Can't figure out an algae issue

[Lognor]

30 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

I know just how frustrating it can be. 

 

How long is your photoperiod?

 

Do you have much microfauna in your tank? Copepods?

 

Have you tried not doing water changes and notice how that affects the algae in the tank? 

 

Continue to watch the amount you are feeding and you might try skipping the water changes altogether for a bit (like to every other week). I’d also add copepods and dose live phyto (to feed the copepods and build some biodiversity). That’s helped greatly with my tank. 

 

Forgot yo mention about lighting in my post.  I reduced the total lights on period by 3 hours.  Blues come on at 8am, whites come on around 1, whites go out around 6, lights go out at 10pm.  Blues max out at 55% and whites max out at 2%.  I think the lower intensity and shorter period have helped keep it from being getting crazy.  I had been considering pushing the water change back to once a week to see what happens, but was nervous about it getting really ugly.  I hadn't considered pods and phyto because I wasn't sure about what the issue was.  Will take a look at it.  I'm game to try anything.

 

20 minutes ago, Garf said:

Those params look good. Try and keep them stable for a while and see what happens. The algae doesn't look awful, its a bright green, doesn't look like it is covering your rocks (in the pics from last month) Are you still feeding 1/2 cube of mysis a day? And are you rinsing it?

 

I wouldn't use too many products to manage nutrients, they are coming from somewhere, and you may be treating the symptom instead of the cause. What is your lighting schedule like?  Is the algae still going away during lights out? If you were to reduce your filtration to just the rocks, filter floss or pad and carbon, what do you think would happen to your nutrients? It has been 4 weeks since your alk was fluctuating, based on your chart.  And you swapped to a new salt mix with alk measuring what, 10-11? 

 

It might be something you just need to work through with a bit of time and stable params.

 

Algae is only on the sand and glass, nothing on the rocks I can see.  Still only feeding a half cube 6 days a week.  I feed a bit more one day a week to target the corals.  I rinse most days.  It doesn't go completely away at night, but it definitely does recede.  The nitrates have come down quite a bit the past few weeks, and I'm getting the alk more stable at around 8.  I know the Alk is being used up because I'm dosing and the red sea mixes higher than 8.  I'm still working on the right amount of dosing for consistency.

 

Thanks for the feedback.  Much appreciated.

[mcarroll]

On 6/24/2019 at 9:13 PM, Lognor said:

I've done so much reading and digging, I've confused the shit out myself.  Am I dealing with Dino's or Diatoms, or is it someone entirely different?  I've kept feeding down to a half cube of mysis, and not putting anything else in the tank.  The only thing I haven't done is try putting it under a microscope to see if that tells me anything.

You hit the nail on the head there at the end.....get a microscope involved.   (I think everyone who gets a tank should get a scope...no question, not specific to solving problems.)

 

Feeding rate seems good.....don't waste time straining frozen food....only do it if it takes you no time at all.  The liquid from frozen food is not causing your problem.  :-)

 

Diatoms and dino's are not green.  So you know that's at least MOSTLY NOT what you have.   Could possibly be in the mix though....which isn't a problem.

 

The only thing that fits the description of what you have is cyanobacteria...only slightly weird that it's green, definitely not unheard of though.

 

The best news about this is that cyano is only very rarely harmful.   The worst that can usually be said about it is that it's unsightly but good for the tank.  This seems to be the case for your tank....seems harmless.

 

I agree with @Garf and others on stabilizing things and giving it time....don't knock yourself out trying to keep the tank perfect in the mean time....in fact letting it "go wild" for a few weeks where you don't scrape the glass at all might be pretty helpful.   You can still maintain the sand or rockwork if you really want, but you might not have to once the algae on the glass kicks in.  Update the CUC if needed.  After a week or two (or longer) scrape down the glass (optionally siphon out the scrapings) and see how things go from there....hopefully different.  :-)

[Lognor]

@mcarroll Thanks for the great feedback.  Glad to hear your take on things.  I didn't change water today like I normally would, just changing the filter floss.  I'm looking into getting pods to add to the tank, but I've never done that before, so something new.  Based on some reading, it seems like they would potentially help with the issue as well.  Other than the ugly aspect of it, everything in the tank is doing well.  Thanks again