Algae help! Nitrates at 0 too!

[DannyBCorals]

Ok, so this is a big pain in the butt, I have a lot of hair algae in my tank, it’s not out of control, it’s just here and there. So, I got a sea hare, he literally sits at the bottom of the sand all day and moves every now and then, but doesn’t eat any algae! Got him yesterday too. Second, I need to raise my nitrates without raising my phosphates as if my phosphates raise, so does the algae. So, how can I raise them without raising phosphates? And why is my sea hare doing that?
Tank parameters:
Alk 9.0
pH: 8.3
Nitrate: 0ppm
Phosphates: .10ppm (keep in mind since the hair algae eats phosphates, the phosphate level is actually higher than what the test kit shows)
Mag: 1450
Calcium: 400

 

[Catchemall]

Here’s how I’ve battled and beat it before. Your nitrates aren’t zero or you wouldn’t have hair algae. It’s there just absorbed by the algae before it can be shown on a test kit. You’ve got to up your game with a scrubber or refugiam. Get a strong light to make a place for the algae to grow. Manually scrub and remove every day and keep on top of water changes keep at it for however long it takes. It will be a up hill battle but you can beat it. Every time you see some growing back do something about it.

 

[Catchemall]

id Get your phosphate down via GFO or lanthium chloride

 

[Bryce M.]

algae is eating all nitrates, carbon and GFO is a great combo. Plus water changes

 

[SDK]

How long has this tank been set up?

 

[DannyBCorals]

How long has this tank been set up?

It’s been up for 2 years! It’s also been spotless for the last 2 years! This algae literally popped in my tank when I had a fuge light in my sump, it grew a lot of excess algae in the sump, I turned the light off, the algae in the sump died and hair algae went into the display.

 

[DannyBCorals]

id Get your phosphate down via GFO or lanthium chloride

I’ve been dosing brightwells phosphate-E

 

[Catchemall]

It’s been up for 2 years! It’s also been spotless for the last 2 years! This algae literally popped in my tank when I had a fuge light in my sump, it grew a lot of excess algae in the sump, I turned the light off, the algae in the sump died and hair algae went into the display.

When you removed your fuge light The new place for the algae to grow was in your display tank. You want it in your fuge. Add a good size ball of chaeto and blast it with light.

 

[Catchemall]

You have to get the good algae to outcompete the bad. Let it grow and just harvest small amounts.

 

[Dana Riddle]

I'm not a big fan of additives for algae control, but an aquarist I really respect reports algae control with a product called Vibrant. I was so impressed that I ordered a bottle and have started dosing to control small amounts of bubble algae showing up in my DT.

 

[DannyBCorals]

I'm not a big fan of additives for algae control, but an aquarist I really respect reports algae control with a product called Vibrant. I was so impressed that I ordered a bottle and have started dosing to control small amounts of bubble algae showing up in my DT.

What’s the full name of the product?

 

[DannyBCorals]

You have to get the good algae to outcompete the bad. Let it grow and just harvest small amounts.

Did not think of that!!!! I’ll be doing that!

 

[j.falk]

What’s the full name of the product?

 

[Jimmyneptune]

It’s been up for 2 years! It’s also been spotless for the last 2 years! This algae literally popped in my tank when I had a fuge light in my sump, it grew a lot of excess algae in the sump, I turned the light off, the algae in the sump died and hair algae went into the display.

I have a similar issue. At first I had a lot of algae in my sump and then started getting a lot of algae in my display. I got more Fuge lighting and the algae in my displayed still kept growing and sump algae dying. My nitrates are always close to zero.
What I am trying
I turn down the intensity of my display light and adjusted the light cycle in my sump, previously ran my sump like 24 / 7 currently running the light 16 hours a day. I am going to start Chaeto gro in a few weeks. I’m letting the tank settle in with the new lighting schedule and then I’ll get some fresh Chateo. That way I’ll have possibly a better light environment for the Chaeto And the proper nutrients and the proper trace elements for it to grow.

I have noticed, just with change in my light schedule, I’ve been able to vacuum out some of the algae I have in the display. For instance I have several pieces of Monti red cap that had algae growing underneath them. I’ve never been able to vacuum them or pull the algae off the bottom. With this new light set up I was able to vacuum off the bottom of the Monti and get 95% of the algae off the bottom of it.

 

[DannyBCorals]

I have a similar issue. At first I had a lot of algae in my sump and then started getting a lot of algae in my display. I got more Fuge lighting and the algae in my displayed still kept growing and sump algae dying. My nitrates are always close to zero.
What I am trying
I turn down the intensity of my display light and adjusted the light cycle in my sump, previously ran my sump like 24 / 7 currently running the light 16 hours a day. I am going to start Chaeto gro in a few weeks. I’m letting the tank settle in with the new lighting schedule and then I’ll get some fresh Chateo. That way I’ll have possibly a better light environment for the Chaeto And the proper nutrients and the proper trace elements for it to grow.

I have noticed, just with change in my light schedule, I’ve been able to vacuum out some of the algae I have in the display. For instance I have several pieces of Monti red cap that had algae growing underneath them. I’ve never been able to vacuum them or pull the algae off the bottom. With this new light set up I was able to vacuum off the bottom of the Monti and get 95% of the algae off the bottom of it.

Wow! I’ll have to try that!

 

[DannyBCorals]

Thank you!

 

[flchamp89]

I'm a big fan of vibrant. Just make sure you dose to tank volume not tank size and keep up with export.

 

[Dana Riddle]

What’s the full name of the product?

It's Vibrant Aquarium Cleaner (Reef Formula) by Underwater Creations. I decided to try it after the endorsement (& after emerald crabs and a Fox Face didn't eat the bubble algae.)

 

[bar|none]

I have a similar issue. At first I had a lot of algae in my sump and then started getting a lot of algae in my display. I got more Fuge lighting and the algae in my displayed still kept growing and sump algae dying. My nitrates are always close to zero.
What I am trying
I turn down the intensity of my display light and adjusted the light cycle in my sump, previously ran my sump like 24 / 7 currently running the light 16 hours a day. I am going to start Chaeto gro in a few weeks. I’m letting the tank settle in with the new lighting schedule and then I’ll get some fresh Chateo. That way I’ll have possibly a better light environment for the Chaeto And the proper nutrients and the proper trace elements for it to grow.

I have noticed, just with change in my light schedule, I’ve been able to vacuum out some of the algae I have in the display. For instance I have several pieces of Monti red cap that had algae growing underneath them. I’ve never been able to vacuum them or pull the algae off the bottom. With this new light set up I was able to vacuum off the bottom of the Monti and get 95% of the algae off the bottom of it.

Chaeto grow works really well. Mine would die off even while dosing triton method. I now dose two capfuls a week on a reefer 170 to suppliment the triton and my fuge is very happy to grow the macro with a kessil h160.

 

[Dana Riddle]

I added Vibrant at the recommended dosage (for highly maintained tanks) 8 days ago. Yesterday, I noticed almost of the green algae 'haze' I allowed to grow on one of the panes was gone. No visible effect on the Valonia though. One of the Acans had withdrawn after initial dosage, but it is back fatter than ever (and I noticed 3 new polyps were sprouting.) No apparent effect on the other 30-something corals in the tank. Purple calcareous algae looks good too. Since this is a product containing bacteria (and supposedly eating waste in the tank) I though phosphorus and/or nitrate wold rise - they didn't (0.01 and 0.6 ppm, respectively.)