Taylor_Pound1127 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Maybe someone can link/bump me to the appropriate thread to help me out. Hello. I have had a 29 biocube with the standard pump, lights, filter, and bio balls and also the coral life fan accessory running for about 2 months now. The sand is new and the rocks have been "cooked", and there are only 2 fresh water mollies, 1 purple dottyback, a bubble tip, some yellow polyp, a candy cane coral, and 4 blue leg hermits. I have chaeto algae in the back with an alternating light cycle as well. I am curious as to how to get rid of this nuisance algae. It's early stages of green hair algae. What are your opinions? Should I introduce more bottom feeders? Water changes are once a week with 3 gallons of r/o water. Feeding is one pinch of flakes or a turkey Baster of mysis shrimp a day. Should I consider a nano reactor? Or place some phosphate remover in the fuge? All other levels are zero except for phosphate. It's in the. 25 range (don't gasp too hard, I know). Just want some advice. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 i think it was turbo snails that knocked out my GHA, but that wont help your phosphate problem. i'd add some display macro for the phosphates, but i'm a minimal chemical guy. in my 10g i have three firefish, gracelaria hayi, and caelurpa prolifia. i feed a pinch or two of flakes daily. no water change schedule and an HOB filter with a couple of inches of canister media in it a scavenged from an eheim filter. i have not tested the water lately, so i have no idea what my levels are. i'd guess low, though. every week or two i usually have to scrape the glass because of white deposits on the glass and not algae. note: i have neglected the tank and let the macro go a little farther than normal. but i like well enough and the fish seem to love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Your problem is phosphate. Way too high. So high in fact that your algae isn't outcompeting it. It might also just be test error, but the fact that you have algae suggests to me that your phosphate is the culprit. Dont bother with GFO in a bag, it's ineffective IME, as i was using it static (without reactor) in a BC29 and did not have success. Get yourself a reactor, as well as an additional pump to power it, and start slow with GFO. reduce feedings to every other, or every few days, and keep up the water changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor_Pound1127 Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 I refrain from chemicals as well. Only use what's necessary. I will be getting some snails in the future (turbos smell awful when they die). I'm hoping the chaeto would get after the phosphates, but that doesn't seem to be working at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 youre going to have a tough time jamming enough chaeto in there to process that much phosphate. if youre not wanting to add chemicals. reduce your feeding in half and increase your water changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Can you post a picture of the algae? There's several types of "hair" algae and some require far more aggressive approaches than just nutrient control once they are established. Also, I would cut back feeding to 2 - 3x per week max and ditch the frozen for now as it usually introduces much more PO4 than prepared foods in my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 if you do still use frozen, soak it in RODI before adding, then drop it through a net and rinse with more RODI. Its a pain, but I havent had a smidge of hair algae in my BC29 in a very long time (i also use GFO though, so YMMV). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 you could light your chaeto 24 hours a day for a while and up your filtration. i'm not sure what kind of light you are using to drive your chaeto, but increasing the wattage may be an option. or pumps and gfo like victoly suggested. in my 40g i have 300 watts (pfc equivalent to incandescent at 6500K) on my 20g sump growing prolifera and chaeto for 12 hours a day (reverse photo period). it stripped the nitrate and phosphates so much i had to double my feedings and at last test had 0.25 ppm nitrate and 0.02 ppm phosphate. that tank only has the sump and a BRS reactor with charcoal for filtration. i do scrape algae off that glass every 4 days or so. but it's a light coating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 youre going to have a tough time jamming enough chaeto in there to process that much phosphate. if youre not wanting to add chemicals. reduce your feeding in half and increase your water changes. good point, size may be an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor_Pound1127 Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 Trying to post photos, but still getting used to the reply box here. I'm using a 18" LED light bar that's suction cupped onto the back of the tank. it's rated at around 5000k-ish, and it's turned on whenever my day lights are off (so for a good 10+hrs). the chaeto is only about baseball sized, so it's not very big. I was researching and actually found a nano GFO reactor that can fit into the fuge of this tank. it's still in beta mode, and it's not always readily available. I've been trying to avoid going overkill and having a huge reactor hanging off of my small 29 tank. I will use chemicals if need be, but which ones should I be using? Most phosphate removers seem to be media bags or are used in reactors and aren't anything you can dose with. The yellow polyp is producing new heads, so it's not slowing coral growth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 An of the GFO derivatives work pretty well. Rowaphos, BRS GFO, BRS HC GFO, etc. I prefer BRS, but it's mostly a chevy/ford nikon/canon type of situation. There is something called lanthanum chloride that you can dose to flocculate out the Phosphate, but on a tank of our size, it's not worth the associated appurtenances you need to get it going. I've been where you've been, the answer is feed less, remove more (via water change or GFO). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor_Pound1127 Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 flocculation? appurtenances? chip walters on this forum has a slick little reactor made from a 3D printer and a gatorade bottle. i haven't seen him post on here in a while, and he's not in CS, but it may be able to be used with GFO. to reply with pictures, i click on "more reply options" under your text box and then there is an attachment button in the formatting section. oh, you figured it out while i was typing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Algae looks pretty benign. The film algae on the glass is something that most everyone has to deal with. I would start with slightly increased water change volumes and reduce feeding and see if the PO4 levels go down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 You do not have an algae problem from the posted picture. At two months old, your tank is not well established, so expect some algae. It is normal and in moderation it is healthy. +1 to what Jetstop said. Use a different test kit to check that phosphate reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogdan Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 You haven't seen nothing yet.Just wait till you get to the real GHA phase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor_Pound1127 Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 I have another tank that had a massive outbreak. Every rock had two inches of gha on it. I admit to neglecting it and not performing water changes. I've been interested what phosphate test kit I should purchase. I have API, but I know that the scale is way off. I've been looking at salifert test kits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor_Pound1127 Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 I have another tank that had a massive outbreak. Every rock had two inches of gha on it. I admit to neglecting it and not performing water changes. I've been interested what phosphate test kit I should purchase. I have API, but I know that the scale is way off. I've been looking at salifert test kits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Salifert and the hanna checkers are my go to meters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Is a LFS available that would do that test for you. I have maintained reef tanks for 45 years without testing for phosphate. Anytime that phosphate got elevated, cynobacteria made its appearance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 youre going to have a tough time jamming enough chaeto in there to process that much phosphate. if youre not wanting to add chemicals. reduce your feeding in half and increase your water changes. I can not agree with the generalization on ineffective phosphate export using macro algae. Let us do the math. Assume 25G of water in the 29G tank. At 8.34 lbs/gallon, 16 oz/lb and 28.6 gr/oz there is about 120,000 grams of water with .25 ppm of phosphate dissolved in the water. We are talking about .03 grams of ortho phosphate. Macro algae dry weight will contain 1% total phosphate. Three grams of macro algae will contain every bit of the dissolved phosphate in this 29G tank. Three grams is not a lot of macro jamming. Laissez la bonne temps roulee, Patrick PS. Please check my math as I did it on a sheet of paper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 youre going to have a tough time jamming enough chaeto in there to process that much phosphate. if youre not wanting to add chemicals. reduce your feeding in half and increase your water changes. I can not agree with the generalization on ineffective phosphate export using macro algae. Let us do the math. Assume 25G of water in the 29G tank. At 8.34 lbs/gallon, 16 oz/lb and 28.6 gr/oz there is about 120,000 grams of water with .25 ppm of phosphate dissolved in the water. We are talking about .03 grams of ortho phosphate. Macro algae dry weight will contain 1% total phosphate. Three grams of macro algae will contain every bit of the dissolved phosphate in this 29G tank. Three grams is not a lot of macro jamming. Laissez la bonne temps roulee, Patrick PS. Please check my math as I did it on a sheet of paper. The math is fine. However, I don't know what the conversion of wet weight to dry weight for macro is, but the sump space for a BC29 is tiny, and experimentally, I still have measurable phosphate with two sizable clumps of hypnea, and I'm a light feeder who also runs GFO. Macro isn't an end-all/be-all solution, it's a tool in the toolbox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 You could always add a protein skimmer also if you like the look of a sea hare, he could keep that tank algae free with that much phosphate while it cycles. IMO nothin beats a sea hare just be prepared to re locate it when your tank is clean because they eat a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 youre going to have a tough time jamming enough chaeto in there to process that much phosphate. if youre not wanting to add chemicals. reduce your feeding in half and increase your water changes. I can not agree with the generalization on ineffective phosphate export using macro algae. Let us do the math. Assume 25G of water in the 29G tank. At 8.34 lbs/gallon, 16 oz/lb and 28.6 gr/oz there is about 120,000 grams of water with .25 ppm of phosphate dissolved in the water. We are talking about .03 grams of ortho phosphate. Macro algae dry weight will contain 1% total phosphate. Three grams of macro algae will contain every bit of the dissolved phosphate in this 29G tank. Three grams is not a lot of macro jamming. Laissez la bonne temps roulee, Patrick PS. Please check my math as I did it on a sheet of paper. The math is fine. However, I don't know what the conversion of wet weight to dry weight for macro is, but the sump space for a BC29 is tiny, and experimentally, I still have measurable phosphate with two sizable clumps of hypnea, and I'm a light feeder who also runs GFO. Macro isn't an end-all/be-all solution, it's a tool in the toolbox. It is an inexpensive tool. It can be recycled as fish food or eaten by people in Nori and Red Ogo. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 And as scary as it seems it actually tasted good when Patrick made it lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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