Phosphate Issue

[blando]

Hello,

So having an issue with hair algae. For some reason this all started.Nitraits are 0 an so is everything else but Phosphate. I am using RO water and i was not sure if it was the light running to longso i have turn that down. I am starting to use GFO to see if tht helps. I already have a protien skimmer running and is collecting gunk. I am still having this issue. The GFO i just started last week. I was thinking about doing a 3 day black out but i was not sure how that will affect the sea anenomi or fishes. I moved some of the coral that i could move to another small little tank to help kill the algae on that because this water does not have any phosphates.. Any Ideas or tips?

 

[Sakura2282]

Phosphates + Nitrates is what hair algae needs to grow The nitrates in your tank can't be really 0 is you have HA. The HA is using them so you cannot trust your test kit readings on nitrates, they won't be accurate.

I also have HA in my tank right now, and some reefers here have suggested me to increase the magnesium to 1,800 to kill the HA. Some of them have tried this method and it has worked for them. You will need to buy a magnesium test kit to keep track of it because magnesium can be very dangerous for inverts. Increasing the magnesium is a process that has to be done very carefully and slowly.

In my case, I'm not doing the magnesium method yet because I'm trying some other options first, like doing more frequent water changes to keep my nitrates low, scrubbing the rocks (in a bucket with saltwater outside the tank) to take out as much detritus and HA as I can, and siphoning the sand bed.

Hope you can keep yours under control, that algae is a nuisance no doubts about it.

 

[blando]

Ok thanks!.. yeah i was thinking on doing more frequent water changes. For the nitrates i took it to a LFS and they even said it was 0 at least by the color for yellow is 0. I also heard turning the lights off for 3 days helps kill algae. I will try taking the rocks out and cleaning them see if that works as well.

 

[Sakura2282]

I've been thinking in turn the lights off also, but I do think that if I do it there is no guarantee that the HA won't be back. As long as the nutrients are in the tank, I'm sure It'll be back. Scrubbing off the algae from the rocks won't fix the problem either, but it helps to keep it under control while you work on the real problem. Good luck! :)

 

[Aquarian]

Your reading 0 nitrates because the HA is consuming them as they are produced, if you really had 0 nitrates you would have no HA since as Sakura said HA needs both nitrate and phosphate to thrive. Simply leaving the lights off will not help you need to do a black out by covering the tank in blankets so there is no light getting into the tank. Your nem and corals won't like the black out but it won't kill them if they are healthy now.

 

[Aquarian]

I've been thinking in turn the lights off also, but I do think that if I do it there is no guarantee that the HA won't be back. As long as the nutrients are in the tank, I'm sure It'll be back. Scrubbing off the algae from the rocks won't fix the problem either, but it helps to keep it under control while you work on the real problem. Good luck! :)

Very true. If you don't solve the nutrient problem then the black out is only a bandaid.

 

[salt_for_brains]

A three day blackout won't harm your stock. I would keep an eye on your PH. I would also be ready to do a good water change after the blackout.
I will say that blackouts really don't do much for hair algae. Good luck!

 

[Big K]

Why not an Algae scrubber? Mine is working great so far!