Reef Discussion

Buddy

Member
Mar 13, 2012
3,142
1,526
Whatever started it growing, there's something you are doing (or not doing) that's keeping it growing.

Either you're introducing too much nutrients (how much do you feed and what do you feed?) or the nutrient-removal system you use has failed.

How much light does the tank get?

Anyway, probably didn't have to say it as everyone would be thinking it.
The tank has lights from 2pm - 11pm (an hour of ramping on either end) LED and T5 (globes are a couple of months old) The T5's are only on for 4 hours per day.
I have had this same schedule for years now.

You could also get yourself more herbivores or feed less the ones you already have.

My phosphates measurements have been around 0.64 or higher and my nitrates 2 or less (often 0.5 or less), for the past two years or so. I don't have sps so no problem there to worry about. I don't use any chemical removal system except for a small skimmer (under-skimmed compared to everyone else here). But, I do keep one wall of my tank glass for algae to grow on and I keep an eye on how much of that algae is getting eaten by my Yellow Tang and Coral Beauty. The Yellow Tang is useless at voluntary algae control compared to the Coral Beauty or a bristletooth tang.

I reduce my feeding of Nori when my fish are not taking care of the algae.

I think the Yellow Tang especially is lazy and will allow itself to be content on Nori if given the chance and will leave cleaning the rocks and tank wall alone.

Previously I had a bristletooth tang and when I got rid of that I did get the GHA and it took a while to go. The way I got rid of it was to reduce feeding all food types, especially the Nori.

So, I would be looking at reducing your feedings and forcing your herbivores to do their job.

Nori is suppose to be high in phosphates and I feed a fair bit of it now, but even with the high phosphate and relatively low nitrates I have no GHA. I do have some fine cyano so everything is not perfect.
I think my Herbivores are just lazy and eat the food I put in to the tank. I feed one cube of frozen and a pinch of flakes one day, then the next they get a pinch of pellets and a pinch of flake.
I have a large Foxface, 2 Blue Tangs, a Sailfin, Purple and Power Blue plus a Red Spot Blenny and none of them touch the algae on the rocks, only picking at the back glass:rolleyes. I also haven't fed any Nori since the algae but I only fed maybe one sheet per week anyway.
 

Trash

Member
Jan 21, 2013
78
26
The tank has lights from 2pm - 11pm (an hour of ramping on either end) LED and T5 (globes are a couple of months old) The T5's are only on for 4 hours per day.
I have had this same schedule for years now.


I think my Herbivores are just lazy and eat the food I put in to the tank. I feed one cube of frozen and a pinch of flakes one day, then the next they get a pinch of pellets and a pinch of flake.
I have a large Foxface, 2 Blue Tangs, a Sailfin, Purple and Power Blue plus a Red Spot Blenny and none of them touch the algae on the rocks, only picking at the back glass:rolleyes. I also haven't fed any Nori since the algae but I only fed maybe one sheet per week anyway.
You have a powerful algae eating crew there! Maybe dont feed the tank for a day or so and see if they turn to the algae. Obviously make sure the fish are big enough and in good enough condition to do this. You don't want to mess around with feeding schedules of fish like Powder Blues if they are not fat and healthy.
 

Buddy

Member
Mar 13, 2012
3,142
1,526
You are right about the powder blue, it took forever just to get a little bit of meat on him as he was very skinny from the LFS. I would still like to see him a little bigger. I might cut down feeding to half and see how it goes.
I did a little test and turned off my skimmer for 24h and then tested my water. I saw a 0.03 rise in phosphate but nitrate remained at 0.
I also got my new test kits and they confirmed my previous tests to be correct.

I am sending off my Triton test today so hopefully that will paint a bigger picture.
 

Sean81

Member
Nov 11, 2015
112
36
Sydney, South
I have been fighting a thick brown algae for months now and found my DI exhausted even tho it was only 9 months old. It had turned black at the base, meaning it was well gone. I had read no P04 (Hanna) the whole time and 0 TDS. I replaced the filters and have been doing 10-20% water changes daily for 2weeks and it looks like I'm winning.
 

Savage Henry

Member
Feb 2, 2015
653
254
I sometimes wonder that my fish, two urchins and strombus are doing a good job of the algae, but because they poo it all back into the system my phosphates are always high. So the phosphates are not getting taken out of the system.

Whatever, my corals are all doing well, especially my hydnophora so my water measurements don't worry me (atm).

Hopefully you've introduced the algae in accidentally and it's not a matter of the tank re-establishing a balance and overcoming it.

Anyone seen that tank in the pub on Goulburn Street in Sydney? Pretty shocking case of GHA.
 

Buddy

Member
Mar 13, 2012
3,142
1,526
I have been fighting a thick brown algae for months now and found my DI exhausted even tho it was only 9 months old. It had turned black at the base, meaning it was well gone. I had read no P04 (Hanna) the whole time and 0 TDS. I replaced the filters and have been doing 10-20% water changes daily for 2weeks and it looks like I'm winning.
I did replace it last year, but I will pull it out and double check it just to be sure. Since Melbourne water has such a low TDS (25ish) to begin with, the filters last a really long time.
 

Wazza22

Member
Oct 3, 2015
116
50
Perth
I did replace it last year, but I will pull it out and double check it just to be sure. Since Melbourne water has such a low TDS (25ish) to begin with, the filters last a really long time.
o_0 I wish !! Over here in Perth my TDS out of the tap is 470 ish
 

Buddy

Member
Mar 13, 2012
3,142
1,526
Well I got my results back from the Triton lab.
Surprisingly the results are pretty good! The calcium and magnesium was low which I already knew about and fixed.
Iodine is a little low. There is a slight reading of aluminum
Here is the interesting part. Finally might be on to something!

Your Molybdenum levels are slightly elevated. This can lead to severe bacterial growth (Cyano, etc.).

Check for possible contamination source. To assist you in finding the source of error, we have listed them the most common sources of molybdenum (sorted in descending order of frequency):

1. Trace element overdose / contamination
2. Food
3. Contaminated salts
Is anyone able to elaborate on this? I have never even heard of Molybdenum.

Triton.jpg
 

Buddy

Member
Mar 13, 2012
3,142
1,526
Well it looks like this issue has been resolved.
The steps I took were, nothing and followed by more of nothing. Didn't even do a water change.
I guess the algae just starved it self out.