I'm confused, what do you think?

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Ok... here's the test results first

Alk - 6.8 - hanna
Nitrates - undetectable with salifert and low range Red sea tests
po4 - .04 red sea
Calcium - 450 salifert
Mag - 1450 - salifert
pH - 8.4

So I have a very small amount of GHA growing in the tank so I know there has to be some kind of nitrate? Plus my chaeto grows out of control. Corals look good, I have one that has lost some PE since my salt switch from RS Coral Pro to Tropic Marine Pro. I'm still working on how much alk buffer I need in my AWC station to get my alk up a little higher where I would like it.

So here's my confusion. I believe there is Nitrate present, but possibly being consumed between the small amount of GHA, Chaeto and this other algae that has crept up on the bottom of the tank? Poor picture below. I have things here to dose nitrate into the tank, but should I? Should I remove Chaeto? I feed what I believe to be rather heavy for my minimal fish stock. What else could I be missing? RO is at 0 TDS.

 

[Rlreefing]

You might think about bringing your PH up as you are testing acidic and you want to be closer to neutral (8.0) or above. Are you asking whether you should dose to bring your nitrates up? It is not clear from you picture, do you have a coral load that you want elevated levels?

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

You might think about bringing your PH up as you are testing acidic and you want to be closer to neutral (8.0) or above. Are you asking whether you should dose to bring your nitrates up? It is not clear from you picture, do you have a coral load that you want elevated levels?

pH is 8.4, updated my post.

I have a good amount of corals that i've grown from frags to 4-5"

I would like between 2-5ppm of Nitrate naturally.

Best picture i could get after the Mhs went off. Its just some fuzzy green algae.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Morning bump

 

[dwest]

Morning bump

I would drastically cut back, or eliminate chaeto and see what happens. Are you doing anything else to reduce nitrates?

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

3gal AWC, Skimmer and Chaeto

 

[rkpetersen]

Agree, remove more chaeto than you usually do.
Also consider cutting back on the fuge photoperiod.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

So you think I'm getting Algae growth in my display because its consuming the nitrate and not registering or i'm getting algae in my display because of the inbalance? That's what i'm trying to understand. If my chaeto is causing the low nitrate, why am I seeing nuisance algae in the display? I want to understand the problem.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

#reefsquad

 

[smartwater101]

Do not eliminate the chaeto. If you're shooting for long-term success, making a large change like that will not do you any favors. Simply remove a bit more than you typically do.

Its likely the gha and chaeto are absorbing the nitrate at such a rate, its undetectable by a test kit.

Also, manually remove as much gha as possible. You want the chaeto to be the dominant nutrient hog, so you'll have to "pull the weeds from the garden" from time to time.

Do those things and I'll bet your nitrate will slowly fall in line with your preference.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

OK so I remove the GHA a few times a week as it was only growing in one spot on my overflow box for the longest time.

I guess i'm still confused on the logic though. I have a ton of chaeto, i'm not sure how the gha is even getting any nutrients or starting to grow new on the bottom of my tank. By removing chaeto, don't I open up more nutrients to the GHA or other algae starting on the bottom? Try a couple more pics here... Not sure it matters but this started when I switched from RS Coral Pro to Tropic Marine Pro salt.

I'm going to remove some chaeto, but i'd like to understand as mentioned.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

 

[smartwater101]

I have a ton of chaeto, i'm not sure how the gha is even getting any nutrients

Both the chaeto and gha are getting and competing for nutrients.

By removing chaeto, don't I open up more nutrients to the GHA or other algae starting on the bottom

Yes, this is correct. That's why I say you have to "pull the weeds" from time to time. Its annoying at first, having to do it so much. But if you keep it up, the chaeto will eventually become the dominant nutrient hog and other algae will struggle to grow. Until then though, you have to keep manually removing the gha.

Once your chaeto is dominant, you'll remove more than you normally do. So your phosphates will rise. By then you will have tackled the gha so the chaeto will still be dominant. Though you may still have weeds to pull every once in a great while. (nature of the beast)

That make sense?


EDIT: By the looks of the video, you don't have enough gha to even worry about though. Just keep scooping it out.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

probably have a 5gal bucket of chaeto in my sump compared to what you see in the video and one spot on the overflow about the size of a half dollar that grows to about 1"-2" long and gets removed...

i'm going to remove some but it would make more sense to me that more chaeto would more easily out compete other algaes then say less when I remove some... lol dang nature

 

[smartwater101]

probably have a 5gal bucket of chaeto in my sump compared to what you see in the video and one spot on the overflow about the size of a half dollar that grows to about 1"-2" long and gets removed...

i'm going to remove some but it would make more sense to me that more chaeto would more easily out compete other algaes then say less when I remove some... lol dang nature

As long as you're also manually removing the gha, you'll be good to go long term.

The only place I have gha is in my fuge. On a large shell occupied by a big hermit crab. Its almost 3-4 inches long and I think its just too hilarious to remove. I probable should though lol

 

[dwest]

If your lighting is stronger in your DT, then the algae would grow faster in there right? I said to pull chaeto when I thought the main problem was too low nutrients. I misunderstood. Can you simply add more cuc to display?

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

I was thinking that I should re-up my CUC as well since the snails decided to race across my living room floor lol... pretty sure 90% of them climbed out, but I wasn't having any issues. Will probably do that in addition to trying to keep the chaeto more at bay.

 

[smartwater101]

If your lighting is stronger in your DT, then the algae would grow faster in there right?

Correct. Its a tricky thing because fuge lighting is always competing with the dominance of display lighting. Though, there are plenty of great/inexpensive options for grow lights.

 

[dwest]

I was thinking that I should re-up my CUC as well since the snails decided to race across my living room floor lol... pretty sure 90% of them climbed out, but I wasn't having any issues. Will probably do that in addition to trying to keep the chaeto more at bay.

Algae is just tough... I get rid of my dinos and now am sucking out lots of cyano and some gha every week or two. Good luck. It sounds to me like you know what you are doing.

 

[Crabs McJones]

FWIW I've noticed that when my fuge gets too full I start getting algae growth in the display as well. I pull out my usual amount plus a little more so theres maybe a softball clump left and within a week or so the hair algae dies off. My guess is when the chaeto overfills the fuge only your top layer is getting light and consuming nutrients.