Corals growing like mad! But so is algae

[luckydud13]

Lately I have been getting PHENOMENAL growth in my tank, my Zoas are growing about 5 polyps every two weeks, anthelia I can practically watch grow, Xenia, nuff said, Mushrooms are growing and spreading like wildifre!

 

The only problem is, I have a nice algea bloom.

 

How can I get rid of the algae without sacrificing growth? Less photoperiod? (10 hours currenty)

 

Thanks

[MikeTR]

what are your nitrate readings at? Or.. got chaeto? Something to outcompete the algae...

[paneubert]

Spectrum of the lights maybe? Or shorten the photoperiod. 10 is not horrible, but your corals can handle less, like 7-8 maybe.

[blasterman]

Without testing your water params I could tell you your nitrate is high. Fast Xenia and Zoa growth is a dead give away. Xenia is one of the fastest 'eaters' of nitrate there is - Faster than cheato or macro algae, so there's not much point the that later at this stage.

 

While this may seem 'cool', the problem is the resulting nuisance algaes. Plus, while they won't hurt xenia, several types of hair algae can coat and kill zoas. Been there - done that.

 

You really need to get a nitrate test kit and keep levels no higher than 10ppm. If your levels are fairly low and it's a new tank, then a 2-3day black-out usually gets the kinks out of new tank syndrome. I've found the best consumers of various nuisance alages are really big turbo snails, but they tend to bulldozer your tank frags and rocks.

[bdare]

All the corals you have listed do great in "dirty" or nutrient rich water. Like the others have mentioned, you'll want to find a way to export some of those nutrients. A few methods you could use include a protien skimmer, a phosban reactor with GFO / GAC, or a fuge with some kind of macro algae. Reducing your photoperiod or replacing old bulb can also help.

[jdl]

get an emerald crab and a fuge with some macro