote the bacteria growth to take out nutrients from the system.

 

[earl123]

hey
I change my lights every year or so, last changed them about 6 months ago. I do run GFO and carbon in a dual brs reactor. I've been changing my gfo every week for the past few weeks. Prior to that I would change it every two months or so. I'm thinking maybe it was getting exhausted a lot quicker than I was changing it, so the phos was building up. I'm now thinking against the bio pellets as I hear they are for Nitrates and in my situation they are 0 so I think it's a phosphate issue.

 

[jackson6745]

Short green hair sound like bryopsis. This stuff will thrive in a low nutrient tank once it takes hold. Best way to get rid of it I have found is using Kent tech M magnesium. Raise magnesium to 1700 for a few weeks while manually scrubbing the algae off rock. It won't return. Supposedly there is a type of algaecide in the kent magnesium which kills the bryopsis. You might want to slow down on coral feeding as well. twice per day is not necessary.

 

[earl123]

thanks Rich
it's not Bryopsis. I had that a few years ago, what a bear!! I don't feed the corals twice a day, I feed the fish twice a day. I feed my corals every few days to once a week. Good idea on the mag, I tried that for the bryopsis but it didn't work , may work on this stuff thanks

 

[jackson6745]

It has to be kent tech m but if it's not bryopsis I'm not sure how it would work????

Well, since your tank is 6 years old you probably have a bunch of organics bound up in your sandbed and detritus in your overflow box + sump. I would do a very good cleaning. I would do a very large 50% water change. But not just a water exchange. Vaccum the sanded using a python, siphon detritus from overflow box(s), and wetdry the detritus from the sump. Manually remove the hair algae where you can and change phosban. If you're not using filter socks start using them. Clean your skimmer so it it performing optimally.

These steps should clean up the reef greatly and choke off the nutrients which fuel your algae.

 

[Greagzter]

reduce your light cycle and feeding. Make sure you check on your GFO, I have the same reactor and found the GFO not tumbling for some reason. Other than that I have no idea what is going on.

 

[earl123]

sounds good Rich thanks for the suggestions, I've never cleaned my overflows could be a lot built up there

 

[earl123]

yeah it seems to stop tumbling after around a week. maybe that's a sign that it's exhausted. Been changing more often lately, every week.

 

[Greagzter]

yeah it seems to stop tumbling after around a week. maybe that's a sign that it's exhausted. Been changing more often lately, every week.

It's not it, I just found it to be a little hard to adjust it. Had the same problem, just put a little less GFO. GFO as you may know is good for about a month or a month and a half if not longer.

 

[jackson6745]

It's not it, I just found it to be a little hard to adjust it. Had the same problem, just put a little less GFO. GFO as you may know is good for about a month or a month and a half if not longer.

GFO can also exhaust in less than a week. it all depends on po4.

 

[earl123]

that's what I've heard as well, but with my levels it's wierd. I use a hannah phosphate meter and another test kit sailfert I think and the po4 is 0. Nitrates are 0, so it's got to be the po4 because the algae is growing

 

[jackson6745]

The thing with po4 is that it can be used up by nuisance algae before testkits can read it.

 

[earl123]

I know it's frustrating

 

[MikeC]

Well, since your tank is 6 years old you probably have a bunch of organics bound up in your sandbed and detritus in your overflow box + sump. I would do a very good cleaning. I would do a very large 50% water change. But not just a water exchange. Vaccum the sanded using a python, siphon detritus from overflow box(s), and wetdry the detritus from the sump. Manually remove the hair algae where you can and change phosban. If you're not using filter socks start using them. Clean your skimmer so it it performing optimally.

These steps should clean up the reef greatly and choke off the nutrients which fuel your algae.

+100:lol_large

Any updates how is your tank dooing.

 

[troywalkerphoto]

I did not see it in your intro but what are your PO4 (phosphate) levels? What reading are you getting off your TSD at point of exit from your RODI? Sometimes a solution can be found by backing up a looking to the simple solutions. Introduction of PO4 to your system!

 

[earl123]

I do run filter socks. From a Hanna phosphate meter it's coming up 0 as well as some other random test kit i have. My TDS in is about 250-300 and out is 0, once it gets to 2 or 3 I change filters, resin etc. I've been feeding less, rinsing my food in rodi before I feed, changing my GFO every week to 10 days. THis is the longest it's gone before clumping, about 10 days. It seems that the growth has slowed a bit. Going to do the water change to clean out the over flows, sump etc shortly. I've also been blowing off my rocks every few days, a lot of junk building up on them. I also rearranged my tank and moved the rock out a little farther so it's not touching the back wall and arranged my mp40s so they will work more in a loop than pointing at each other. In other words on one side one's near the front and on the other towards the back. thanks for all the input!